7:12 AM PDT 5/3/2018
by
Pamela McClintock
A trio of smaller films open nationwide this weekend — including Jason Reitman’s ‘Tully’ — as the major Hollywood studios continue to avoid going up against the Disney/Marvel juggernaut.
Pity any film going up against Avengers: Infinity War.
The Disney and Marvel superhero tentpole is slotted to earn north of $100 million-$125 million in its sophomore weekend after opening to a record-breaking $257.7 million domestically and $640.5 million globally last weekend. On Friday or Saturday, Infinity War will become the fastest film in history to cross $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
The other major Hollywood studios continue to hold off unfurling their big summer pics because of Infinity War. Instead, the three new titles opening this weekend are smaller movies targeting specific audiences.
MGM and Lionsgate’s Pantelion Films open their remake Overboard in roughly 1,500 theaters. Popular Mexican star Eugenio Derbez (How to Be A Latin Lover) stars in the romantic comedy, which is tracking to earn $10 million-$15 million in its debut.
Derbez, whose credits include the box-office hit, How to Be a Latin Lover, stars opposite Anna Fairs in Overboard, about a working-class single mom who is hired to clean the yacht of a rich playboy, only to be unjustly fired. After Derbez’s character falls overboard and awakes with a bad case of amnesia, he’s duped into thinking he’s her husband and put to work.
Focus Features and director Jason Reitman’s Tully, starring Charlize Theron, will go after the specialty crowd when rolling out in approximately 1,300 cinemas. The film is a reunion for Theron, Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody, who worked together on Young Adult.
Tully stars Theron as a mother of three, including a newborn, who forms a unique bond with a night nanny (Mackenzie Davis) gifted by her rich brother (Mark Duplass). The movie, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, has sparked controversy in some quarters for its depiction of postpartum depression.
The film, rated R, is tracking to open to $3 million-$4 million.
The weekend’s third new nationwide offering is Bad Samaritan, directed by Dean Devlin. The horror-thriller marks the first wide release from Devlin’s distribution venture, Electric Entertainment, in association with Vertical Entertainment.
Bad Samaritan stars David Tennant as a low-level hustler who is caught up in a nefarious kidnapping plot. Robert Sheehan, Kerry Condon, Carlito Olviero and Jacqueline Byers also star.
New movies opening at the specialty box office include Magnolia and Participant Media’s documentary RBG, about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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