Can ‘Hotel Transylvania 2’ Scare Up Box Office Win Over ‘Everest,’ ‘The Intern’?

Sony’s animated sequel is expected to make $32 million its opening weekend, twice as much as “Everest” and Anne Hathaway’s “The Intern”

Columbia Pictures

“Hotel Transylvania 2” is poised to take the reins at the box office this weekend, scaring up twice as many theatergoers as Anne Hathaway‘s “The Intern.” and Universal’s “Everest” in its first week of wide release.

Sony Pictures is projecting the sequel to 2012’s animated film to make $32 million this weekend, less than the original’s $42.5 million opening in the last weekend of September.

However, tracking suggests a potentially higher opening for the film, in which Dracula (Adam Sandler) tries to stop his daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), from leaving the hotel. The voice cast also includes Andy Samberg, Kevin James and Steve Buscemi.

And “Everest,” which opened last week in select IMAX 3D and large-format 3D theaters, and made a whopping $7.2 million in 545 theaters, is expanding to 3,004 North American theaters this Friday.

Universal Pictures is expecting a wide opening in the mid-teen millions. So far, the $55 million production has grossed $43.7 million worldwide and has received a CinemaScore of “A.”

“The Intern” will open in 3,305 locations on Friday and is expected to make around $15 million its opening weekend. The $40 million film, which stars Robert De Niro as a 70-year-old widower who takes an internship for an online fashion entrepreneur (Anne Hathaway), has a 50 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

If it really rakes in a solid $15 million over the three days, it would have a bigger opening than two of Hathaway’s most recent films that she carried — 2011’s “One Day” made $5 million its opening weekend, and 2010’s “Love & Other Drugs” grossed $9.7 million.

Both “The Intern” and “Everest” will be competing for second place with the second weekend of “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials,” which is projected to gross about half of its $30.3 million opening gross in its second weekend.

Eli Roth‘s “The Green Inferno,” which follows a group of student activists heading to the Amazon to save the rainforest only to discover that they are not alone, will open this Friday in 1,539 theaters and is expected to bring in $4 million to $5 million.

The horror film has received a Rotten Tomato score of 59 percent so far.

BH Tilt, which acquired the film for under $1 million, selected theaters that have historically been frequented by die-hard horror fans.

There are three major films opening in limited release as well. Broad Green Pictures’ will open “99 Homes,” an indie dramastarring Michael Shannon and Andrew Garfield, in two theaters in New York before a wider expansion on Oct. 2.

Also on Friday, Roadside Attractions is releasing Roland Emmerich‘s LGBT historical drama “Stonewall” in limited release, while A24 is offering the Ryan Reynolds indie “Mississippi Grind.”

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