Matt Damon‘s comeback in “Jason Bourne” is sizing up to be a lucrative move for Universal as the movie is set to open to an estimated $60 million at the box office, with studio estimates set much more conservatively at $40 million-plus.
The higher number, representing an average from trackers surveyed by TheWrap, would make the film the second highest-grossing opening weekend of all five Bourne movies, behind 2007’s “Bourne Ultimatum,” which debuted to $69.3 million and went on to gross $227.5 million domestically and $215.4 million abroad.
With a reported budget of $120 million, the spy thriller is positioned to do some solid business as it plays on an estimated 4,025 screens.
Another indicator of its impending, not-so-covert glory: “Jason Bourne” is currently leading online ticket sales at Fandango, outpacing 2015’s “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” when that buzzy title was at the same point in its sales cycle.
Director Paul Greengrass‘ new Bourne movie is also moving the needle in social chatter, up by roughly 8,000 from last week to 28,429 new conversations. So far the movie, which co-stars Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Julia Stiles and Riz Ahmed, has amassed a total amount of 244,938 conversations, according to comScore’s PreAct results.
The franchise as a whole has grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.
STX comedy “Bad Moms” is on a pretty great trajectory, given its $20 million production budget. Opening in 3,215 theaters, the movie is expected to surpass that amount as it debuts this weekend, and could even gross as high as $25 million.
Studio estimates are slightly more conservative, pointed just north of $20 million, which would likely put it at No. 3, behind holdover “Star Trek Beyond.”
Fandango reports that “Bad Moms” ticket sales are outpacing previous female-led comedies “Trainwreck” and “Spy” — another good sign for the title. The movie stars Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Christina Applegate, Kathryn Hahn and Jada Pinkett Smith and revolves around a group of moms who decide to stop striving to be perfect and go on a wild on a self-indulgent binge to reclaim their freedom.
Plus, writer-directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore’s movie inspired 35,648 new conversations on social media in the past week, according to comScore. (That’s more than “Bourne”!)
Despite the “chick flick” label, the latest tracking shows increased interest among males aged 17 to 34, representing a substantial climb to 43 percent. That’s up from 30 percent at the end of last week, and continues on an upward trajectory. Tracking also shows strong and growing interest among women.
Meanwhile, Lionsgate’s thriller “Nerve,” about a teenager (Emma Roberts) who becomes entangled in an online game of truth or dare, represents some counter-programmming that should end its opening weekend solidly.
Reported to have been produced for under $20 million, the film opens Wednesday in more than 2,500 theaters and is expected to bring in roughly $15 million — and no less than $12 million. Also, “Nerve” will be entering a three-way fight for fourth place as holdovers “The Secret Life of Pets” and “Lights Out” are tracking similarly.
The PG-13 film, which also stars Dave Franco, is the only movie in theaters geared toward the early teen set, specifically teen girls. And it probably doesn’t hurt that it’s about a mobile app that shares similarities with “Pokemon Go.”