“Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” laughed its way to $1.67 million at the Thursday previews.
Tracking for $36 million, the film stars Chloe Grace Moretz, Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron and Dave Franco.
The original grossed $2.56 million during Thursday previews in 2014, and then went on to earn $49 million its opening weekend. Its budget was $18 million — the sequel cost $35 million. However, “Neighbors 2” had a good start given that it’s tracking for significantly less than the first, is a sequel, and an R-rated comedy. In comparison, Amy Schumer‘s “Trainwreck” opened to $1.8 million with a similar production budget.
“Neighbors 2” follows Mac (Rogen) and Kelly (Byrne) making an effort to bring down a sorority that has moved in next door while they are in escrow, and Teddy (Efron) steps in to help. Currently, the film holds a score of 64 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
It’s going to be a tight race this weekend, with Sony’s “Angry Birds” opening and “Captain America: Civil War” still going strong.
“Angry Birds” flew to $800,000 at the Thursday previews, on track for a $38 million to $40 million weekend.
The film’s production budget was $73 million and has a voice cast featuring Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader,Peter Dinklage, Kate McKinnon and Sean Penn.
“Angry Birds” explores why the flightless creatures are so ticked off to begin with as green pigs invade their island. The animated film holds a 45 percent approval rating from critics counted on Rotten Tomatoes.
Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe action-comedy “The Nice Guys” grossed $700,000 on Thursday night, with expectations of a $10 million haul its opening weekend.
The latest from Shane Black (“Iron Man 3”) revolves around a bumbling private eye (Gosling) teaming up with a tough guy fixer (Crowe) to track down a missing girl embroiled in a dangerous conspiracy.
Reviews have been great — it now holds a “fresh” rating of 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Disney’s “Captain America: Civil War” is still very much in competition for first place this weekend, though, with expectations of grossing an additional $36 million in its third weekend.
The film, starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd and Tom Holland, will most likely hit the $1 billion worldwide mark on Friday.
So far, the Marvel movie has grossed $310 million domestically.