This summer, there are very few “direct” box office showdowns. Most weekends will be defined by a single, highly anticipated film entering theaters. But those films will be competition for other big blockbusters coming out the week before and could impact their long-term domestic total. With that in mind, here are the matchups to look out for.
May 25: “Solo: A Star Wars Story” opening vs. “Deadpool 2” second weekend — The sequel to the second highest grossing R-rated film of all time is expected to match its predecessor’s $132 million opening. But while “Deadpool” had February 2016 mostly to itself, it will have to go head-to-head in its second week against Han Solo’s origin story, which could split the 18-35 demographic on Memorial Day Weekend.
June 8: “Ocean’s 8” vs. “Hereditary” — After “Wonder Woman” gave Warner Bros. a big summer last year, the studio is sending in this all-female “Ocean’s Eleven” spinoff as a refreshing alternative for female audiences to the big, male-dominated smash-ups. Another film that will try to compete for that same demographic is A24’s “Hereditary,” which scared the bejeezus out of audiences at Sundance.
June 22: “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” vs. “Incredibles 2” third weekend — Perhaps this won’t be much of a contest, but once upon a time, the “Jurassic” series was an armrest-grabbing thriller that families could go to together. But the “Jurassic World” sequel is being sold as a more mature thriller, which means that there might not be as much overlap between its main audience and that of Pixar’s long-awaited follow-up to “The Incredibles.”
July 13: “Skyscraper” vs. “Ant-Man and The Wasp” second weekend –– “Ant-Man” wasn’t as big a box office hit as its MCU brethren, but the jaw-dropping ending of “Avengers: Infinity War” draw more audiences in to see how Scott Lang could factor in to next year’s “Avengers” finale. Against that behemoth, Dwayne Johnson will try to work his box office magic again with a thriller that will see the 8-time WWE Champion play his most vulnerable action hero yet.
August: “Mission: Impossible — Fallout” vs. “Christopher Robin” vs. “The Spy Who Dumped Me” — The summer season will see a steady slowdown in August, as there’s no “Suicide Squad” or “Guardians of the Galaxy” on the slate this year. Instead, the sixth “Mission: Impossible” film will be the big blockbuster on offer, trying to match the $195 million domestic total of its predecessor. Meanwhile, Disney will send in Ewan McGregor to play a grown-up “Christopher Robin,” while Kate McKinnon and Mila Kunis will provide some comedic alternatives.