The Weekend Forecast: Buckle Up for Another Furious 7 Weekend

In which I predict that big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend.

Despite strong competition from a myriad of new releases, Furious 7 should still hold out as #1 for another week.  The seventh installment to the hugely popular Fast and Furious franchise is expected to rake in another $30-35 million over the course of the weekend.  I might even get to see it this weekend.  If Becky and I can manage to polish off the last three movies by Monday, it might even make it in as next week's Weekend Review.

If any movie stands a chance of upsetting industry predictions this weekend, it's Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.  The family comedy is the biggest new release and is expected to pull in anything from $10 to $30 million.  If Furious 7 under-performs even slightly, it very well might snatch its place at the box office.  More likely, however, it will have to settle for being #2.

Unfriended is a bit of a question mark for me.  On the face of it, it just looks so inanely stupid: another found footage horror movie that uses its gimmick to make up for low production values and a rough-shod script.  Don't get me wrong; I love found footage movies, but even I have my limits.

The thing is, though, that the word on the street is that it's actually pretty good.  Everything I've heard about the movie's been surprisingly popular, even if it's typically chased with "but don't do this again."

Despite its all-star comedy cast, True Story appears to be the kind of mid-quality, instantly forgettable thriller that's just entertaining enough to watch for a couple of hours.  In other words, it's basically this month's Focus.  But its oddly comic cast - including Jonah Hill and James Franco - throws just enough of a curve ball into the established order that it could sink or swim on that alone.

In limited release, we also have Monkey Kingdom and Child 44.  The former is a nature documentary that I'll invariably be dragged along to see (mostly because monkeys are "cute").  The latter is terse,-looking historical thriller with the same kind of absurdly good cast that made The Gunman look palatable.  Even if it falls flat on its face, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Noomi Rapace are worth the price of admission by themselves.  I'll sadly have to wait a week or two until Child 44 expands to my area, though.

So what movies are you going to see in theaters this weekend?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Join the Filmquisition on Twitter (@Filmquisition) or by subscribing to this blog.