Weekend Box Office Predictions: September 20th, 2024 - September 22nd, 2024

Paramount's Transformers One will look to take first place at the domestic box office upon entering the marketplace this weekend. The computer animated Transformers film directed by Josh Cooley represents the first animated Transformers theatrical release since The Transformers: The Movie way back in 1986. Transformers One is opening in 3,978 locations this weekend, is playing on IMAX screens and has Thursday preview shows beginning at 5PM (the film also had early access shows this past Saturday and on Wednesday as well). Critical reviews for Transformers One have been good. As an animated film, Transformers One isn't expected to perform as strong as a live-action Transformers film. But there should still be enough of an audience for Transformers One to get off to a good start this weekend, especially since Transformers One is also significantly less expensive than a typical live-action Transformers film. Transformers One could also get a bit of a boost this weekend from having a relatively high amount of average showtimes per location. It's also likely that as an animated film, Transformers One won't be as front-loaded towards opening day this weekend as a live-action Transformers film typically would be. A good opening weekend comparison for Transformers One could prove to be fellow Paramount release IF, which debuted with $33.72 million this past May. BoxOfficeReport is predicting that Transformers One will open with $36.0 million this weekend.

After leading the box office each of the past two weekends, Warner Bros.'s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is likely to place in second this weekend. Last weekend Beetlejuice Beetlejuice had a solid second weekend hold by declining 53.7 percent to gross $51.35 million. And today (Thursday), Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is set to surpass the $200 million domestic mark. While Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will continue to benefit from good critical reviews and good word of mouth this weekend, the film is losing its IMAX showtimes to Transformers One. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice also looks to be losing a significant amount of non-IMAX showtimes as well this weekend, which will make it difficult for the film to stabilize all that much in comparison to last weekend's hold. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice could decline a respectable 47.4 percent from last weekend for a third weekend gross of $27.0 million this weekend.

Universal and Blumhouse's Speak No Evil is coming off of a respectable second place debut of $11.40 million last weekend. Speak No Evil has gone over well with critics and also looks to be going over well with audiences after receiving a good B+ rating on CinemaScore. While Speak No Evil will be facing new direct competition from both The Substance and Never Let Go this weekend, odds are that Speak No Evil will remain ahead of both of those films in this weekend's rankings. A solid second weekend decline of 47.4 percent would transfer into a third place take of $6.0 million for Speak No Evil this weekend.

Speaking of MUBI's The Substance and Lionsgate's Never Let Go; the pair of horror films could find themselves in a close race for fourth place upon entering the marketplace this weekend. The Substance was directed by Coralie Fargeat and stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid. Never Let Go was directed by Alexandre Aja and stars Halle Berry, Percy Daggs IV and Anthony B. Jenkins. While Never Let Go will have the higher location count of the two films this weekend, and The Substance is being released by a smaller distributor; there appears to be more pre-release buzz surrounding The Substance, especially online. Critical reviews for The Substance have also been quite good, while critical reviews for Never Let Go have been mixed (though, more so positive than negative). The Substance is likely to get off to a stronger start on opening day, but Never Let Go could still potentially catch up on Saturday and Sunday. BoxOfficeReport is predicting respective opening weekend grosses of $4.3 million for The Substance and $4.2 million for Never Let Go.

Meanwhile, Disney's Deadpool & Wolverine will likely continue to hold up well this weekend. Last weekend Deadpool & Wolverine declined just 25.4 percent to place in third with $5.23 million. Deadpool & Wolverine probably won't hold up quite that well this weekend, but the film could still decrease by a very solid 31.1 percent to place in sixth with $3.6 million. On either Thursday or Friday, Deadpool & Wolverine will surpass 2012's Marvel's The Avengers to move into 13th place on the all-time unadjusted domestic list.

Read more at BoxOfficeReport.com.