Will “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” be able to grab the top spot at the domestic box office, or will James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ashes” dominate the top spot for five consecutive weeks?
“The Bone Temple,” the fourth film in Sony’s dystopian “28 Days Later” series, is aiming for $20 million to $22 million in a four-day domestic release during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The film comes about six months after its predecessor, “28 Years Later,” which grossed $30 million over the traditional three-day weekend last June. 28 Years Later grossed $70 million in North America and $150 million worldwide against a $60 million budget. This zombie sequel comes with a slightly higher price tag of $63 million.
Directed by Nia DaCosta and written by series creator Alex Garland, The Bone Temple takes place after the first film, and stars Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell and Alfie Williams as they continue to battle the Rage Virus ravaging post-apocalyptic Britain. The film could benefit from less competition and positive reviews. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple currently has an average score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, with Variety’s chief film critic Peter DeBrugge writing, “It’s a bold, moving film that satisfies your hunger for zombie movies with brains.”
Elsewhere, Chloé Zhao’s Shakespearean tragedy “Hamnet” has been expanded to 688 theaters after a limited release over several weekends. The film just won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Drama and Best Actress for star Jessie Buckley, and grossed an impressive $13 million domestically during its platform rollout.
Meanwhile, reigning box office champ Avatar: Fire and Ash is expected to add $18 million to $19 million in four days. It’s a huge movie, grossing $1.23 billion worldwide, but the third Avatar movie ran out of steam faster than its predecessor. So while the first two movies were No. 1 at the box office for seven consecutive weekends, “Fire and Ash’s” dominance may end after five weekends. Of course, Hollywood’s expectations for Avatar 3 are sky-high, as its predecessors, 2009’s Avatar and 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water, were two of the biggest movies of all time at $2.9 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively. (The director has joked that after evaluating the financial results of the third installment, he will hold a press conference to decide whether to proceed with Avatar 4 and Avatar 5.)
Movie theaters tend to be open slower in January, at least compared to the summer and holiday seasons. But Hollywood has delivered some potential hits in the first month of the year, including Amazon MGM’s sci-fi adventure “Mercy,” starring Chris Pratt, Sam Raimi’s survival horror film “Send Help,” and Jason Statham’s “Shelter.”
“Patience will be a virtue as we wait for the big openers along the way,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore.
