Image Credit: Bob Mahoney
It’s no surprise that the 2013 box office has been cold in the first few weeks of the new year. That tends to be the case in January, when R-rated horror flicks and long-on-the-shelf action stinkers take up multiplex screens. But this weekend, the film industry is set to get even chillier due to a massive snowstorm that’s expected to bring much of the Northeast to a standstill.
Thus, this weekend’s two new releases, Identity Thief and Side Effects (which, almost unbelievably, are already the 10th and 11th R-rated wide releases of the year), are expected to perform moderately over their first three days in theaters. Here’s how the box office might shake out:
1. Identity Thief – $21 million
Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy teamed up for Universal’s $35 million comedy, which will easily top the chart over the Friday-to-Sunday period. Bateman has scored comedic hits with ensemble films like Horrible Bosses ($117.5 million) and Couples Retreat ($109.2 million), but he’s proven unreliable as a main selling point in films like 2011′s The Change Up, which opened with $13.5 million on the way to a $37.5 million total. McCarthy isn’t a tested box office lead, but she became the breakout star of Bridesmaids, and audiences may be curious to see her first leading role on the silver screen. READ FULL STORY »
