I know I’ve talked about big weekends at the summer box office before, but this upcoming weekend is definitely one of the biggest of 2010. Not so much because the films are these giant epic blockbusters or anything, but moreso because we have three films all doing battle for a similar audience.
The Expendables is a rough-and-tough action flick featuring strong, iconic 80’s action stars, so obviously they’re targeting older dudes who remember growing up with cheesy Sylvester Stallone action movies, and younger males who just like to watch stuff blow up. However, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World also wants those older males (as well as the younger ones) who remember how much fun they had playing old Nintendo video games from the ‘80s. Pilgrim, to be successful, needs to find a way to lure in a female audience too … but hold up! That’s where Julia Roberts’ Eat Pray Love comes in because they’re targeting a younger and older female audience, and especially those who loved the novel the film is based on.
As it stands right now at Fandango headquarters, our awesome state-of-the-art badass ticket tracking computer system is telling us that Eat Pray Love is out ahead of the bad boys with 31% of advanced tickets sold. Meanwhile, The Expendables sits in second place with 10% and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is right behind Stallone and his cronies with 8%.
Will the final numbers remain like this? Probably not, since the Eat Pray Love crowd are more likely to plan ahead and buy their tickets earlier than the Expendables and Pilgrim crowd. That being said, look for things to get real interesting around these parts later in the week. We’ll be back on Friday with updated numbers and our Box Office Poll.
In the meantime, let’s send out some feelers – which film do you think has the best shot to win the box office this weekend?
