\n\tWho will emerge victorious when fighter Johnny Cage faces off against powerful editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly at the weekend box office?<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Warner Bros. sequel \u201cMortal Kombat II<\/a>\u201d is tracking a debut of $40 million to $45 million from 3,400 North American theaters. The studio is offering a slightly softer estimate of $35 million. Meanwhile Disney\u2019s sequel to \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada\u201d is projected to earn $38 million to $42 million in its second weekend of release, putting the two tentpoles in a close race for No. 1. Rivals and exhibitors believe that weekend ticket sales for \u201cMortal Kombat II\u201d and \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada 2<\/a>\u201d could end up closer to $50 million, depending on word-of-mouth for the former and turnout on Mother\u2019s Day for the latter.<\/p>\n \n\tTwo other newcomers, Amazon MGM\u2019s charming whodunit \u201cSheep Detectives\u201d and Paramount\u2019s concert film \u201cBillie Eilish \u2013 Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D),\u201d will land behind a holdover title, \u201cMichael,\u201d on domestic box office charts. Lionsgate\u2019s biopic about Michael Jackson is estimated to add a remarkable $35 million to $40 million in its third weekend of release. Then \u201cSheep Detectives\u201d is hoping to open to $12 million to $15 million from 3,457\u00a0locations while \u201cBillie Eilish\u201d is targeting a start of $8 million to $10 million from 2,600 venues.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMortal Kombat II\u201d is expected to generate at least $30 million at the international box office, so the global start could range from $70 million to $80 million. The sequel was produced for $80 million, above the prior installment\u2019s $55 million price tag. The prior \u201cMortal Kombat\u201d opened to $23 million while launching simultaneously on HBO Max during the disastrous year-long experiment known as Project Popcorn. All things considered (people were largely steering clear of cinemas at the time), the video game adaptation became a modest success with $42 million in North America and $84 million worldwide. Typically, those aren\u2019t the kind of returns to justify a sequel or launch a franchise. But HBO had reported that \u201cMortal Kombat\u201d was among the streamer\u2019s most-watched movies at the time. Director Simon McQuoid returned for the sequel, which follows mixed martial arts champions in a high-stakes tournament to prevent the annihilation of Earthrealm. The studio clearly has high hopes for the series because a third film is already in development<\/a>. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cSheep Detectives\u201d will need to stick around in theaters to justify its hefty $75 million budget. Hugh Jackman stars in the PG-rated film, which follows a shepherd who goes missing, leaving his sheep to follow the clues, investigate human suspects, and crack the case. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, earning \u201cSheep Detective<\/a>\u201d a 95% average on Rotten Tomatoes. Variety\u2019s film critic Guy Lodge described the film<\/a> as a \u201cwholesomely offbeat family comedy\u201d with \u201cbags full of charm.\u201d Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston and Regina Hall lead the voice cast.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBillie Eilish \u2013 Hit Me Hard and Soft\u201d was produced for $20 million and will be released by Paramount and Interscope Records through a partnership. The film follows the 24-year-old Grammy and Oscar-winning artist on her most recent concert tour. Eilish co-directed \u201cHit Me Hard and Soft\u201d with \u201cAvatar\u201d filmmaker James Cameron, who \u201cpioneered 3D\u00a0cameras specifically designed to capture Billie\u2019s performance,\u201d according to press notes.<\/p>\n \n\tLike Taylor Swift\u2019s \u201cThe Eras Tour\u201d and \u201cRenaissance: A Film by Beyonc\u00e9,\u201d exhibitors want audiences to view \u201cHit Me Hard and Soft\u201d as a less-expensive stop on Eilish\u2019s sold-out world tour. Points of comparison, however, are tough, according to box office watchers. \u201cThe Eras Tour\u201d was a theatrical anomaly, debuting to $93 million in North America and concluding its run with a record-setting $180 million domestically and $261 million globally. \u201cRenaissance\u201d was another rarity after opening to opened to $21.8 million in North America and ended up with $33 million domestically and $43 million globally.<\/p>\n \n\tSo far, the late spring and early summer box office has been strong. \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada 2\u201d has grossed $82 million domestically and $240 million globally to date. Thanks to nostalgia and great word-of-mouth, the star-studded sequel is expected to outgross the first film\u2019s $326 million lifetime haul in a matter of days. Meanwhile \u201cMichael\u201d has remained a force with $188 million in North America and $432 million worldwide after just two weekends in theaters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who will emerge victorious when fighter Johnny Cage faces off against powerful editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly at the weekend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,44667,134,95256,344,316055],"class_list":["post-653761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-devil-wears-prada-2","tag-entertainment","tag-mortal-kombat-ii","tag-movies","tag-sheep-detective"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}