By: Scott Johnson on September 22, 2012
It’s not looking great for Dredd 3D at the box office this weekend. In fact, it’s not really looking good for any movie at the box office this weekend. In a continuing trend, this weekend’s box office is shaping up to be down a large percentage from last year.
Whether due to rising ticket prices, the Aurora shootings, or just a general lack of excitement about recent movies, the box office appears to be continuing one of its worst slumps of all time. If not for comic book movies like The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Amazing Spider-Man, this past summer would have been catastrophic at the box office.
As the box office enters its slower Fall season, it seems like not even comic book movies can reverse the plunge. Despite fantastic reviews from Comic-Con attendees, Dredd 3D only made $2.2 million at the box office on Friday and is on track to finish the weekend with only $5.7 million, according to Deadline. Of course, Dredd 3D was saddled with a lot of hurdles to overcome. The British comic character is not that well-known in the United States. Unfortunately, those that are familiar with the character probably know about him through the awful Judge Dredd movie featuring Sylvester Stallone released in 1995. If that wasn’t enough, the film is R-Rated and being released mainly in 3D theaters at a time that moviegoers seem to be rejecting higher 3D ticket prices.
But the box office woes don’t stop with Dredd as even Clint Eastwood in his first starring role in years is failing to attract fans to the movie theaters. Deadline is projecting only a $13.2 million weekend box office for Trouble With The Curve, which is well below projections.
End of Watch is being projected to win the weekend box office with $13.5 million, which is close to where most were projecting. The wildcard this weekend could be House At The End Of The Street, which seems to be receiving a boost because of Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence. Even though House At The End Of The Street appears to have led the Friday box office with $4.6 million, Deadline is projecting a weekend box office of $12.3 million, which would only put the film in third place. It’s possible given the strong Friday that House At The End Of The Street could surprise and win the weekend.
