'Alita: Battle Angel' to War with 'Happy Death Day 2U' at Weekend Box Office

With the weekend nearing, it seems a box office brawl is lining up at theaters. The holiday weekend will see Alita: Battle Angel square up against Happy Death Day 2U, and their feud will be a close one.

So, if you wanted to place a bet over which title will come on top, then you best select your fighter ASAP.

Thanks to Deadline, the tight race between Alita and the horror sequel has been spelled out. It is no secret that January's box office has been slow, and weak openings movies like The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part has only highlighted the drought. Now, Alita is eyeing to make between $18-22 million in its first three days, but Happy Death Day 2U will follow close behind. The horror film is expected to gross between $17-20 million.

These figures may put Alita in first place, but the story is shifted when you consider each film's total cost. According to Deadline, Happy Death Day 2U cost an estimated $9 million to shoot, and its opening three-day weekend would cover that cost and then some. With its first film grossing a whopping $125 million worldwide, Happy Death Day 2U will make bank should this estimate work out, but the same cannot be said for Alita.

If current reports are accurate, Alita may never break even at the domestic box office. Sources have said the film cost upwards of $170 million to make, but Deadline says it has heart figures as high as $237 million. The manga-inspired movie has already grossed $32 million at the global box office, but its U.S. opening will push the total over $54 million at best. Clearly, the total is not enough to make Alita break even, so any profit would come courtesy of box office successes in China and/or Japan.

So, will you be checking out either of these films this weekend? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

If you're unfamiliar with Battle Angel Alita (GUNNM in Japan), the series was originally created by Yukito Kishiro. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic future and follows Alita, a cyborg who is found in a garbage heap by a doctor and rebuilt. Completely devoid of her memory, all she has to cling to is a legendary cyborg martial art known as Panzer Kunst. With this knowledge, Alita decides to become a bounty hunter. Originally published in Shueisha's Weekly Business Jump in 1990, the manga was collected into nine volumes and licensed for an English language release by Viz Media.

Alita: Battle Angel opens in theaters on February 14, 2019.