Maleficent Will Likely Make $60 Million At Next Week's Box Office, Top X-Men: Days of Future Past

As with most movies in this crowded summer blockbuster season, it looks as though the critically-acclaimed X-Men: Days of Future Past will spend just one week at the top of the ticket-sales charts before it's replaced.

That's because next week, Disney will bow their live-action Sleeping Beauty prequel Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie as the titular evil fairy, and that movie will likely generate more than $60 million, meaning that X-Men (which made $91 million this weekend and $111 million for the four-day holiday frame) would have to see a box-office drop of only about a third in order to remain the top film in the country, as opposed to the 45-60% that's standard for a big blockbuster title to drop week to week at the start of its run. Officially, the film's budget was around $175 million, but Variety, who make the projections for next week, say that it will need to make at least that much -- and probably more than Oz the Great and Powerful's $493 million worldwide cume -- in order to be considered a true success or have the possibility of a sequel. They note that it's got a lot going for it, though, with Alice in Wonderland and Oz both recent successes for Disney that revitalized classic family fare in a slightly twisted, live-action way. It's also riding the coattails of Frozen, the most successful Disney princess movie in years (and the highest-grossing ever if not adjusted for inflation). The trade also notes that Jolie's last two starring roles -- The Tourist and Salt -- both disappointed critically and financially, leaving the impression that success with Malificent is a must for both Disney and Jolie. The movie, out on Friday, co-stars Elle Fanning (the older Aurora), Sharlto Copley and Juno Temple. It was directed by Alice in Wonderland and Oz the Great and Powerful production designer Robert Stromberg.