‘Knock At The Cabin’ To Dethrone ‘Avatar 2’ – Deadline

After reigning over the box office for the past seven weekends, 20th Century Studios/Disney/Lightstorm’s four-time Oscar-nominated Avatar: The Way of Water will cede No. 1 to Universal’s M. Night Shyamalan thriller Knock at the Cabin, which is set to do $15 million-$17 million per tracking sources at 3,600 theaters.

Reviews haven’t hit yet on the feature take of Paul Tremblay’s national bestseller The Cabin at the End of the World, and we won’t know until we’re in the thick of the weekend with audience exits whether this pic over-indexes or not. The better the surprise in a Shyamalan ending, the better the box office. Helping Knock at the Cabin‘s ticket sales are Uni’s grab of PLF and Dolby auditoriums.

The movie follows a girl and her parents who are taken hostage during their vacation by armed strangers who demand that the family make a choice to avert the apocalypse. Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Kristen Cui, Abby Quinn and Rupert Grint star.

The R-rated pic cost $20M before P&A, just a little bit higher than the cost of Shyamalan’s Old. Showtimes start at 5 p.m. Thursday, with a fairly split male-to-female turnout expected.

The Fifth Season production 80 for Brady, which Paramount acquired and financed for $28M, also has a shot of over-indexing, and with older female moviegoers. A $10M start looks promising, maybe even much more for this movie starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Sally Field and Rita Moreno as friends who make it their life-long mission to go to the Super Bowl and meet NFL superstar Tom Brady. Pic is booked at 3,800 locations. Previews start at 3 p.m. Thursday.

Last Saturday, Paramount kicked off a series of advance screenings of 80 for Brady with throwback pricing in celebration of the film’s exclusive theatrical release, beginning with a “Sneak Preview” screening that saw many sellouts, resulting in added auditoriums to accommodate demand. Today, participating theaters nationwide will host a “BFF Night Out” screening at 6 p.m. local time, followed by a “Ladies Night Out” screening Friday at 7 p.m. As part of the advance screenings, fans will get to see the movie’s music video “Gonna Be You” showcasing clips from the film and featuring Dolly Parton and Belinda Carlisle, Gloria Estefan, Cyndi Lauper and Debbie Harry. 

Meanwhile, Avatar 2 should also hit double digits in weekend 8, non-Disney box office sources say, after a $15.9M previous frame and a current running total of $622M stateside. The next movie the James Cameron-directed sequel will overtake on the all-time domestic list is The Avengers, which sits at No. 10 with $623.3M.