Box Office: ‘Cars 3’ Cruises Toward $50M-Plus Weekend; Tupac Biopic ‘All Eyez on Me’ Could Top $35M – Hollywood Reporter

The four new films opening this weekend also include raunchy female comedy ‘Rough Night’ and shark thriller ’47 Meters Down.’

While the Tupac biopic All Eyez on Me earned $3.1 million in Thursday previews ahead of Disney and Pixar’s animated sequel Cars 3, which cruised to $2.8 million, Cars 3 is pulling ahead of Eyez in the early Friday estimates and looks as if the animated pic will take in about $20 million-plus for the day as it cruises toward a weekend in the mid-to-high $50 million range.

Cars and Cars 2 have earned more than $1 billion in combined worldwide box office. Cars 2 opened in 2011 to $66.1 million domestically, and went on to earn $562.1 million worldwide. Cars, which hit theaters in 2006, earned $60.1 million in its North American debut, eventually hit $462.2 million worldwide.   

The third installment, helmed by Brian Fee, will become the No. 1 finisher for the weekend, ahead of holdover Wonder Woman, which is likely to take in an additional $35 million over the three day.

The film follows the legendary Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) as he’s pushed out of the sport he loves by a new generation of blazing-fast racers. He enlists the help of a young race technician (voice of Cristela Alonzo) to help him get back in the game.

Lionsgate’s Codeblack Films is releasing All Eyez on Me, a Tupac Shakur biopic which is hitting theaters on the late music icon’s birthday and includes over a dozen songs from Tupac’s music catalog.

Opening in 2,471 theaters, the film helmed by Benny Boom and starring Demetrius Shipp Jr. as the iconic rapper is estimated to take in about $14 million on Friday, including its Thursday previews, which puts it on track to gross approximately $35 million for the weekend, well ahead of initial projections of about $20 million

Also opening this weekend are raunchy female comedy Rough Night and shark thriller 47 Meters Down, which both look as if they will collect about $4 million each on Friday.

Sony’s R-rated female comedy Rough Night earned 700,000 in previews Thursday, and is to gross about $10 million in its domestic launch. The movie stars Scarlett Johansson, Ilana Glazer, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell and Zoe Kravitz as a group of friends who gather for a weekend-long bachelorette bash. Lucia Aniello directed the film.

Similary, shark thriller 47 Meters Down, starring Mandy Moore and Claire Holt, the first major title from independent distributor Entertainment Studios, is now swimming toward the $10 million range, ahead of intitial projections of about $6 million.

June 16, 12:35 pm: Updated to include early Friday estimates.

Box Office: ‘Cars 3’ Cruises Toward $50M-Plus Weekend; Tupac Biopic ‘All Eyez on Me’ Could Top $35M – Hollywood Reporter