Weekend Forecast: ‘Night School,’ ‘Smallfoot,’ & ‘Hell Fest’ Set to Close Out September Box Office In Healthy Fashion

September comes to a close this weekend, and Universal’s Night School is hoping to attract an under-served audience with a first place opening. Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish will go a long way toward helping that happen, especially the latter whose star is quickly rising after the breakout success of last year’s Girls Trip and a role in this summer’s Uncle Drew. Tracking for the film suggests a debut north of Boo! A Madea Halloween ($28.5 million) is achievable, while metrics are fairly similar to those of Hart’s own Get Hard ($33.8 million).

Warner Bros. will aim to capture the runner-up spot this weekend with Smallfoot eyeing a debut around $20 million or more. Opening one week after the successful debut of The House With A Clock In Its Walls could hinder breakout potential, but as the first major animated film to open in over two months, there’s still reason to believe it can perform along the lines of WB’s recent September flicks like Storks ($21.3 million) and The LEGO Ninjago Movie ($20.4 million) — which would be a very healthy start in the grand scheme of things.

Meanwhile, Hell Fest is looking to get a jump on the Halloween horror market. The low-budget film is tracking for a debut in the mid-to-upper single digit millions, which would be enough to qualify it as a success for Lionsgate and CBS Films.

Pinnacle Peak’s Little Women will open on 643 screens this weekend, likely positioning it outside the top ten.

Top 10 v. Last Year

Boxoffice projects this weekend’s top ten films will earn approximately $100 million. That would represent a 25 percent increase from the same weekend last year, when American Made and Flatliners opened wide behind holdovers Kingsman: The Golden Circle and It as part of an $80.3 million top ten market.

Weekend Forecast

Film Distributor 3-Day Weekend Forecast Projected Domestic Total through Sunday, September 30 % Change from Last Wknd
Night School Universal $30,000,000 $30,000,000 NEW
Smallfoot Warner Bros. $22,500,000 $22,500,000 NEW
The House With A Clock In Its Walls Universal $14,300,000 $46,000,000 -46%
A Simple Favor Lionsgate $6,700,000 $43,000,000 -35%
Hell Fest Lionsgate / CBS Films $5,600,000 $5,600,000 NEW

Contact us for information about subscribing to Boxoffice’s complete suite of forecasting and data services.