Prediction: Halloween won't break the $20 million barrier

And everyone who goes and see's it will hate it and ask for their money back!

By Matt Holmes /

A new feature here for a Thursday. I'm going to take a look at the movie's to be released at the weekend and see what their chances of success are and predict how well they are going to perform at the box office. Basically, it's the last chance we get to talk about the movies we have followed all the way through production to their eventual release and we can reflect on how they have shaped up in response to our first predictions. Last week I was only one million out with Superbad's second week at first place, though I over-estimated how popular War would be and under-estimated Bean's return. Let's take a look at this week's new releases...

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HALLOWEEN - directed by Rob Zombie (The Devil's Rejects) Matt originally said (Sept. 2006)...
I like that he is going to try and make the character of Myers genuinely scary again but I€™m not to sure if making him the main character of the piece will work. A Nightmare on Elm Street sequels tried that by making Krueger the main character and it never worked as it made the villain more friendly and made you care very little about the people he was murdering.Still I wish this remake wasn€™t happening. I mean they can remake The Hills Have Eyes or When A Stranger Calls anytime they like because even though it shows a complete lack of originality from Hollywood, I haven€™t got much vested interest in their source material. But Halloween is different. It€™s a classic. It€™s one that shouldn€™t be messed with. You can€™t remake Halloween, just like you couldn€™t remake The Omen or The Wicker Man and make it good. I guess we have a whole year to get use to the fact that one of the best horror movies of all time is going to be remade, as it€™s due to hit our screens Halloween 07.
Matt says August 2007:

Well it's finally upon us with the strange August release for a horror movie titled Halloween after it was frightened away from October by Saw IV. I'm so strongly against this movie that I don't think I can honestly put it into words. There is just simply no way this movie is going to work and be anything more than a mindless slasher film which has no 1% of the ingenuity of John Carpenter's film. Halloween may have a cult following but I'm hoping they have been turned off by what Rob Zombie has done to their beloved film and with the failures that were Grindhouse, Hostel: Part II and nearly every other horror movie that's opened this year, we can only hope for a rough ride for this movie. Zombie's movies have never been a box office draw, so I think anything more than $20 million is just fantasy.

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Prediction: $19 million - FIRST PLACE

BALLS OF FURY - directed by Ben Garant (Reno 911: Miami) Matt says:
Surprisingly this outrageous supporting comedy doesn't star Will Ferrell but the Dan Fogler led movie will be looking for the same kind of audience. The movie about a former ping-pong champion being recruited by the CIA is extremely dumb sounding and the trailer for this was hideous. Put that alongside the CV of the director whose Reno 911: Miami which opened to $10 million last year and looked equally as bad as this, I'm thinking this will do around the same.
Prediciton: $13 million - SECOND PLACE

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DEATH SENTENCE - directed by James Wan (Saw) Matt originally said upon viewing the trailer (July 2007)... Can€™t say I€™m all that impressed to be honest. There doesn€™t seem to be a believability factor their to me. Kevin Bacon just keeps looking around asking himself €œhow did I end up in this flick?€. Matt says:
Death Sentence would seem to be the smart choice if you wanted to go the cinema this weekend. The movie which is getting big advertising in the U.K. is about a father who seeks out revenge on a crime gang after his family is attacked. Kevin Bacon plays said father in what is Saw helmer James Wan's second movie this year after Dead Silence. The thriller will be hoping to gather the audience that are turned off by Halloween but I don't think this will have enough wide appeal for people, either in terms of the cast or genre... as this is almost like a Charles Bronson 70's/80's thriller.
Prediction - $7 million - FIFTH PLACE MATTS PREDICTIONS FOR THE WEEKEND1 Halloween (2007) $19M 2 Balls of Fury (2007) $13M 3 Superbad (2007) $11M 4 The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) $8M 5 Death Sentence (2007) $7M