Box Office Forecast: Resident Evil 5 brings out the big guns

This weekend Resident Evil: Retribution and Finding Nemo 3D aim to bring people back into theaters with something for zombie fans and families alike. Now Resident Evil might not be anything to write home about but these films make money, and so we get sequels after sequels, whether we like it or not.

Just two years ago Paul W.S. Anderson shoved Resident Evil: Afterlife onto the big screen and, like magic, money appeared in his pockets. That film opened with $26.6 million (a record for the series) and went on to gross $296.2 million worldwide. So obviously Paul here got a chance to make a 5th entry that he called Resident Evil: Retribution. We have Milla Jovovich back kicking ass as Alice, the overpowered heroine of these films. Since not much has changed here and we have 3D once more, Resident Evil: Retribution will probably finish the weekend with $27 million, that’s good enough for the #1 spot. With the game series this is loosely based on getting a new entry (Resident Evil 6) in just a few weeks, the movie might get a bump from that too.

The 3D re-release of Finding Nemo is another thing that we get this weekend in no less than 2904 theaters (almost as much as Resident Evil). Why do we need this? Well a year ago The Lion King 3D debuted to an incredible $30.2 million but The Beauty and the Beast, the subsequent film Disney decided to re-release, only came in at $17.8 back in January this year. Finding Nemo 3 should at the very least top Beauty and the Beast and at best score $25 million. We average those two numbers and get $21.5 million, very good for 2nd place.

Former leader The Possession might take about $4.5 million for a possible total of almost $40 million. Lawless is set to come in 4th with $4 million while rounding out the top 5 should be The Expendables 2 at $3 million.

Next week comes with four new releases, found footage cop drama End of Watch, comic book adaptation Dredd, thriller House at the End of the Street starring Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and last but not least, drama Trouble with the Curve, Clint Eastwood’s triumphant return to acting (hopefully).