PREDICTED WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

There's just one week left to go before the summer movie season officially kicks off with the highly anticipated release of Iron Man 2. There's really only one new film that is sure to make a slash at the box office this weekend and that's director Samuel Bayer's re-imagining of the classic 1984 horror film A Nightmare On Elm Street. Oscar Award nominee Jackie Earle Haley takes over the iconic role from the character's originator Robert Englund and is joined by actress Rooney Mara (Dare) as Nancy Thompson, and actors Kyle Gallner (The Haunting In Connecticut and Thomas Dekker (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles). Michael Bay's production company Platinum Dunes has made a habit recently of taking contemporary classic horror films and trying to convert them into darker and more realistic horror movies for the next generation. It began in 2003 with their re-imagining of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the company has continued to make one remake after another out of beloved horror films like The Amityville Horror, The Hitcher and Friday the 13th. While most of those films did manage to eek out a decent box office total, none of them were able to capture the fan's love and excitement for the franchises the way the originals did. Since the announcement of this new remake, fans have been skeptical about whether the filmmakers would be able to capture that magic of the original.

In fact, in deep contrast to the excitement that comic book fans had when Haley was cast in the iconic role of Rorschach in Watchmen, horror fans were less than happy when they heard that he had been cast in the iconic role of Freddy Krueger. Complaints from, "He's too short," to "He's too serious for the role," started to surface. But things went from bad to worse when early film tests appeared revealing the look of the new Freddy and complaints came out about the make-up, that it was too realistic and did not show enough of the characters eyes. However, currently the film has thirty-two fans on our site and is tracking with an average rating of 4.0. So far, thirty-nine people have rated the film and twenty of them have given it five stars. The trailer is also tracking well with over 47,000 views.

Here is what one of our readers had to say about the new film, "I saw the original a few weeks ago and it is a good classic type of movie but this movie takes it to a new level, which I think is legit. I like the dark side of this film and a more serious Freddy. The original was good but this one looks way better." With all of that said, the film does promises to be a darker and more disturbing version of the original and is predicted to take the number one spot on the charts this weekend with an estimated $35.6 million. That should make Warner Bros. executives happy considering the film's purported $27 million production cost, as the film will earn that back in it's opening weekend.

Predicted to fall one space from last week is DreamWorks Animation's fire-breathing hit, How to Train Your Dragon. The film, which stars Gerard Butler, Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill and Kristen Wiig as of last weekend had already earned $178 million in just five weeks on the charts, surpassing it's $165 million production cost. The film premiered at number one during its debut week but then dropped down to the lower part of the top five, where it stayed until two weeks ago when it bounced back to duke it out with Kick-Ass for the number one spot. While it ultimately came in second that weekend in a photo finish, it finally retained the top spot last week out of nowhere in it's fifth week on the charts.

The film currently has thirty fans on our site and is receiving an average rating of 4.7, while the trailer had over 9,000 views. Predicted to debut at number three this weekend is the children's animal comedy Furry Vengeance starring Brendan Fraser and Brooke Shields. The film is predicted to earn around $8.9 million in it's opening weekend. Unfortunately, the film has only four fans on our site and is receiving an average rating of 2.2, however the trailer has received over 3,000 views. Sliding down two spaces from last week is superstar Jennifer Lopez's comedy The Back-Up Plan. The film, which also stars Alex O'Loughlin is predicted to earn another $7 million this weekend. The film earned $12.2 million last week and still has a ways to go if it wants to recoup its purported $35 million budget. While the film only has ten fans on our site it is receiving an average rating of 3.3 and the trailer has received almost 4,000 views. Predicted to round off the top five this weekend is the Steve Carell & Tina Fey comedy Date Night, which is predicted to earn another $6.6 million this weekend. As of last weekend, the film had already grossed a total of around $49.2 million in only three weeks, just shy of its $55 million purported production cost. The film currently has only thirteen fans on our site but has received an average rating of 4.0 and has had over 7,000 views of it's trailer

The rest of the top ten films at the box office this weekend are predicted to look like this. The 3D remake of the classic '80s Greek-mythology film Clash of the Titans starring Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes is predicted to stay at the same position it was last week, number six and earn an estimated $5 million. As of last weekend, the films total gross was around $132 million, already surpassing it's $125 million purported production cost. Coming in at number seven is predicted to be Matthew Vaughn's adaptation of Mark Millar's extremely popular comic book series, Kick-Ass. The film, which stars Nicolas Cage, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Chloe Moretz is predicted to drop two spots from last week but will still earn another $5 million at the box office. This should bring the film's total gross to around $40 million in just three weeks, earning a nice profit based on the film's $30 million purported production cost.

The adaptation of the extremely popular DC Comics/Vertigo graphic novel, The Losers starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Columbus Short and Jason Patric is predicted to drop four spots to number eight this week, earning another $4.7 million. Unfortunately, that will still bring the film's total gross in two weeks to well under it's $25 million purported production cost. The remake of the British comedy Death At A Funeral starring Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan, James Marsden, Luke Wilson, Zoe Saldana and Columbus Short is predicted to drop two spots to number nine this week and earn an estimated $4.1 million. Currently the film has grossed around $30 million in three weeks of release but has already made a nice profit considering its $21 million purported production cost.

Finally, predicted to take the tenth spot on the box office charts this week is the latest nature film from Walt Disney Studios, Oceans, narrated by Pierce Brosnan. The documentary surprisingly premiered at the number eight spot last week and is estimated to earn another $3.4 million at the box office this weekend. The film has earned around $10 million in its first week but it will have a ways to go if it wants to breakeven, seeing as the film supposedly cost around $80 million to produce. Be sure to check out Box Office Beat Down this Sunday to see who is crowned the King of the box office and check back here next week for more box office predictions!