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Hollywood is hoping that the return of Matt Damon as the mysterious Jason Bourne and the female-laden comedy Bad Moms drives traffic to multiplexes this weekend.
There’s also the thriller Nerve, which is targeting younger moviegoers.
Universal’s Jason Bourne — reuniting Damon with director Paul Greengrass — should easily claim the box-office title with a domestic debut in the $50 million-$60 million range. The movie begins rolling out Thursday night before playing in a total of 4,025 theaters on Friday. Damon, star of the first three movies in the successful spy-assassin franchise, sat out the last film, The Bourne Legacy (2012), as did Greengrass.
The $120 million action pic reveals what happens when Damon’s character unexpectedly resurfaces amid global turmoil, and just as a new government program has been created to hunt him down while he tries to recover all of his memories. Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassel, Julia Stiles and Riz Ahmed also star.
Prerelease tracking shows that males are most interested in Jason Bourne.
But women will hardly be left out, thanks to STX Entertainment’s Bad Moms, the R-rated comedy boasting an ensemble cast led by Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Christina Applegate, Kathryn Hahn, Jay Hernandez, Clark Duke, Annie Mumolo and Jada Pinkett Smith.
Jon Lucas and Scott Moore directed and wrote Bad Moms, which should open north of $20 million in a boost for R-rated comedies, as well as STX.
Costing roughly $20 million to make, Lionsgate’s Nerve is expected to gross $12 million-$15 million over its five-day debut after hitting theaters everywhere on Wednesday following Tuesday-night previews, which brought in a strong $1.1 million from 1,700 theaters.
The techno-survival film, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, stars Emma Roberts and Dave Franco as two young strangers caught up in a dangerous truth-or-dare video game. Juliette Lewis also stars.
July 27, 9:30 a.m. Updated with Tuesday-night grosses for Nerve.
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