r/BoxOffice Long Range Forecast: 'Dog Man' and 'Companion'
Happy New Year, r/BoxOffice!
Welcome to the newest edition of r/BoxOffice Long Range Forecast.
We're making long range predictions for films, 4 weeks out from their premieres. You will predict the opening weekend, domestic total and worldwide gross of these films. These predictions will be open for 48 hours and the results will be polled to form a consensus and posted the next week.
So let's meet the two films for the week and analyze each film's pros and cons.
Dog Man
The film is directed by Peter Hastings. It is based on Dav Pilkey's children's graphic novel series Dog Man, and it's a spin-off and story within a story of Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie. The film stars the voices of Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher, Poppy Liu, Stephen Root, Billy Boyd and Ricky Gervais. When a human police officer named Knight and his dog Greg are injured together on the job, a life-saving surgery changes the course of history when Dog Man is born. Dog Man must protect and serve as he doggedly pursues the feline Petey the Cat, but the unexpected arrival of Li'l Petey changes their dynamic.
Companion
The film is written and directed by Drew Hancock (Fred 3: Camp Fred), and stars Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén and Rupert Friend. A billionaire's death sets off a chain of events for Iris and her friends during a weekend trip to his lakeside estate.
Now that you met this week's new releases, let's look at some pros and cons.
PROS
The Dog Man books are quite popular with kids, which is a huge advantage for the film adaptation. It's also following a unique style like Captain Underpants; no surprise given that this is described as a spin-off. This will also be the first animated film since Moana 2, and one whole month since Mufasa and Sonic 3, so it could find an audience.
The Companion trailer is intriguing. It offered enough solid thrills, without spoiling the plot. The trailers are highlighting Barbarian, given Zach Cregger's involvement as producer. Fans of thrillers might want to check this out.
CONS
Given that Dog Man is a spin-off of Captain Underpants, we have to use it as a comparison at the box office instead of other DreamWorks titles. That film made $126 million worldwide back in 2017, which is fine, but it's a far cry from the other DreamWorks hits. So what can we expect here? As long as the budget is low, it can justify a low gross.
Companion doesn't spoil the plot, because the trailer didn't really explain what the plot was. The audience wants an idea of what they will pay, and it's weird how the film is just one month away and there's still no trailer that gives a basic idea of the story. The film is also competing for thriller fans, having to fight with Presence, Flight Risk and next week's Love Hurts and Heart Eyes.
And here's the past results.
| Movie | Release Date | Distributor | Domestic Debut | Domestic Total | Worldwide Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Den of Thieves 2: Pantera | January 10 | Lionsgate | $15,172,727 | $44,054,545 | $80,077,272 |
| Better Man | January 10 | Paramount | $4,820,000 | $14,005,000 | $64,655,000 |
| Wolf Man | January 17 | Universal | $21,209,090 | $63,463,636 | $132,863,363 |
| One of Them Days | January 17 | Sony | $6,860,000 | $21,320,000 | $29,500,000 |
| September 5 | January 17 | Paramount | $1,525,714 | $4,800,000 | $11,371,428 |
| Flight Risk | January 24 | Lionsgate | $7,725,000 | $22,181,250 | $40,256,250 |
| Presence | January 24 | Neon | $4,133,333 | $11,583,333 | $17,850,000 |
| Inheritance | January 24 | IFC Films | $2,850,000 | $8,064,285 | $16,071,428 |
Next week, we'll predict Love Hurts and Heart Eyes.
Before you comment, read these two rules:
1. Please provide specific numbers for your predictions. Don't do like "It'll make less than this or that" or "double this movie or half this movie". We want a real prediction.
2. Given that a lot of parent comments do not even bother to give predictions, we are establishing a new rule. The parent comment must provide a prediction with specific numbers. The rest of the replies to the comment do not have to make a prediction, but the parent comment absolutely has to. Any parent comment without a prediction will be eliminated.
So what are your predictions for these films?