Summer is when Hollywood studios roll out their heavyweight contenders and look for knockouts. There are 41 movies set for wide release between May and August this year, and the overall box office is expected to exceed last year’s $4.3 billion.
With so many releases -- and we're not counting the indies -- the studios have been forced to schedule some high-profile and pricey movies up against each other.
That’s good news for moviegoers. It means there's a little more variety than last summer, which was superhero-saturated and saw “The Avengers,” “Dark Knight Rises” and “The Amazing Spider-Man” rank as the top three movies.
See photos: 60 Summer Movies Looking for Your Box Office Bucks
But for the studios, it seriously raises the competitive bar and financial stakes. Paramount’s “Star Trek Into Darkness” was the only wide release last weekend, but things are getting crazy crowded now.
Will college students spark more to a third dose of Wolfpack debauchery, or a sixth lap of dynamite downshifting? Who will teenagers find cooler, Gru’s minions or Johnny Depp’s Tonto? Can Brad Pitt and zombies punch out Pixar?
Here are breakdowns on five of the best multiplex matchups:
"The Hangover III" vs. "Fast and Furious 6": Memorial Day Weekend
The summer’s first major smackdown -- with young men the target audience -- could be its best.
Warner Bros. showed how badly it wants to win when it moved the opening of its comedy “Hangover III” up a day. That could mean the Wolfpack will wind up with around the same $100 million for the long holiday weekend that Vin Diesel should drive for Universal. And it could help both films.
As “Hangover” director Todd Phillips said at CinemaCon, “I think people will go to two movies in five days.” "Hangover III" will be the summer's first big comedy, but the Justin Lin-directed action film has more momentum coming in: “Fast Five” was the franchise’s biggest earner. With Fox targeting the family crowd and rolling out the animated “Epic” on the same weekend, it could be a record-breaking holiday.
Advantage: “Fast and Furious 6.”
“The Internship” vs. “This Is Is the End”: June 12
Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson reteam for the first time since “The Wedding Crashers" as displaced-by-digital salesmen who land jobs as Google interns in the Fox comedy "The Internship.”
It opens a few days earlier on June 7 and could have a broader base because it's PG. But Sony's “This Is the End” will have the last laugh if the social media buzz surrounding Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen's R-rated raunch and gore-fest translates to box office. James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel and Michael Cera play obnoxious versions of themselves dealing with the apocalypse -- at a party.
Advantage: “This Is the End.”
“Monsters University” vs. “World War Z”: June 21
There’s no reason to think “Monsters” won’t be the 14th Pixar movie in a row to open at No. 1. It was 12 years ago, but the original “Monsters” made $255 million in the U.S., and this time Disney will get the benefit of a 3D pricing boost.
Paramount’s zombie invasion film “World War Z” has endured production delays, overruns that have driven its budget to $200 million and a re-shot ending. Still, the Max Brooks novel upon which it is based was a huge bestseller. That will draw fans of the book and Pitt’s box-office track record on high-profile projects is solid. But early projections have “Monsters University” opening to $70 million, and “World War Z” roughly $40 million.
Advantage: “Monsters University.”
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