GRAVITY LIKELY TO SINK CAPTAIN PHILLIPS AT BOX OFFICE

Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks, may be piling up some glowing reviews, with several of them suggesting that it will be on everyone’s list of potential Oscar contenders, but box-office pundits say it is unlikely to unseat Gravity as the No. 1 film this weekend. Ironically, the film, based on the true story about the crew of a ship being taken hostage by Somali rebels, is opening one year to the day of the premiere of Argo, another hostage true story. That film opened with $19.5 million, and Captain Phillips is expected to collect a similar amount. Gravity, however, which debuted well ahead of expectations last weekend and has been performing strongly during midweek, is expected to wind up with about $40-45 million in its second weekend. Also opening this weekend if Robert Rodriguez’s Machete Kills, a sequel to his 2007 movie Machete which originally was screened as half of a double feature released as Grindhouse. (It was released on its own in 2010.) The first film, however, tanked, and the new film is not expected to produce more than $7-10 million in ticket sales.