HERCULES TO MUSCLE HIS WAY INTO THEATERS THIS WEEKEND

Only one movie is debuting in theaters this weekend, while four others are expanding into wide release. The newcomer is The Legend of Hercules, and it’s not expected to show much, er, strength. In fact, box-office pundits indicate that it’s not likely even to nab $10 million, despite having the advantage of 3D surcharges. The film that could break through this weekend, they say, is the war movie Lone Survivor. which has been playing in just two theaters since Christmas Day and chalking up some impressive ticket sales. According to the forecasts, it will likely earn around $20-25 million this weekend. Coming in second will almost certainly be Disney’s Frozen, now in its seventh week. With no other family film on the marquees, the movie should earn around $15-20 million, they say. Third place should go to The Wolf of Wall Street, which actually rose to No. 1 at the box office on Tuesday and Wednesday and is forecast to earn around $8-12 million this week, eking out a victory over The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which is expected to earn a similar amount. Three films that have attracted Oscar notice and strong reviews in limited release will expand this weekend, but their core audiences have probably already seen them. They are Her, which will likely earn around $8-10 million and August: Osage County and Inside Llewyn Davis, which will likely settle for around $3-5 million each.