The Covenant scares up the box office this weekend

Supernatural powers, a murderous cover-up, a powerful protector and a fresh batch of predictions. That's what you can expect in this weeks' edition of the Weekend Preview. Hi there, I'm Charles Jurries, the man responsible for the mess you are about to see. In the next few paragraphs we're going to take a look at the films opening up at the box office this weekend, with some snark thrown in to keep things interesting. Then I'm going to give you my predictions for how well the films will do this weekend. Then, as always, we leave the door open to you to make some predictions of your own. If we ever get some additional predictions, we'll include those in our signature Weekend Recap and together we'll find out who of us is better at guessing these kinds of things. Now, let's take a look at the films opening up at the box office this weekend.

The Covenant - A long time ago, five families with "untold power" formed a covenant of silence. One family, "lusting for more," was banished; their "bloodline disappearing without a trace - until now." (Scary) The Sons of Ipswich, four young students at the elite Spencer Academy who are bound by their ancient ancestry, use their powers for... studying? Whatever. When the body of a dead student is discovered after a party, somehow the covenant of silence is threatened to break that has protected these magical/demonic families for years. Probably because one of the Sons of Ipswich kills that student. It's kind of like a grown-up version of The Craft, only with guys! Starring Steven Strait, Sebastian Stan, Taylor Kitsch, Toby Hemingway and Laura Ramsey.

Hollywoodland - In 1959, Tinseltown was stunned by the dead by actor George Reeves, the man who played Superman on television. He was killed by a single gunshot wound, an apparent suicide. But his grieving mother will not let the questionable circumstances around his death go unaddressed. After the LAPD closed the case, mom hired a private detective to discover more about Reeves' death. It's a twisted investigation that includes a powerful studio executive, a torrid affair and cover-ups. The detective also discovers unexpected connections to his own life as the case becomes more personal. Starring Adrien Brody, Diane Lane, Bob Hoskins and Ben Affleck.

The Protector - Meet Kham. (Hi, Kham.) Kham's life is all screwed up when an international mafia syndicate captures his two beloved elephants and smuggles them thousands of miles away to Sydney, Australia. (Yes, that's the plot of the movie. No joke.) But these aren't any ordinary elephants. No, they were to be presented as a token of devotion to his Majesty the King of Thailand. And so, to save the elephants, Khan must travel around and save his family's honor by using martial arts to defeat hundreds of bad guys. (How plausible!) Somehow, a Sergeant and a sex slave get involved to help defeat the evil Madame Rose gang. So they're using two animals as the basis of a martial arts film? I want to cry. This action film stars Tony Jaa, Petchthai Wongkamlao, Bongkot Kongmalia, Jing Xing and Johnny Nguyen.

Time now for our weekly predictions. Each week we place our bets on what films will land in what spot in the top five for the overall weekend. Then we estimate how much money that particular film will bring in over those three days. What films will do good? Who will lose? Let's find out right now in our Predictions:

1. Hollywoodland, $10-$15 million. I'm going out on a limb by predicting this film will take the stop spot. After all, it's a gritty noir film that's clearly formulated for an Oscar nod. Nevertheless, I think it has enough intrigue and appeal to take the top spot at the box office.

2. Invincible, $8-10 million. This film has been getting pretty good word-of-mouth, which always helps to keep a movie around the cinemas for a long time. Plus, it's more attractive looking than the newcomers we previewed today.

3. The Covenant, $8-$10 million. We compared this film (unfairly) to The Craft. That doesn't really matter much, except we spent about 15 minutes on the web trying to recall the name of the film. Hopefully, the covenant sons aren't as bratty as the Craft sisters.

4. Little Miss Sunshine, $7-8 million. Really, where else can this film go? It's not like Little Miss Sunshine faces stiff competition this weekend.

5. The Protector, $6-8 million. Martial arts are usually a big draw at the box office. Usually. And usually the "plot" of such films doesn't matter. But ELEPHANTS?!?! What is this, a Rush Hour film? Is Chris Tucker making a cameo? Elephants as a main plot point... please!


Do you think you have what it takes to make these kinds of predictions? Can you call the shots better than TDIN? If so, leave us your predictions in the comments (please leave a name) and we'll compare predictions over the weekend. And that's going to do it for the Preview this week. Thanks for stopping by and we hope you'll drop by this site regularly throughout the week for news stories that you may have missed below-the-fold. Until then, stay safe and remember: nobody likes their picture taken early in the morning.