Can Jack Reacher 2 Take Out The Accountant at the Box Office?

This weekend is shaping up to be the busiest of the year so far at the box office, with four new movies hitting theaters in wide release. At one point, it was even supposed to be five new movies arriving wide, until Focus Features pushed its highly-anticipatedA Monster Callsto an awards season friendly date of December 23. Last weekend’s winnerThe Accountantwill now square off against Paramount’sJack Reacher: Never Go Back, Universal’sOuija: Origin of Evil, 20th Century Fox’sKeeping Up With the Jonesesand Lionsgate’sBoo! A Madea Halloween. We’re predicting that theaction-packedsequelJack Reacher: Never Go Backwill come out on top with $20.2 million.

Box Office Mojoreports thatJack Reacher: Never Go Backwill debut in approximately 3,500 theaters, the highest roll-out of any other new release, withOuija: Origins of Evilarriving in 3,100 theaters,Keeping Up With the Jonesesdebuting in 3,000 theaters andBoo! A Madea Halloweenarriving in 2,150 theaters. As of now,Ouija: Origin of Evilis the only new release with enoughmovie reviewsto warrant a TomatoMeter score, with an impressive 86% Fresh rating. It remains to be seen how kindly the nation’s critics will receive the other three new releases.

IfJack Reacher: Never Go Backdoes hit this projection, it will open with roughly $5 million more than its predecessor, 2012’sJack Reacher. ThatLee Childadaptation opened with $15.2 million in a crowded December frame that also featured the debuts ofThis Is 40,The Guilt Tripand the 3D re-release ofMonsters Inc., all of which were defeated byThe Hobbitin its second weekend.Jack Reacherwould go on to earn $80 million domestically and $218.3 million worldwide from a $60 million budget. We’re predicting thatThe Accountantdrops to second place with $13.4 million, with the top 5 rounded out by the rest of the new releasesOuija: Origin of Evil($12.5 million),Keeping Up with the Joneses($11.6 million) andBoo! A Madea Halloween($9.4 million).

Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) returns with his particular brand of justice in the highly anticipated sequelJack Reacher: Never Go Back. When Army Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), who heads Reacher’s old investigative unit, is arrested for Treason, Reacher will stop at nothing to prove her innocence and to uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy involving soldiers who are being killed. Based uponJack Reacher: Never Go Back, authorLee Child’s 18th novel in the best-selling Jack Reacher series, that has seen 100 million books sold worldwide.

Inviting audiences again into the lore of the spirit board,Ouija 2tells a terrifying new tale as the follow-up to 2014’s sleeper hit that opened at number one. In 1965 Los Angeles, a widowed mother and her two daughters add a new stunt to bolster their séance scam business and unwittingly invite authentic evil into their home. When the youngest daughter is overtaken by the merciless spirit, this small family confronts unthinkable fears to save her and send her possessor back to the other side. The cast includesDoug Jones,Elizabeth Reaser,Henry Thomas,Kate Siegel,Lin ShayeandAnnalise Basso.

Keeping Up With the Jonesesfollows an ordinary suburban couple (Zach Galifianakis,Isla Fisher) who finds it’s not easy keeping up with the Joneses (Jon Hamm,Gal Gadot) - their impossibly gorgeous and ultra-sophisticated new neighbors - especially when they discover that Mr. and Mrs. “Jones” are covert operatives. The supporting cast of this action-comedy includesMaribeth Monroe,Ming Zhao,Jeff Chase,Cullen Moss,Kristi VonandDennise Renae Larson.Greg Mottola(Paul) directs from a script byMichael LeSieur(You, Me and Dupree).

InBoo! A Madea Halloween, Madea winds up in the middle of mayhem when she spends a hilarious, haunted Halloween fending off killers, paranormal poltergeists, ghosts, ghouls, and zombies while keeping a watchful eye on a group of misbehaving teens.Tyler Perryreturns as Madea, with a supporting cast that includesBella Thorne,Cassi Davis,Andre Hall,Diamond White,Jimmy TatroandKian Lawley.Tyler Perrydirects from his own script, which was inspired by the fictitious Madea Halloween movie inChris Rock’s filmTop Five. Lionsgate then approachedPerryand suggested that they make the movie for real.

The top 10 will be rounded out byKevin Hart: What Now?($6.1 million),The Girl on the Train($5.8 million),Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children($4.9 million),Deepwater Horizon$3.2 million) andStorks($2.9 million). Also opening in limited release is Lionsgate’sAmerican Pastoral, Freestyle Releasing’sAutumn Lights, Kino Lorber’s documentaryFire at Sea, Independent’sGood Kids, Magnolia’sThe Handmaiden, Focus World’sIn a Valley of Violence, A24’sMoonlightand Drafthouse’sWe Are X. It isn’t known if any of those films will expand nationwide in the weeks to come.

Looking ahead to next week, Sony Pictures’Inferno, the third Robert Langdon adventure starringTom Hanks, will be the only movie arriving in wide release. Magnolia’s documentaryGimme Danger, FIP’s dramaAe Dil Hai Mushkil, Argentum’s romanceNew Lifeand Paladin’s horror-thrillerThe Unspokenwill debut in limited release. Be sure to check back on Sunday for the box office estimates, and again on Tuesday for next week’s wave of predictions. Until then, take a look at our projected top 10 for the weekend of October 21.