'Maleficent' expected to top 'A Million Ways to Die in the West' in box office battle

'Maleficent' expected to top 'A Million Ways to Die in the West' in box office battle

Angelina Jolie as an evil queen will trump the Seth MacFarlane ode to the Old West.

The summer box office battle is already heating up, with a Disney fantasy set to take on a raunchy western. Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie as a scorned queen, is expected to rule the weekend while A Million Ways to Die in the West will have to settle for third place.

Disney’s PG-rated live-action take on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale will open in 3,948 locations on Friday, including 3D and IMAX theaters. Despite mixed reviews, Maleficent is projected to take in $58 million in its debut weekend.

Keith Staskiewicz of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B-, saying: “The characters are boiled down to their essentials, the humor is timelessly broad, and Jolie’s at her best when she’s curling her claws and elongating her vowels like a black-sabbath Tallulah Bankhead. Unfortunately, the story is more than a bit of a muddle, a string of sequences that shuttle the characters back and forth between the film’s sole two locations, a castle and a magic forest.”

Poor reviews are not likely to keep families away from a brand-new Disney movie, so Maleficent is certain to rank at the top of the box office charts this weekend, far ahead of the competition.

The major debut from last weekend, X-Men: Days of Future Past is expected to drop more than 50 percent, coming in at second place with $40 million. The film has already made more than $346.4 million worldwide.

That brings us to the other major debut of the weekend, A Million Ways to Die in the West. This R-rated ode to the Old West directed by Seth MacFarlane depends on a star-studded cast and crude humor to draw in audiences. Big names in starring roles include Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi and Neil Patrick Harris, plus several high-profile cameos. Unfortunately, the film has not gotten great reviews and has a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 39 percent, which is why A Million Ways to Die in the West is projected to bring in just $25 million in its first week for a third place finish.

Rounding out the top five will be Godzilla, which is expected to take a 60 percent drop and bring in another $10 million to take fourth place. Coming in fifth could be Blended with $7 million in weekend two or Neighbors, now entering its fourth weekend.

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