LOS ANGELES — “Safe Haven” will find no refuge at the box office this weekend, as the latest “Die Hard” movie is set to annihilate the competition.
“A Good Day to Die Hard,” the fifth installment in the Bruce Willis action franchise, is expected to gross a robust $55 million by Monday evening, according to those who have seen pre-release audience surveys. 20th Century Fox, which released the film in theaters late Wednesday evening, is anticipating a softer opening of about $40 million.
Either way, the weekend’s other three nationwide debuts won’t stand a chance at securing the No. 1 position. Romance author Nicholas Sparks’ eighth film adaptation, “Safe Haven,” will probably collect about $25 million during its first five days in theaters — a good start for a film that cost less than three times as much to make than the fifth “Die Hard.”
Another film aimed at young women, “Beautiful Creatures,” could prove to be a rival for “Safe Haven,” as the supernatural romance may take in about $22 million over the long weekend. The animated 3-D film “Escape from Planet Earth,” the only new movie debuting on Friday instead of Thursday, is set to gross about $19 million during its first four days of release.
“A Good Day to Die Hard,” financed by Fox for about $92 million, follows Willis’ John McClane character as he teams up with his long-estranged CIA agent son (Jai Courtney) in Moscow. The picture is set to have the best opening of any “Die Hard” movie since the series launched in 1988.
The highest-grossing film in the franchise, “Live Free or Die Hard,” started off with $33.4 million in June 2007 and went on to collect $134.5 million domestically. That movie also sold about 65 percent of its total global gross — $383.5 million — overseas. The latest “Die Hard” has already debuted in seven foreign markets, including South Korea and Hong Kong, and collected a total of $10.4 million.