Last week, it looked like this weekend would see Scarlett Johansson and androids in Ghost in the Shell facing off with Emma Watson and a swanky, motion-captured monster in Beauty and the Beast. In speaking about the showdown last weekend, I added that Dreamworks' The Boss Baby could put some pressure on Beauty and the Beast in the kids/early teens demographic. Well, as it turns out, The Boss Baby is looking like the biggest title at the box office right now, putting Ghost in the Shell in third place and also keeping Beauty and the Beast at bay.

beauty-and-the-beast-emma-watson-luke-evans
Image via Disney

At least that's what the Friday numbers have been bearing out thus far. Though Ghost in the Shell did the best on Thursday, it brought in a surprisingly meager $7.6 million on Friday, distancing the opener from Boss Baby's impressive $15.5 million take and Beauty's $13 million. Originally marked for a low $40 million total for the weekend, The Boss Baby now looks to be closer to $50 million and maybe even more, meaning that it's very possible that it could dethrone Beauty in the Disney film's third frame, where it's looking at a high $40 million take by the end of Sunday. This would put The Boss Baby in the same realm as previous DreamWorks Animation hits like 2015's insufferable Home and last year's bizarre Trolls adaptation as far as opening weekend expectations.

One should expect Kong: Skull Island ($2.3 million) and Power Rangers ($4 million) to take the fourth and fifth spot, sending Logan and Life tumbling down into the lower half of the top ten alongside Get Out, CHIPS, and low-level openers like The Zookeeper's Wife. As for Ghost in the Shell, many may try to pin this on the fact that the movie's whitewashing problem caused its dip but that doesn't exactly make sense to me. Whitewashing is still hugely acceptable by the majority of moviegoers and one does not need charts or graphs to prove that. The problem is that the movie looks like dozens of other movies at this point and the fact that it's adapted from a classic means little to most people who buy the tickets. The original Ghost in the Shell's influence has been felt for so long that a live-action reimagining just doesn't quite thrill anymore. A talking baby cartoon, on the other hand...

power-rangers-movie-cast
Image via Lionsgate
tom-hiddleston-kong-skull-island
Image via Warner Bros.
ghost-in-the-shell-image-scarlett-johansson
Image via Paramount Pictures