Box-Office Preview: ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ to Rule Labor Day

Warner Bros.’ Crazy Rich Asians is poised to rule the final weekend of summer 2018 with one of the best Labor Day weekend showings in more than a decade.

The Jon M. Chu-directed rom-com is projected to earn another $24 million for the four-day holiday, the third-best Labor Day gross behind that of Halloween ($30.6 million) in 2007 and The Sixth Sense ($29.3 million) in 1999, not adjusted for inflation.

That’s no small feat for a film in its third outing. By the time Labor Day wraps, Crazy Rich Asians could also pass Girls Trip ($115 million) to become the most successful live-action comedy in two years, and the most successful rom-com in a long stretch.

While Crazy Rich Asians is groundbreaking in featuring an all-Westernized Asian cast, another film focused on an Asian-American family, Searching, is set to expand nationwide into more than 1,000 theaters this weekend.

From Screen Gems/Sony, Searching is tracking to open anywhere in the $3.5 million-$7 million range after debuting in select theaters last weekend to strong numbers. The thriller, written and helmed by Asian-American filmmaker Aneesh Chaganty in his feature directorial debut, tells the story of a 16-year-old girl who goes missing and her father’s (John Cho) effort to find her.

Michelle La, Debra Messing, Sarah Sohn, Joseph Lee and Ric Sarabia star alongside Cho.

Chu and other Crazy Rich Asian stars, including Henry Golding, have been supporting Searching via social media.

Other Labor Day offerings include MGM’s Nazi war-criminal drama Operation Finale, starring Oscar Isaac as the Mossad agent who tracks down Adolf Eichmann (Ben Kingsley), one of the infamous architects of the Holocaust.

The movie, which launched Wednesday, is projected to post a six-day debut in the $10 million range. Chris Weitz (About a Boy) directed the pic, which earned $1 million from 1,818 theaters on Wednesday to land at No. 3 behind Crazy Rich Asians ($2.7 million) and The Meg ($1.2 million).

The other new nationwide film set to bow is Lionsgate’s Kin, which looks likely to debut in the $7 million-plus range. The sci-fi action pic stars James Franco, Zoe Kravitz, Jack Reynor, Carrie Coon and Dennis Quaid. Directed by Jonathan and Josh Baker, Kin chronicles what happens when a young boy and his newly paroled brother find a strange weapon and are pursued by a vengeful gang of otherworldly soldiers.

Aug. 30, 8:30 a.m.: Updated with Wednesday grosses and revised estimates for Searching.