Underdog or Underperformer?

DreamWorks' Turbo unexpectedly hit #1 on its opening day yesterday, but with a rather modest $5 million. If anything, I thought that this new DreamWorks film would have a hard time doing well let alone taking the #1 spot in an arena where Despicable Me 2 is dominating. Anyways, the great thing about Turbo hitting #1 is that animation could possibly dominate once again this coming weekend. Since Monsters University debuted towards the end of last month, animation has taken the spot for each following weekend.

But two live action pics stand in the snail's way: RED 2 and The Conjuring, the latter of which has gotten great reviews for a horror film and it shall clear $30 million. Maybe the brief domination streak will end, but at least animation did break a record for most weeks at #1 in a row!

Turbo might not even muster up an amount near $30 million for the weekend, unless its "A" CinemaScore grade and word of mouth help it. If the film is that satisfying (despite the mixed-to-positive critical reception), then the weekend gross should be good. I just hope this won't be another Rise of the Guardians-sized underperformer.

Turbo cost $135 million to make, and probably another $100 million to market, so this film will have to do well because remember... DreamWorks' reaction to Rise of the Guardians' box office performance wasn't pretty. 350+ people were laid off and the schedule being altered a bit, resulting in one film being pushed back and another being removed from the slate completely. If this film is another money-loser, then I fear for DreamWorks. What will they do with another flop? Especially one that was already positioned to start a franchise? Maybe it'll do better worldwide than Guardians, so if it falters here, it can at least make it back overseas.

I don't want to jump the gun. At all, but I feared that this film would have a hard time at the box office, and this start isn't giving me much confidence. Perhaps Turbo will perform like an underdog in the end, like its titular character, but that opening is just okay. I hope for the best for this new DreamWorks production. Do you think it'll do better over the weekend and garner good word of mouth? Or will it have a very hard time at the box office? How do you think DreamWorks will react if it doesn't do very well? Sound off below!