‘Send Help’ Could Best ‘Avatar: Fire And Ash’ At WW Weekend With $25M; ‘Iron Lung’ & ‘Melania’ Might Surprise – Box Office Preview

It’s intriguing final weekend at the January box office — if only one, or two or three of these wide releases can overperform after last weekend’s monster storm shut the lights at 400 theaters.

Yes, 20th Century Studio’s Sam Raimi directed island genre thriller Send Help will lead stateside with around $15M+ in North America at 3,400 sites (with potential for upside based on those great reviews at 94% certified fresh), and around another $10M-plus abroad for a $25M global debut. That could finally de-throne Avatar: Fire and Ash which has been riding a global weekend perch for the last six weekends. Send Help follows a nepo tech boss played by Dylan O’Brien, who gets stuck on a deserted island with his brilliant, nerdy office accountant (Rachel McAdams), who he disrespects, but, man is she well versed in survival skills.

Offshore the pic has an 80% footprint with a good representation of…