‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’ Facing Stiff Competition From ‘Neighbors’ At The Box Office

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 may have climbed its way to the top of the North American box office last week, but its reign as the number one movie in American may end sooner than Sony hopes.

The highly-anticipated follow-up to director Marc Webb’s popular reboot easily kicked The Other Woman out of the top spot in the US. However, another comedy is building up a considerable amount of steam this weekend. In fact, industry analysts believe The Amazing Spider-Man 2 may have trouble fending off Seth Rogen’s latest big screen offering.

According to Variety, Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller’s R-rated endeavor Neighbors shouldn’t have much trouble snatching the number one position away from the sequel during its first three days of release. Analysts believe the comedy is on-track to bring home approximately $45 million this weekend.

Spider-Man 2 shouldn’t trail too far behind Neighbors when all is officially said and done. The superhero flick is presently expected to generate an additional $40 million between Friday and Sunday, which will put its domestic total at well over $100 million. However, chances are the suits at Sony Pictures aren’t too thrilled about losing the top spot so soon.

However, the folks over at Box Office Mojo offer up a slightly more conservative estimate for Neighbors. The website theorizes that the comedy could bring home around $35 million, which means The Amazing Spider-Man 2 could hold on to the number one position at the North American box office for one more week. It’s still too early to call, so anything could happen between how and Sunday.

Comedies are definitely a pretty hot commodity this year. While superhero movies will always have an audience, it seems people are more interested in having a good laugh than watching someone with rippling muscles lay waste to an army of bad guys. In addition to The Other Woman, Kevin Hart and Ice Cube’s buddy flick Ride Along generated big numbers earlier this year.

Considering that Neighbors has a number of extremely positive reviews under its belt, this writer believes the flick should have no trouble tackling The Amazing Spider-Man 2 at the box office. Since the film has broad appeal — Rogen for the guys, Efron for the ladies — moviegoers could easily toss their money in the comedy’s general direction.

Unfortunately for Spider-Man 2, the window for success is quickly shrinking. The movie will face enormous competition from Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla reboot on May 16. Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past arrives on May 23, a film that is likely to crush everything in its path.

Do you think The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will lose out to Neighbors this weekend?