Box office projections for both Kingsman: The Golden Circle and The LEGO Ninjago Movie suggests that the R-rated action sequel should wind up beating the latter in their opening weekend. The Golden Circle is director and co-writer Matthew Vaughn's follow-up sequel to 2014's Kingsman: The Secret Service, with both being based loosely on the Mark Millar comic books of the same name. Following the widespread critical acclaim and box office success of its predecessor, The Golden Circle promises to just build on the premise of its predecessor, as Eggsy (Taron Egerton) and Merlin (Mark Strong) traveling to America to work with the Statesmen, while also being reunited with a returning Harry Hart (Colin Firth).

Meanwhile, The LEGO Ninjago Movie is the latest in Warner Bros.' growing franchise of animated LEGO films, following The LEGO Movie in 2014 and The LEGO Batman Movie, which hit theaters earlier this year. Both films will be opening near the end of September, which means the weekend will find yet another hard R-rated, blockbuster action film going up against a much more demographic-friendly family film, to see who will reign supreme.

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Based on the early tracking numbers and box office projections (via THR), it promises to be a much closer battle than some experts might have thought. Currently, Kingsman: The Golden Circle is tracking to open with a $40-45 million dollar weekend, which puts it ahead of the $36.2 million domestic debut that the first Kingsman scored in 2014. Early tracking also suggests that The LEGO Ninjago Movie could open with $35 million-$40 million, though the film's PG rating means that there is always the potential for Ninjago to exceed those numbers when it hits theaters.

The Lego Ninjago Movie characters line up

Comparatively, Ninjago's current projections have it opening noticeably lower than both The LEGO Movie ($69.1 million) and The LEGO Batman Movie ($53 million). However, due to the lesser known quality of the Ninjago franchise and brand, that doesn't come as much of a surprise. Based on how strong the film's early reviews and word-of-mouth is once it hits theaters next month, it's entirely possible that Ninjago could bring in even bigger box office numbers than it's currently expected to, which are impressive enough in their own right.

Now, that doesn't take away from the accomplishment that Kingsman: The Golden Circle will achieve should it truly beat out Ninjago in their opening weekend, since it's noteworthy anytime an R-rated title like it manages to do something like that. Considering the strong fan base that the Kingsman franchise has accrued for itself over the past few years, it's a testament to the general excitement surrounding The Golden Circle right now. The addition of high-profile names like Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, and Halle Berry certainly doesn't hurt Kingsman: The Golden Circle's chances of performing well at the box office by any means, either.

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Source: THR

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