Universal’s comedy Night School is poised to easily graduate ahead of Warner Brothers’ animated family film Small Foot, on what will cap off one of the busiest September’s at the box office on record.

Night School is Universal’s pairing up of Tiffany Haddish and Kevin Hart, two stars who have essentially become the only two consistent comedic draws in Hollywood; both have had a number of consistent hits in recent memory, and both have a number of additional projects lined up already, making this combination a no brainer. With a fairly cheap budget of just $29 million, and an opening that will likely come in higher than that, this is in great shape for Universal.

Meanwhile, Warner Brothers may face a stumbling block this weekend with Small Foot, an animated family comedy that will be going head to head with The House With a Clock In Its Walls, which posted surprisingly impressive numbers just last weekend. On top of that, Warner doesn’t have a great track record with their September animated features; last years The LEGO Ninjago Movie was a dud with just $123 million worldwide against a budget of $70 million, while Storks did somewhat better; at around $180 million with the same price tag. With an opening expected to just barely top $20 million, however, this may be in trouble.

Also opening this weekend is Lionsgate’s low budget slasher flick Hell Fest, which was produced for just $5.5 million and is targeting a fairly low 2,200 theater count for the weekend. This seems to be Lionsgate’s attempt at cashing in on the Blumhouse model, but unfortunately traditional slashers rarely capture much attention in a horror landscape that focuses much more on supernatural and possession titles. On top of that, the R rating will limit teens who tend to show up in droves for these types of high-concept, low-quality horror thrillers. With a cheap budget and a low theater count, however, it’s hard to imagine Lionsgate losing any money on this.

Among holdovers, House should easily lead the bunch thanks to relatively strong word of mouth and a second consecutive week of IMAX showings (though it will be losing the attached 3D re-release of Thriller). A Simple Favor should continue serving a generally underserved adult-female audience, while The Nun will push past $300 million worldwide.

Finally, newbie distributor Pinnacle Peak will release Little Women into 643 locations, just pushing it past the point to constitute it as a wide release. However, it may struggle to surpass $1 million for the weekend.

Predictions

Night School – $30 million Small Foot – $19 million The House With a Clock In Its Walls – $15 million The Nun – $5 million

Hell Fest – $3.8 million

Little Women – $950K