Following months of anticipation and a massive budget, Easter weekend will see the launch of one of 2018’s biggest wild cards; Ready Player One. Spielberg’s action adventure is actually holding previews tonight, and will officially open on Thursday. Meanwhile, Isle of Dogs expands into more markets, while God’s Not Dead 3 and Acrimony also open in wide release.

Warner Brothers is betting big on video games this spring, with Rampage, Tomb Raider, and now Ready Player One. The adaptation of the polarizing novel carries a massive $175 million budget, which will be its largest hurdle by far. Reviews have so far been generally positive, but online buzz has criticized the film for its perceived exploitation of notable franchises and poor quality of its source material. How much this affects general audiences, however, is yet to be seen. Current tracking is aiming towards $40-$50 million for the four day opening, which wouldn’t exactly be reason to celebrate considering the cost of production.

Also opening is Tyler Perry’s Acrimony, a new revenge thriller starring Taraji P. Henson. The film is shooting for a debut in the low teens, though there’s definitely potential for a bit of an overperformance based on early buzz and Perry’s fanbase.

PureFlix will continue their God’s Not Dead series with the third installment, A Light in Darkness. Marketing has been quiet compared to the second installment, which closed with around one third of the original – despite opening in more than triple the theaters and costing more than twice as much. The release is being scaled down to around 1,600 theaters, though considering I Can Only Imagine managed $17 million from a similar theater count, any bad business can only be blamed on the film itself.

In limited release, Isle of Dogs expands to around 160 theaters, where it hopes to see a decent sized bump. Wes Anderson’s animated comedy should be hitting around $2 million for the weekend.

Among wide release holdovers, Pacific Rim: Uprising will likely come crashing down due to the direct competition from Ready Player One, while Black Panther and I Can Only Imagine should continue to hold well.

Predictions

Ready Player One – $38M ($45M Four day) Acrimony – $14M I Can Only Imagine – $11.5M Black Panther – $11M Pacific Rim: Uprising – $9.7M