Elysium tops US box office

Analysts have Sony’s 'Elysium', starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, circling the $30 million mark for this weekend, according to early ticket sales.

Meanwhile Disney believes its family-friendly 'Cars' spinoff, made for only $50 million, will get an additional lift from Saturday matinees.

[Matt Damon clashes with robot in new Elysium clip]

Either way, “it’s too tough to tell” as one insider says, who will land at No. 1 based on preliminary results.

Aimed squarely at the intelligent adult market, 'Elysium', the R-rated Neill Blomkamp film, produced for $115 million, is Sony’s second original sci-fi vehicle of the summer.

Set in the year 2154, the film features a world where the very wealthy live on a man-made space station called Elysium, while the rest live on an overpopulated, ruined planet. Damon is the reluctant everyman who takes on a dangerous mission  – one that pits him against Elysium’s Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her hard-line forces.

[Damon introduces his Elysium 'hulk suit']

Blomkamp’s last film, 'District 9', made for a $30 million budget, about an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on earth, took $37 million with a non-star cast.

In third place, Warner Bros.’ comedy, 'We’re the Millers' continues to perform well since opening Wednesday. After earning $11.5 million in two days, the Jennifer Aniston-Jason Sudeikis comedy is now on track for a five-day opening in the $35 million range —  just behind Anison and Sudeikis’ 2011 smash hit, 'Horrible Bosses', which opened to $28 million in three days before going on to earn $200 million worldwide.

Fox’s 'Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters', this week’s other Wednesday opening, is projected to debut in the low-$20 millions.  The figures would represent a 30% drop-off from the original 'Percy Jackson' debut in 2011 ($31 million in three days), marking what could very well be the last instalment in Fox’s teen fantasy franchise.

'Elysium' is released in the UK on 21 August.