'Pokemon Detective Pikachu' vs 'Avengers: Endgame': Box office preview

“Pokemon Detective Pikachu” goes up against “Avengers: Endgame” in its third weekend of domination.Box-office experts project “Detective Pikachu” to fall short of dethroning “Endgame” from the top of the domestic box office.“Detective Pikachu” pulled in a respectable $5.7 million in Thursday previews, though.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.Warner Bros.' “Pokemon Detective Pikachu” will attempt to cash in on nostalgia this weekend when it opens in theaters against the massive “Avengers: Endgame.”Heading into its third weekend, “Endgame” has broken box-office records at an unprecedented pace, and is currently the second-highest-grossing movie of all time, behind only “Avatar.” Can the Ryan Reynolds-voiced Pikachu take down Earth's Mightiest Heroes？The answer is no, according to box-office experts.Boxoffice.com and Box Office Mojo are both projecting “Endgame” to take the top spot at the domestic box office for a third straight weekend, with “Detective Pikachu” putting up a worthy fight. It made a respectable $5.7 million in Thursday previews, which is on par with April's “Shazam!” The DC superhero movie earned $5.9 million on Thursday and $53.5 million for its opening weekend.READ MORE: 6 box-office records that 'Avengers: Endgame' has already broken on its quest to become the biggest movie of all timeBoxoffice.com estimates “Detective Pikachu” will make $56 million this weekend, and that “Endgame” will earn $70.7 million. Box Office Mojo projects the former to make $60 million, and the latter to pull in $73 million.Boxoffice.com's chief analyst Shawn Robbins wrote that “Detective Pikachu” will “benefit from both its multi-generation appeal and the fact that it provides a shorter, PG-rated, family-friendly option” but added that the movie “hasn't quite excelled to the levels once expected in long range reports.”It has a subpar 67% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, which could dampen audiences' excitement. CNN's Brian Lowry wrote that it “isn't that bad, and the movie arrives helpfully armed with a couple decades worth of equity and goodwill; still, once you've gotten your fill of its wisecracking namesake, even grading on a curve, it isn't good.”While “Endgame's” domestic gross last weekend was huge at $147 million, it fell short of the second-weekend record held by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($149 million). It had a bigger second-weekend decline than “Avengers: Infinity War.” In its third weekend, “Infinity War” fell another 46% with $62 million. If “Endgame” were to drop that much this weekend, it would earn around $80 million.“Detective Pikachu” is the first major summer release to try to give “Endgame” a run for its money. Last weekend saw smaller films hit theaters that ultimately didn't have a chance, including the romantic comedy “Long Shot” and STX Entertainment's animated flop, “UglyDolls.” The latter became the summer's first box-office bomb with a $8.5 million opening (it was made for $45 million).STX is releasing another movie this weekend, “Poms,” which is expected to be another stinker at the box office. It has a 29% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, and Boxoffice.com is estimating it will make $8.4 million.