For all the hype around the long-awaited sequel Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, it looks like it might be beaten to the top of the box office charts by the lower-budget If I Stay.

If I Stay
Chloe Grace Moretz stars in If I Stay, which does battle with the Sin City sequel this weekend

The tearjerking teen-orientated drama is based on a novel of the same name by Gayle Forman and stars Chloe Grace Moretz as a teenage girl in a coma having an out-of-body experience, having survived a car crash that claimed the lives of her parents and brother.

Having been made for $11 million – a comparatively low spend in this day and age – If I Stay looks on course to make somewhere between $18 million and $20 million when it debuts in theatres over the weekend. By contrast, the much anticipated follow-up to the 2005 adaptation of the graphic novel Sin City looks set to only make $15 million.

More: Chloe Grace Moretz and Jamie Blackley greet fans at If I Stay screening

Both films obviously appeal to entirely different demographics of the movie-going public, but Sin City: A Dame To Kill For could lose out because of the significant gap between original and sequel, more than nine years. The teenage market again proves that it is not to be taken lightly.

Jessica Alba Sin City 2Jessica Alba in 'Sin City 2'

A Dame To Kill For sees Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller team up once more, and a significant number of the cast of the first (Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson) are retained alongside a few new figures (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Josh Brolin, Ray Liotta, Lady Gaga).

More: why Chris Pratt initially turned down Guardians of the Galaxy

Of course, the biggest threat to these two films tussling for the top spot will be the current heavy hitters already out. Guardians of the Galaxy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continue to pull in impressive numbers in their fourth and third weeks respectively, and could make as much $20 million each.

Both If I Stay and Sin City: A Dame To Kill For are released in cinemas on 22nd August. See both trailers below.

If I Stay


Sin City 2