Disney-Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is coming in ahead of industry estimates of $12.8M for its fourth No. 1 weekend, with $13.3M. As we told you earlier, thanks to the pic’s $3.6M Friday, Shang-Chi has become the highest-grossing movie at the pandemic domestic B.O., overtaking Black Widow‘s $186.7M domestic running total with a current $196.5M by EOD today. A $250M domestic final looks to be quite conceivable for the Destin Daniel Cretton-directed movie.
According to box office analytics corp EntTelligence, about 3.2M patrons attended one of the top 10 movies this weekend, with a more than third going to Shang-Chi. The MCU title continued its dominance, with playability throughout the day. Morning, Afternoon, Evening, Late night – moviegoers came out. On Saturday, 17.5% of the audience showed up before 1PM, and only 24% were from showtimes in the highly desired 7PM to 8PM dayparts.
Meanwhile, Universal’s Dear Evan Hansen, arguably the most prolific major studio release on the fall schedule since Shang-Chi, is not doing well after a $3.3M Friday, including $800K Thursday previews, for an awful $7.5M in the No. 2 spot at 3,364 theaters; a lowly result which isn’t that far from Universal’s previous big Broadway feature take, Cats, which died promptly off a $6.6M opening over the Christmas 2019 holiday. Dear Evan Hansen, I hear, is on a 17-day theatrical window, especially with these numbers. Imax repped close to 20% of the musical’s weekend ticket sales.
If there’s anything positive to say about Dear Evan Hansen, it’s that the teen dramatic musical cost significantly less than Cats, a net $27M after Georgia tax credits, versus Cats’ $90M net. Dear Evan Hansen‘s demise at the domestic B.O. comes as no surprise after critics promptly ravaged it following its TIFF premiere with a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 33%.
The fans of the Tony-winning Benj Pasek & Justin Paul musical did show up on Friday and Thursday, though not en masse, hence the A- CinemaScore. Initially, I heard off Thursday previews that the Screen Engine/Comscore PostTrak was 82% and a 60% definite recommend. It’s now fallen to a 78% positive with a 57% definite recommend. Despite my enjoyment and consistent emotive cry while watching this 2 hour and 20 minute feature, this movie about a teenage boy with a social anxiety disorder who means to do good, but falls greatly short of that following the school bully’s suicide, doesn’t exactly spell escapism at the movie theater at a time when people want to have the time of their lives, away from the gloom of the lingering pandemic. It’s the stacked deck of fanboy IP in October of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, No Time to Die, and Dune that has many excited.
Social Media analytics corp Relish Mix, gauged online sentiment toward Dear Evan Hansen as a 5.5 out of 10 on its meters, reporting, “Convo quality runs the gamut — from joyous praise of the power of the theme coming from the Broadway play as a post-pandemic story of hope and inspiration, with the musical soundtrack that runs deep into our culture, celebrated by audiences. On the cynical side, threads over the last four months touch on questions about Ben Platt being cast as a high school student, given the fact that he’s 27. In defense of Ben Platt on social, rolling into the feature film, fans of the play are piling on in vigorous support of his continuation of his role in the film, and question the intent and ‘to suspend their disbelief to get more out of life’.”
The few who bought tickets for Dear Evan Hansen were 62% females, 52% over 25, with 54% falling between 18-34, which is what Universal was expecting. Diversity demos were 58% Caucasian, 21% Latino and Hispanic, 8% Black, and 13% Asian/other. Also not shocking to hear is that Dear Evan Hansen played best on the East coast. However, Salt Lake City, Utah popped with five of the top ten theaters, and eight of the top 15. Why is it a standout market? Quite often, Salt Lake City overperforms on more female skewing YA titles, i.e. musicals, Hunger Games and Twilight. Other top markets for Dear Evan Hansen were NYC, LA, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas and San Francisco.
iSpot estimates that before Dear Evan Hansen‘s opening, Universal spent $3M in TV spots which drew 236.4M impressions with ads booked on NBC, FX, CBS, Freeform and USA, and during shows such as America’s Got Talent, Big Brother, Law & Order SVU, Bachelor in Paradise, and re-runs of Friends.
Due to the momentum of the Broadway’s plays publicity over the last five years, RelishMix counts the social media universe for Dear Evan Hansen at 459.5M (which is above Pitch Perfect 3 at 317.7M and A Star Is Born at 301.1M) across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube. However, subtract the Broadway musical YouTube video views of 356.2M, and the social media awareness for the film drops to 103.3M, “which is at the lower end of the genre, in the range of Rocketman‘s 114.5M and La La Land‘s 48.3M,” says RelishMix.
The Dear Evan Hansen cast has 10.7M activated across social, primarily on Instagram, with Ben Platt and Julianne Moore each at 2.9M, Amandla Stenberg with 2.4M, and Amy Adams at 784K.
The romantic dramaLove Story from Sekhar Kammula debuted in 300 theaters, and continued to show how Indian-Telugu-language fare continues to draw an audience during the pandemic, with a theater average of $2,6K and an estimated 3-day of $790K at 300 theaters. The movie had fairly good numbers in NYC, Dallas, San Francisco, DC, and Atlanta. Friday cashed in $296K. The movie follows Revanth and Mouni, who dream big when it comes to their lives. But with their social standing and gender proving to be a hindrance, they try to find a way to let their love prevail.
Filing No. 11 is the second weekend of Searchlight’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye, which surged its theater count by 902 to 1,352. This is resulting in a hold of -3%, with $621K in the No. 11 spot, -5%. The pic grossed $202K yesterday, down 18% from a week ago. PostTrak exits, as the audience measure report records wide releases, showed a low audience response than last weekend’s CinemaScore of B+, with 67% positive and a 38% definite recommend. Of those who turned 65% were females, and 81% over 25 and 51% between 25-44 years old.
Diversity breakdown was 76% Caucasian, 9% Latino and Hispanic, 10% Black, & 5% Asian/other. In its limited launch last weekend, iSpot estimates that Searchlight spent around $1M for TV spots that aired on MSNBC, CNN, Food Network, ABC and NBC pulling in 168M impressions and during shows such as Good Morning America, Today, Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, The Rachel Maddow Show and Don Lemon Tonight.
Top theaters this weekend for Tammy Faye are The Belcourt in Nashville, Tenn., as well as the Alamo in Brooklyn, AMC Lincoln Square in Manhattan, Sunset 5 in West Hollywood, Alamo in Springfield Mo., Enzian Orlando, Nighthawk Williamsburg, Varsity in Toronto, Angelika NY, and the AMC Grove in Los Angeles.
Tammy Faye star Jessica Chastian won Best Performance at San Sebastian over the weekend. She really puts in a sublime performance.
Look, it’s strange times during the pandemic, and box office, like last year, isn’t going to keep these Oscar bait films down. Quite often, they say poor box office results kill a movie’s awards season chances. Maybe not, as Searchlight proved last year with Nomadland‘s Best Picture, Director and Best Actress wins: They didn’t officially report that film’s B.O. grosses.
Bleecker Street’s limited release of German Oscar entry I’m Your Man at 16 locations looks to make $34,2K for the weekend, or $2,1K theater average after a $10,3K Friday. Unfortunately, these grosses aren’t a sign that arthouses have rebounded for this critically acclaimed movie at 95% certified fresh.
Final Sunday Studio-reported estimates:
1.) Shang-Chi (Dis) 3,952 theaters (-118)/ Fri $3.6M (-38%)/Sat $6M/Sun $3.7M/3-day $13.3M (-39%), Total: $196.5M/Wk 4
2.) Dear Evan Hansen (Uni) 3,364 theaters/Fri $3.3M/Sat $2.56M/Sun $1.66M/ 3-day $7.5M/Wk 1 –
3.) Free Guy (20th) 3,175 theaters (-113)/Fri $1.1M (-17%)/Sat $1.9M/Sun $1.05M/3-day $4.1M (-20%)/Total $114.1M/Wk 7
4.) Candyman (Uni) 2,556 (-264) theaters/Fri $740K (-30%)/Sat $1.1M/Sun $630K/3-day $2.5M (-29%)/Total $56.8M/Wk 5
5.) Cry Macho (WB) 4,022 theaters (+55)/Fri $653K (-59%)3-day $2.1M (-52%)/Total: $8.3M/Wk 2
6.) Jungle Cruise (Dis) 2,065 theaters (-200)/Fri $437K (-10%)/Sat $818K/Sun $467K/3-day $1.72M (-17%)/Total $114.9M/Wk 9
7.) Malignant (NL) 2,534 theaters (-967)/Fri $450K (-46%)/3-day $1.5M (-45%)/Total: $12.3M/Wk 3
8.) Copshop (Open Road) 3,005 theaters/Fri $405K/Sat $530K/Sun $330K/3-day $1.265M (-45%)/Total $4.5M/Wk 2
9) Paw Patrol (Par) 1,995 (-274) theaters/Fri $265K (-29%)/Sat $515K/Sun $340K/3-day $1.12M (-35%)/Total $38.7M/Wk 6
10.) Love Story (Sony) 300 theaters, Fri $295K/Sat $295K/Sun $200K/3-day $790K/ Wk 1
11.) The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Sea) 1,352 theaters (+902)/Fri $202K (-18%)/Sat $252K/$167K/3-day $633K (-3%)/Total: $1.5M/Wk 2