Top Domestic Grosser 2020 (U.S only)

⇒ $206,305,244

Top Global Grosser 2020

⇒ $472,430,226

Highest-grossing films of 2020

Rank	Title	Distributor	Worldwide gross
1	The Eight Hundred	CMC Pictures Holdings	$472,430,226
2	My People, My Homeland	China Lion Film Distribution	$458,397,557
3	Bad Boys for Life	Sony Pictures	$426,505,244
4	Tenet	Warner Bros.	$362,209,000
5	Demon Slayer: Mugen Train	Toho / Aniplex (Sony Music Japan)	$340,173,208
6	Sonic the Hedgehog	Paramount	$320,954,026
7	Dolittle	Universal	$250,482,863
8	Jiang Ziya	Beijing Enlight Pictures	$243,843,105
9	Birds of Prey	Warner Bros.	$201,858,461
10	Sacrifice	Beijing Enlight Pictures	$170,730,000

 

‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Opens to Pandemic-Best $16.7M at the BO!!

We’ll have to wait and see what success WarnerMedia drums up in regards to Wonder Woman 1984‘s impact on HBO Max subscribers. But from a box office perspective over Christmas, with 60% of the 5,8K theater domestic market closed by COVID-19, the DC sequel posted a record result for the pandemic since theaters reopened in late August, with $16.7M at 2,151 locations. The first Wonder Woman opened to $103.2M over the first weekend in June.

In the same breath of reporting this weekend’s figures for WW1984, which now stands at $85M WW, Warners announced a threequel with Patty Jenkins writing and attached to direct, with Gal Gadot returning. No word on whether that will also be a simultaneous HBO Max and theatrical day and date release.

WW1984‘s opening bests the results of Croods: A New Age‘s $9.7M 3-day over Black Friday weekend, and Tenet‘s $9.3M 3-day over Labor Day weekend. Note that WW1984 had close to 40% of all theaters open, which repped 56% of its box office. This compared to Croods 2, which achieved its opening from 44% of all domestic theaters open, which repped 60% of the box office, versus Tenet, which had access to a marketplace where 55% of all theaters were open and repped 70% of the box office.

In regards to the holiday weekend’s other opening titles, Universal’s Tom Hanks western News of the World and Focus Features’ Promising Young Woman, they respectively earned $2.4M and $680K in spots 2 and 5. Uni also owned the No. 3 title, DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age, which brought in $1.7M in weekend 5 for a running $30.3M domestic total.

Roadside Attraction’s Pinocchio at 764 theaters debuted to $274,6K. Again, these aren’t the types of figures we’re used to for a Christmas holiday weekend, a week that’s typically one of the more lucrative ones of the year.

WW1984, News of the World and Promising Young Woman all earned B+ in terms of their CinemaScores. The first Wonder Woman earned an A back in 2017, but that was when more cities were available for polling.

Make no mistake, though, for a $200M planned DC event feature, which began its promotional drumroll all the way back at San Diego Comic-Con 2018 when director Patty Jenkins and stars Gal Gadot and Chris Pine dropped footage after three-and-half weeks of production, this weekend’s box office result of Wonder Woman 1984 is a disaster by normal pre-pandemic marketplace standards. The question is whether Warner Bros. should have simply waited to release this event pic until later in the year, when the entire exhibition infrastructure is presumably back on track and the pandemic, as we’re expecting, will be restrained.

Wonder Woman is a soulful property, one of pride for women. It’s a movie that they will flock to the theaters to see in packs. The first 2017 movie saw its initial projections four weeks out start at $65M and finally clock to $103.2M; all largely due to the influx of women. The majority of that demo has been sidelined to watching the sequel at home, and dollars have been lost. Warners brass said previously when the decision was made about WW1984, that it was done to appease the fans. But if Marvel fans can wait a year for Black Widow, why can’t Wonder Woman fans wait for a sequel? The delay would only fuel the box office. Why do box office damage to a piece of lucrative IP by forcing a theatrical release when exhibition is barely alive and the feature can feasibly be copied via its HBO Max streaming drop?

Below a tweet from when the movie opened back in June 2017 from voiceover actress Julie Nathanson:

Yes, @PattyJenks. We are ALL stronger than we believe. And #wonderwoman was everything we've been waiting for. 75+ in our group last night! pic.twitter.com/ou6bWlUELD

— Julie Nathanson (@Julie_Nathanson) June 3, 2017

Already there is a clean, watchable copy of WW1984 out there on an accessible pirate site. With HBO Max consumers already experiencing glitches with the film, who is to say that those preferring the WW1984 experience at home won’t find their way over to pirated sites, and avoid signing up altogether? (Disney has the same dilemma, by the way, with Soul, which was released on Disney+ where that service is available, and abroad theatrically in those territories that don’t have Disney+).

However, these are the things that major studios need to take seriously before they start dropping movies day-and-date in theaters and on streaming services. You’re just plummeting the value of your individual feature assets.

While Warners didn’t report any specific numbers on the results of WW1984 on HBO Max they did say the following: “Nearly half of the platform’s retail subscribers viewing the film on the day of its arrival, along with millions of wholesale subscribers who have access to HBO Max via a cable, wireless, or other partner services. HBO Max also saw the total viewing hours on Friday more than triple in comparison to a typical day in the previous month” per a press release.

“Wonder Woman 1984 broke records and exceeded our expectations across all of our key viewing and subscriber metrics in its first 24 hours on the service, and the interest and momentum we’re seeing indicates this will likely continue well beyond the weekend,” said a statement from Andy Forssell, Executive Vice President and General Manager, WarnerMedia Direct-to-Consumer. “During these very difficult times, it was nice to give families the option of enjoying this uplifting film at home, where theater viewing wasn’t an option.”

Like all major studios, Warners has the dilemma during the pandemic of what to do with their event films on the shelf, while trying to leverage their streaming service. But there are theaters which were bareknuckling the pandemic, and they couldn’t live without WW1984 making another theatrical release date change.

“There was a huge push on the part of mid-size and smaller exhibitors to really make our movies available where markets were open. You can see that’s where we had positive results in the South and the Midwest, as well as 10,000 private watch parties,” said Warner Bros. Domestic Theatrical Distribution Boss Jeff Goldstein, “What we were hearing from exhibition was: Give us content. These mid-sized and smaller exhibitors really serve a large part of the nation that isn’t accessible by many chains; they’ve been the backbone of the theatrical business for decades.”

Initially, a simultaneous theatrical and HBO Max day and date release of WW1984 was welcomed by exhibition, and understandable, given the studio’s circumstances during the pandemic. Disney, too, has eventized their once-conceived theatrical releases as in-home events, i.e. Soul, Mulan, and Hamilton. However, what added insult to injury for exhibition and the motion picture industry was WarnerMedia’s brazen announcement earlier this month that they’re planning to put their entire 2021 theatrical slate in both cinemas and HBO Max at the same time (on the service for 31 days). This continues to feel like a doomsday scenario for exhibition, and we’ll see how the marketplace plays it out once the pandemic lifts.

For all the fairy tale notions that any shortfall at the global box office here for WW1984 will be made up by HBO Max subscriptions, keep the following in mind: In order to make a ton of money, WarnerMedia needs to grow their subscriber base outside of HBO. AT&T reported during their third quarter that it had 38M subscribers between HBO pay-cable subs and HBO Max subs. AT&T CEO John Stankey recently reported at the UBS Global TMT Virtual Conference that HBO Max added 4M customer “activations” to reach 12.6M. WarnerMedia doesn’t make any money by merely activating current HBO subscribers into HBO Max subs with WW1984. They need to make greater outsider additions, and right now, HBO Max is only a US service. If 38M households became active over the holiday weekend with HBO Max, and assuming two tickets potentially bought per household, that’s 76M tickets unsold to WW1984. But, once again, the leverage of WW1984 on HBO Max was a marketing stunt to raise the streamer’s profile. Go figure.

A breakdown of how WW1984 fared:

–Only 5% of all theaters are open in Canada (repping 3% of the total Canadian box office). Warners went with a PVOD and theatrical release there for the DC sequel and in regards to pure B.O. made $4M.

–There were 10K private watch parties for WW1984 (such as Cinemark’s “Private Watch Parties” and AMC’s “Private Theater Rentals”, as well as National Amusements, Alamo Drafthouse, Marcus, Studio Movie Grill, Megaplex, Santikos, B&B Theaters, etc.). I’m told these alone repped 10% of the sequel’s weekend results.

–Imax domestic auditoriums, numbering 180, grossed $1.2M, repping 7% of the pic’s opening.

–The top 10 locations were: 1. District Megaplex Salt Lake City, 2. Victoria Ward Stadium Honolulu, 3. AMC Disney Springs Orlando, 4. Jordan Commons Megaplex Salt Lake City, 5. Santikos Palladium San Antonio, 6. Thanksgiving Point Lehi Megaplex Salt Lake City, 7. Cinemark West Jordan Salt Lake City, 8. AMC Thoroughbred Nashville, 9. Santikos Casa Blanca San Antonio, 10. Geneva Vineyard Megaplex Salt Lake City.

–The top 10 DMA markets were: 1. Dallas, 2. Salt Lake City, 3. Phoenix, 4. Houston, 5. Greater New York Metro area (NJ, CT, and Upstate NY theaters), 6. Orlando, 7. Atlanta, 8. Tampa, 9. Miami, 10. Austin.

In the uneven success of the DC universe post-Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight franchise (uneven meaning when you compare it to Disney’s powerhouse, Marvel), Wonder Woman was one of the few event pics that worked, along with Aquaman and Suicide Squad. After Aquaman became the first DC movie to reach $1.1 billion, God knows the studio had billion dollar box office starry eyes for WW1984. Following the pic’s launch at SDCC 2018, the pic got a boost at Brazil Comic-Con last December, and was further boosted again during the studio’s late August DC Fandome virtual conference.

While no major studio is spending as much as they normally do during pre-pandemic times when NY and LA are open, to get to these types of weekend box office numbers, Warner had to spend something. As of last weekend, iSpot calculated that Warner shelled out $17M in TV ads for WW1984, which reached close to 800M impressions.

Social media analyst RelishMix says that the Jenkins-directed sequel nabbed a bountiful social media universe of 325.6M before opening because of the cross-promotional triangulation of Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Universe and growing HBO Max digital channels.

“Platform activity on YouTube has a robust 21 owned videos and 90+ reposted videos feeding 177.3M views. On Facebook, fans for the film have grown to 2.4M with 33 videos in the 12 months driving over 14M views. Awareness/reach is indexing strong in relation to Covid trends across digital platforms, activity is exceptional with Gal Gadot cast activation,” reports RelishMix which also spotted that positive convo for the movie was a 10 out of 10 on their index.

Of the notable pushes on social, Warner dropped the sequel’s three-minute opening sequence on Dec. 15, “a bold move of hooking and engaging the audience and drive more early activation of the HBO Max app on OTT devises and smart TV’s” says RelishMix; the clip registering close to 6.5M views.

RelishMix counts that the combined activated social media follower reach of the WW1984 cast of Gadot, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen and Robin Wright stands at 62.3M followers, of which Gadot accounts for 94% with 58.7M followers. She has worked a tremendous amount of overtime in promoting the movie on social, and the talk show circuit, i.e. The Tonight Show. Her Instagram video posts are events unto themselves, i.e. her press junket prep drew 4.4M views, her glam prep sung to the Indiana Jones theme did close to 3.2M views, and the silly music video she made with Wiig, which she showed off on The Tonight Show generated 3M, see below:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gal Gadot (@gal_gadot)

As we told you yesterday, critics eventually soured on WW1984 on Rotten Tomatoes from when reviews first hit, with the sequel’s rating dropping from 89% certified fresh on Dec. 16 to a current 65% fresh. Audiences have also been down on part 2 with an updated Screen Engine/Comscore PostTrak figure of 78% in the top two boxes (down from 82% positive) and a 67% definite recommend (up from 65%). Kids under 12 were high on WW1984 at 86% positive (down from 91% on Friday) and a 67% must-see. Updated demos show a 50/50 split between men and women with 58% over 25 and 36% over 35 years old. Diversity demos were 39% Caucasian, 25% Hispanic, 23% African American, & 13% Asian/Other. The first Wonder Woman on PostTrak drew 53% to 47% women vs. men, while the total positive score showed women enjoying the first film a little bit more than men, 89% to 85%.

While it will be harder for Warners to make bank on Wonder Woman 1984, it could be slightly easier for Universal on News of the World. The pic cost a net $38M. Uni has already sold foreign to Netflix, as we first reported, and the Paul Greengrass-directed feature is on a short theatrical window of 17 days, eyeing a PVOD release next month. Any Oscar buzz will only do good for the pic’s road ahead. News of the World made $1M on Friday, fell 23% on Saturday with $780K and is eyeing a $610K Sunday. Critics are 84% certified fresh. Movie was split 50/50 male-female with 70% of the crowd older than 35, 29% over 55. Caucasians showed up at 77%, Hispanics at 12%, African Americans at 5%, Asian/other at 5%. New of the World‘s best markets were the Midwest and Southwest. Top markets were Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Tampa Orlando, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Nashville, and Kansas City.

RelishMix says that News Of The World‘s social media campaign was propped by Universal Pictures social channels totaling a 42.4M social media universe with 30.5M fans from Facebook and other channels in the 4M range. Materials are being very carefully dropped on YouTube with the trailer at 9.5M views and the interview BTS with Tom Hanks at 2M views. “But when a studio slowly drops materials, we see either cautiousness of a final cut that is struggling — or a sense of confidence that the word-of-mouth impact for the wide release will drive a very strong response,” reads RelishMix. Hanks has kept a low profile on promoting his movies to his 38.5M fans across FB, Twitter and Instagram this year.

Focus Features’ Promising Young Woman remained strong, with critics following its Sundance premiere back in January, and currently carries a 91% certified fresh. Carey Mulligan is an obvious Best Actress contender heading into Oscar season and the pic arrives here in the wake of her LA Film Critics Best Actress win and also filmmaker Emerald Fennell’s Best Screenplay win. Promising Young Woman made $260K on Friday and Saturday and is expected to gross $160K today. The pic’s marketing over the past few weeks has included TV/cable advertising in over 25 markets and a digital campaign push aimed at younger demos. Those who bought tickets were 63% female, with 74% over 25 and 36% over 35 years old. The single largest quadrant was 25–34 year olds at 38%. Focus Features reports that they conducted exit polls yesterday in Washington D.C., Paramus NJ, and Dallas TX with the pic scoring an 89% in the top two boxes – 51% excellent and 38% very good score (19 points above norm).

Another PostTrak report shows a lower positive of 73% in the top two boxes with a 43% recommend. It is a dark movie, and Mulligan plays against her good girl character she normally portrays. Diversity mix was 59% Caucasian, 17% African American, 17% Hispanic, 7% Asian/Other. Promising Young Woman played best on the Coasts along in the South. The best markets were Dallas (6.8% of domestic B.O.), Phoenix (5.4%), New York (5.3%), Houston (4.6%), Austin (3%), Atlanta (3%), Orlando (3%), Miami (2.7%), D.C. (2.6%), and Tampa (2.5%).

Mulligan is not activated on social media, but a positive word of mouth prevails per RelishMix ever since the pic’s debut at Sundance. That buzz since January “extends over a year from the first trailer drop however the social rollout is platforming out with two trailers on YouTube (7.3M views). Plus, there’s a stack of 15 sound track videos from Maya B, Carmen DeLeon, Charli XCX, Paris Hilton and many more. On Facebook, 17 videos have clocked over 12M views with several strong boosts as fans discuss where the film will stream first,” says RelishMix.

The top 10 movies for Dec. 25-27:

1.) Wonder Woman 1984 (WB) 2,151 theaters/$16.7MWk 1

2.) News of the World (Uni) 1,900 theaters, 3-day: $2.4M/Wk 1

3.) Croods: A New Age (Uni) 1,726 theaters (-180), 3-day: $1.7M (-17%), Total: $30.3M/Wk 5

4.) Monster Hunter (Sony) 1,817 theaters (+81), 3-day: $1.125M (-49%)/Total: $4.2M/Wk 2

5.) Promising Young Woman (Focus) 1,310 theaters, 3-day: $680K/Wk 1

6.) Fatale (Lionsgate) 1,168 theaters (+61), 3-day: $660K (-28%), Total: $1.96M/Wk 2

7.) Pinocchio (RSA) 764 theaters, 3-day: $274,6K/Wk 1

8.) Elf (NL) 300 theaters (-380) 3-day: $111K (-70%)/Total: $174.5M/Wk 7 of re-release

9.) The War With Grandpa (101) 515 theaters (-288), 3-day: $91K (-47%), Total: $18.4M/Wk 12

10.) National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (WB) 300 theaters (-270) 3-day: $78K (-63%)/Total: $73.8M/Wk. 5 of release

 

via Deadline

‘Monster Hunter’ Tops Pre-Christmas Weekend with a Poor $2.2M at the BO!!

More theaters closed heading into this weekend, including the Boston market and parts of Portland, OR, so there wasn’t much money to make at the box office even with a shiny, new major studio movie, Sony/Screen Gems’ Monster Hunter which is fully respecting the theatrical window. Per industry sources, only 2,300 movie theaters are open in U.S./Canada. Talk about hitting the skids. Couple that with the fact that consumer habits pre-Christmas haven’t changed much during the pandemic –meaning they’re occupied doing other holiday activities, i.e. shopping, etc. instead of going to the movies–and we’re left with very lackluster results here with the Paul W.S. Anderson directed Milla Jovovich feature adaptation of the Capcom vidoegame doing $2.2M, which is much lower than everyone was expecting (meaning $4M+). That said, Sony is looking at the long game of the holiday stretch from this Monday until Jan. 3 when it comes to Monster Hunter.

That said, keep in mind that Monster Hunter is only booked at 1,736 theaters, while the last Anderson-Jovovich previous combo, 2016’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, was at 3,104 theaters minting an opening weekend of $13.6M during the final weekend of January (in hindsight a stellar result that Sony and exhibition would die for right now; however a muted result by normal marketplace standards).

Why did Sony go with the movie now? Because they were looking to bank on Asian markets where Anderson and Jovovich’s Resident Evil series has overperformed (unfortunately the pic’s release last weekend was thwarted by China authorities over a scene they believed to be as racist).  According to TV ad dollar tracker iSpot, Sony didn’t spend much to open the film stateside. It’s likely Sony is holding back some of the minimal marketing dollars to spend this coming week in those few DMAs, such as the South, which are open.

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes weren’t fans of Monster Hunter at 48% but they warmed to it significantly more than any of the Resident Evil movies which have charted poor scores between 20%-38%. The Capcom video game adaptation notched a low 63% in the top two boxes on Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak with a low 41% recommend. Sixty-four percent of the audience were over 25 with 57% between 18-34. Diversity demos were 39% White, 27% Hispanic, 20% African American and 14% Asian/Other. The pic posted $820K on Friday, $795K on Saturday and is projecting $583K today.

Guess what opened last year at this time? Disney’s finale Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker which raked in $177.3M domestic before finaling $515.2M; a reminder for any tech streaming heads at the major studios who require a refresher on the mass amount of money that can be amassed at U.S. and Canadian movie theaters.

Obviously, the question begged is what now for Warner Bros’ Wonder Woman 1984 after these results for Monster Hunter? The Gal Gadot DC sequel may actually show some signs of life over its holiday run stateside. First, it’s opening on Christmas Day when the moviegoing public finally shows up and second Warners has actually spent more U.S. TV ad dollars to date on Wonder Woman 1984 than Sony did this past weekend for Monster Hunter, $17M to $1.3M. Also, as of Monday, 70% K-12 schools are off. Abroad, WW1984 hasn’t done so hot with $38.5M on 30,211 screens, 49% of that from China with a ho-hum $18.8M; the Patty Jenkins movie losing No. 1 to local title The Rescue which made $36.1M. The first Wonder Woman in June 2017 opened to $37.6 and ended its run in the PRC with $90.5M.

But nonetheless, it remains a poor situation at the box office when marketing and B.O. capitals New York and Los Angeles have theaters closed. It’s just not worth any studio’s money to spend right now. As far as HBO Max eating into theatrical ticket sales on WW1984 — how will we be able to tell what that impact is when fewer theaters are open currently versus when Tenet tried to revive the industry at the end of August?

Monster Hunter‘s most potent grosses came out of Texas (21% marketshare), Florida (10%), Arizona (6%) and Georgia (close to 5%). Sony’s TV marketing campaign drew over 42M impression per iSpot (versus WW1984‘s current 797M) with ads that ran on ESPN, USA, Fox, Comedy Central and ABC. Shows that aired Monster Hunter ads included NFL Football, College Football, The Masked Singer, NCIS and The Simpsons.

Hollywood social media monitor RelishMix noticed that Monster Hunter had a social media universe near 149M before opening weekend with 30M video views across YouTube with 20.3M owned/earned views, plus Facebook (8.4M). “Awareness of the Capcom game network on social media with cross-promotional materials extends to another 2M+ fans with game special trailers and for characters. There’s an integration of the game audience to Twitch, Sony PS4 and Xbox One and on PCs,” says RelishMix. Another boost here is Jovovich promoting to her near 11M social media followers, but again, this is marketing to the faithful, not the non-moviegoers. TV spending will always trump any kind of digital and social media pushes (which only complement campaigns), and as we said earlier, there wasn’t much of a TV push here for Monster Hunter. Overall, social media chatter was mixed. Earlier this month videogame maker Capcom offered two new limited Event Quests on the game Monster Hunter World: Iceborne tied into the movie.

Meanwhile, in its fourth weekend, Universal’s DreamWorks Animation sequel Croods: A New Age put up a good fight –by pandemic standards– against Monster Hunter with $2M at 1,906 theaters in the No. 2 spot; keep in mind the movie is already on PVOD! (Check your Amazon Prime menus). The Joel Crawzford-directed sequel now counts $27M domestic, $84.5M WW with close to 60% of that figure coming out of China alone with $50M.

Opening in No. 3 is Lionsgate’s Deon Taylor-directed thriller Fatale which also produced muted results due to the pandemic with $925K at 1,107 movie theaters/1,534 screens. Taylor’s last movie The Intruder opened to $10.8M and that was during the second weekend of Avengers: Endgame (which made $147.3M over the May 3-5, 2019 frame).

Fatale follows successful sports agent Derrick (Michael Ealy) who after a wild one-night stand, watches his perfect life slowly disappear when he discovers that the sexy and mysterious woman he risked everything for, is a determined police detective (Hilary Swank) who entangled him in her latest investigation. As he tries desperately to put the pieces together, he falls deeper into her trap, risking his family, his career, and even his life.

Fatale played strongest in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Miami and earned a B+ CinemaScore (a bit better than Intruder‘s B-) and from an audience that was gender split with 51% female and skewing older at 83% over 25. The Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes is 86%. The pic will hit PVOD in the early New Year, not unlike Universal’s recent releases. Diversity demos were 50% African American, 33% Caucasian, 11% Hispanic, & 7% Asian-Other.

Lionsgate didn’t spend much at all to open this movie, in the very low single digits overall in regards to P&A. The TV component earned 52.8M impressions per iSpot with ads on CNN, ESPN, MSNBC, MTV and Bravo as well as TV shows CNN Tonight With Don Lemon, First Take, Anderson Cooper, Get Up and Below Deck.

Per RelishMix, Fatale on social, has clocked a moderate reach and engagement with a very low 15M across social platforms, with YouTube at 1.1M views for four videos and reposts and over 1.1M views on Facebook with 15 videos across Lionsgate pages and other earned channels before opening weekend. “Owned pages for the film were started, stopped and restarted given moving dates as materials are being posting in advance of the theatrical date this weekend,” reports RelishMix. Ealy and Swank have been actively pushing the thriller to their combined 3.7M followers.

Top 10 for Dec. 18-20:

1. Monster Hunter (Sony) 1,736 theaters, 3-day: $2.2M Wk 1
2. Croods: A New Age (Uni) 1,906 (-209) theaters, 3-day: $2M, -35%, Total: $27M/Wk 4
3. Fatale (LG) 1,107 theaters, 3-day: $925K/Wk 1
4. Elf( NL) 680 theaters (-303), 3-day: $371K (-5%), Total: $174.3M/Wk 6 of re-release
5. Half Brothers (Focus) 1,143 theaters (-243), 3-day: $260K (-48%)/Total: $1.8M/Wk 3
6. Polar Express (WB) 580 theaters (+80) 3-day: $225K (-5%)/Total $187.8M/Wk 3 of re-release
7. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (WB) 570 (-50) theaters, 3-day: $211K (-11%)/Total: $73.7M/Wk  4 of re-release
8. War With Grandpa(101) 803 (-277) theaters, 3-day: $170K (-34%)/Total: $18.1M/Wk 11
9. Freaky(Uni)785 (-450) theaters, 3-day: $165K (-47%)/Total: $8.5M/Wk 6
10. Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Uni) 300 theaters (-20), 3-day $130K (-12%), Total: $260.1M/Wk 1,049

 

via Deadline

Sans Wide Releases ‘Croods 2’ Continues Top Position at the BO!!

Even in a normal, healthy economy, the major studios are typically skittish about opening big movies before Christmas with many still busy with holiday activities. So, it comes as no surprise during a pandemic where just north of 40% of all 5,500 domestic movie theaters are open that there wouldn’t be any new wide openings this weekend. This has put Universal’s DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age at the top of the weekend box office for a third weekend in a row with $3M, -32% for a running total of $24.M. Industry analysts believe the movie could hit $35M domestic.

Stateside, Universal Filmed Entertainment Group titles have topped the domestic box office for seven straight weeks.

No doubt, in the home entertainment holiday sphere, Croods: New Age will encounter competition later this month against HBO Max’s Wonder Woman 1994 and Disney+/Pixar’s Soul, both of which come free to each service’s monthly subscribers. Uni/DWA’s Trolls World Tour had zero competition over Easter weekend on PVOD. Croods: New Age will be charging around $20 for PVOD viewing, the only upside by going at the holiday is that people during the pandemic will run out of shows and movies to watch.

Worldwide Croods 2 is up to $76.3M. Croods 2 in China –where moviegoing remains alive in a COVID-19 laden world–now counts a running total of $46M (RMB 300M). That figure outstrips Disney’s Mulan (RMB 278M) to become the second-biggest MPA title of the year, only behind Tenet ($66.6M).

By the way, next weekend is when the Christmas drumroll (if we can call it that) starts with Sony/Screen Gems opening their videogame feature adaptation Monster Hunter and Lionsgate making a go with Deon Taylor’s thriller Fatale. Then Christmas Day brings Wonder Woman 1984, Focus Features’ Promising Young Woman, Universal’s News of the World and Roadside Attraction’s Pinocchio.

Weekend’s top 10 films:

1. Croods: A New Age (Uni)2,115 theaters (-90), 3-day: $3M (-32%), Total: $24.2M/Wk 3
2. Half Brothers (Focus) 1,386 theaters (+17), 3-day: $490K (-30%)/Total: $1.38MWk 2
3. Elf( NL) 825 theaters (+125), 3-day: $390K (+24%), Total: $173.7M/Wk 5 of re-release
4. Freaky(Uni)1,235 (-267), 3-day: $315K (-34%)/Total: $8.2M/Wk 5
5. War With Grandpa(101) 1,080 (-205) theaters, 3-day: $266,9K (-16%)/Total: $17.96M/Wk 10
6. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (WB) 620 (+101) theaters, 3-day: $237K (+42%)/Total: $73.1M/Wk  3 of re-release
7. Polar Express (WB) 500 theaters (+75) 3-day: $237K (+61%)/Total $187.4M/Wk 2 of re-release
8. All My Life (Uni) 965 theaters (-5), 3-day: $215K (-42%)/Total: $696K/Wk 2
9. Wonder Woman (WB) 900 theaters, 3-day: $187K/Total $412.7M/Wk 1 of re-release
10. Come Play(Foc) 610 (-163) theaters, 3-day: $175K (-24%)/Total: $9.2M/Wk 7

The mind still wonders about Wonder Woman 1984 — was this a great idea for Warner Bros. to go out with a major piece of IP during the pandemic while largely most studios are protecting theirs?

Reminder that it’s a sequel which could have feasibly rode the back of its 2017 predecessor and potentially gross $1 billion in a normal global theatrical atmosphere. With or without HBO Max, is this a good idea for Warner Bros.?

Let’s break down some of the stats. There’s less movie theaters and markets open than there were when Tenet was released over Labor Day weekend (around 65% of all 5,5K U.S./Canada movie theaters then). It’s possible we get to around 3K theaters open by Christmas. No. 2 chain Regal has its 550 venues completely closed (except for one site in Massachusetts). AMC only has 64% of its near 600 multiplexes open. Cinemark has 67% of its 330+ hubs with lights on. True, Warner will go for the global play and tout the global number of WW1984 which will still pale in comparison because most of Europe is closed. Analysts with knowledge of WW1984‘s economics tell Deadline that the $200M DC sequel has to do 40% more than Tenet‘s current global take of $361.3 million to hit breakeven.

Warners knew that taking WW1984 out of the schedule would do further damage to exhibition (which is already broken). That said, rival distributors understand Warner’s need to finally open WW1984 after all the release delays. Unlike Tenet, WW1984 is a big fan film, and Warner Bros has the dilemma that if they open the movie in theaters, than how do people in the other part of the nation where cinemas aren’t open, see it so they can share in the experience?

However where the competition disagrees with Warner Bros is that they should have given some theatrical exclusivity (a 14 to 17 day window) to WW1984 on its way to dropping on HBO Max on either Christmas Day or Jan. 1. That concession wouldn’t have cost Warner Bros. more in the P&A they’re spending for both the theatrical/streaming release. It also doesn’t put theaters in an unfair faceoff with the streaming service. No one around town is believing that any spike in HBO Max subscribers (a U.S. service) will make up for the great shortfall in production and marketing costs on WW1984. Impossible — and don’t expect AT&T to show us how they get there.

Any way you cut this, with or without HBO Max, WW1984 will lose revenue by going in the pandemic. Let’s just hope it doesn’t have a long-term stinging effect on the cinema franchise going forward.

Different studios are responding to the pandemic in a variety of different means. Paramount and Skydance sold off what could have been a potential franchise (starring Michael B. Jordan no less), Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, to Amazon. That was their kneejerk reaction to a movie they were sitting on rather than waiting the pandemic out. So, it’s not just Warner Bros. who’s in a corner.

However, when we use Warner Bros and HBO Max in the same sentence, we keep coming back to their cavalier plan to drop their entire 2021 theatrical slate on HBO Max and in theaters day and date. While we were fine with WW1984 being a one-off, which is the way many studios are handling their titles –on a case by case basis for an in-home release as we ride COVID-19 out– the plan only spells a complete nuclear meltdown of exhibition and the theatrical window revenue generating system. Big exhibition would be wise to block this, but rival distribution believes the big chains will give in at the right price. And they shouldn’t.

The first week gross estimates per rival sources for WW1984 stateside are all over the place, from $10M to Croods 2 numbers of $14.2M. Should the movie best the 11-day $20.2M domestic opening of Tenet, there’s a belief that there’s potentially a false box office bubble during the pandemic. Why and how? We’re likely dealing with a marketplace where the consumer may not be completely educated, i.e. some will know WW1984 is in theaters, while others will know it’s on HBO Max. The two factions will ultimately catch up with each other with the moviegoers realizing the better bargain exists on HBO Max for $14.99/a month.  We can assume, just like with Tenet, Warner Bros will hide the box office on Comscore from its competition out of fear that they will put a false narrative out there for the film.

But in the end, the numbers for WW1984 will speak for themselves…and pale greatly to the first film’s $103.2M domestic opening.

 

via Deadline

‘The Croods: A New Age’ Continues Slow Domination at the BO!!

 

via Deadline

‘The Croods: A New Age’ Sets Strong $14M Domestic + $35M WW Opening at the BO!!

Universal’s estimates for DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age didn’t veer greatly from what we were seeing yesterday for the weekend, with a $9.7M 3-day, $14.2M 5-day and global grab of $35M. On a 3-day U.S./Canada basis, this is the biggest opening during the pandemic since theaters re-opened, even beating Warner Bros. Tenet. The 3-day of Tenet‘s full domestic over Labor Day was $9.35M according to Comscore.

As we mentioned all along, by historical Thanksgiving B.O. records, these numbers are awful. But by pandemic standards, these are some of the best B.O. figures we’ve seen, and that’s largely because Universal spent to promote the movie. Also, families came out. Back when exhibition was re-opening, studies showed that families would be the slowest and most cautious to return to the cinemas. It appears Universal has busted a leak in that dam this past weekend: Croods 2 brought in 54% females (moms) and an audience that was 70% under 25. As one distribution executive put it this past weekend about forecasting numbers, “Nowadays you have to look ahead five minutes in the future, not five days” about the market’s unpredictability, with B.O. hubs like Los Angeles, most of California, NYC, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Minnesota, Colorado, Washington, Oregon and New Mexico still closed.

Said Universal US distribution Boss Jim Orr about Uni’s commitment to Croods 2 even as theaters began to close nationwide in recent weeks, falling out of the studio’s grasp, “We unleashed the best in industry marketing to drive as many people to as many opened theaters as we possibly could, and the results speak for themselves.”

Typically, wide releases of late have had marketing spends in the $1M-$10M range, and iSpot shows that around $27M was spent in US TV ads for Croods 2 by Uni. Marketing spend here for Croods 2 is weighted differently than the typical theatrical release due to the pic’s PVOD release on the horizon.

Adds Orr about the family turnout this past five days, “When you have an incredible charming film, people want to come out and want to be together in a theater. Those that do, did, and enjoyed the Croods: A New Age very much.”

Social media monitor RelishMix noticed the results of Uni’s big push for Croods 2, reporting, “Over the last year, with the birth of Peacock and the convergence of the DreamWorks family of YouTube channels and the Universal Kids portfolio, the new and improved Peacock Kids on YouTube (8.1M subs) has become an ideal launchpad for family titles. Given the Covid-19 state of the biz, the Social Media Universe campaign intensity for Croods: A New Age sits on par (301.7M norm SMU), with genre norms for Family Animated, with 283.5M reach and engagement across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. The greatest reach is driven by the Uni Facebook, with 30.5M fans, and biggest driver of activity is the well-boosted Official Trailer on Peacock YouTube with 45.5M views.

Total views on YouTube crossed over to 103.9M on 80+ clips, the EOR viral reposting rate is strong at 21:1, and additional Facebook videos are at 47.6M for 35 videos. On TikTok, Croods 2 has 458k followers and 31 nicely viewed videos, as all studios cautiously explore the platform.” 

Notable materials on social included Croods 2 stars Leslie Mann, Kelly Marie Tran, and Emma Stone participating in a Zoom on the Peacock Kids YouTube channel, which targets 8.1M subscribers. The channel is a mash-up of Universal Kids, Dreamworks animation, and digital TV channels over the last 7 years. Stone appeared on The Tonight Show, revealing how Monica from Friends was her inspiration for voice-acting in Croods. Also, Atlanta Hawks hoopster Trea Young stepped in for a Croods 2 spot, “Get Your Sloth On,” which aired on ESPN.

China fueled the bulk of Croods 2‘s overseas at $19.2M at 10K locations, with the starting result there being triple that of the first Croods movie, which ended its box office at $63.3M. On Sunday, Croods 2 beat ($7.3M) local titles Caught in Time ($4.6M) and One Second ($3.2M), respectively. Imax theaters numbering 868 delivered $2.6M to Croods 2‘s global tally; $500K of that from 175 U.S. venues, $2M from 671 China sites.

Orr further adds about the notable results here for the sequel during the pandemic, “The Croods: A New Age further solidifies Dreamworks Animation’s impeccable reputation of creating beautifully animated films and quality family entertainment with global appeal. We are very proud of our ability to continue to support our exhibition partners in whatever ways we can as we look to bring audiences a sense of normalcy during these uncertain times, making this holiday weekend debut of The Croods especially gratifying in this difficult theatrical landscape.”

Where does Croods 2 go from here at the domestic B.O. now that there’s a PVOD release in near sight? (I hear the movie is getting a jump ahead of Disney+’s Christmas Day drop of Soul). Analysts believe the pic has at least a 3x multiple of its 3-day domestic opening result (~$42M). Croods 2 before P&A cost $65M, which is 52% lower than the cost of the first Croods ($135M) under then-DWA boss Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Uni’s absorption of DWA entailed cutting down the cost of its movies. Uni is quite excited to see the end results of Croods 2 in their financial ledgers, given their new dynamic window approach, with the pic playing roughly three weeks in theaters exclusively before PVOD. As has been reported, this past April’s PVOD release of DWA’s Trolls World Tour minted close to $100M domestic.

As far as how Croods 2 played across a broken exhibition nation: I hear the top theaters were largely indoor, with only two drive-ins. Drive-ins, given the cold weather, are becoming less prominent at the box office, their numbers dwindling from 320 at a season’s high to about 183 locations currently open. Croods 2 played best in the South and the Mountain area, the latter typically a solid region for family films. Top markets were Salt Lake City, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Orlando, Atlanta, Austin, San Antonio, Tampa, Kansas City, Las Vegas, among others.

The top 10 as we see it for this past weekend:

1. Croods: A New Age (Uni)2,211 theaters, 3-day: $9.7M, 5-day $14.2M/Wk 1
2. Freaky(Uni)1,735  theaters (-322), 3-day: $770K (-40%), 5-day: $1.1M/Total: $7M/Wk 3
3. War With Grandpa(101) 1,500 (-188) theaters, 3-day: $644K (-14%)/5-day: $892K/ Total: $17.2M/Wk 8
4. Let Him Go (Foc) 1,447 theaters (-460), 3-day: $453K (-37%)/5-day: $670K, Total: $8.7M/Wk 4
5. Come Play(Foc) 1,029 (-335) theaters, 3-day: $387K (-31%)/5-day $520K, Total: $8.7M/Wk 5
6. Honest Thief (Open) 975 (-279) theaters, 3-day: $350K(-22%) 5-day: $465K/Total: $13.5M/Wk 8
7. Elf( NL) 700 theaters (+425), 3-day: $315K (+75%), 5-day $427K,Total: $175M/Wk 3 of re-release
8. Tenet(WB) 656 theaters (-208) 3-day: $300K (-16%), 5-day: $440K Total: $57.4M/Wk 13
9. The Santa Clause (Dis) 1,090 (-491) theaters, 3-day: $170K/5-day: $245k/Total $145.6M/Wk 2 of re-release
10. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (WB) 325 theaters, 3-day $169K, 5-day: $218K/Total: $72.9M /Wk 1 or re-release

Notables:

Vanguard (Gravitas) 800 (-575), 3-day: $165K (-59%)/5-day $240K/Total: $694K/Wk 2

 

via Deadline

‘Freaky’ and Jackie Chan’s ‘Vanguard’ Float at Depressing Times at the BO!!

The weekend before Thanksgiving is one of the most lucrative ones on the calendar, last year bringing in $204.9M off the opening of Disney’s Frozen II, which posted November’s fifth-best domestic opening of all-time at $130.3M.

Who would ever think that the domestic box office would sink to such an atrocious level as this weekend? If last weekend brought in $10M for all titles with California theaters and other markets like Illinois open, this weekend is surely the lowest weekend for exhibition since theaters reopened back in September for Tenet, with an estimated $6.5M, a 35% drop.

At that level, how can a circuit like AMC, which has an estimated weekly burn rate of $25M, stay open? It’s hard times, as many theaters coast to coast were closed because of local safety ordinances or curfews.

There was only one wide release this past weekend, Jackie Chan’s Vanguard, and it wasn’t from a major studio, rather Gravitas Ventures, a distributor known for its theatrical day and date PVOD titles. The movie fizzled in the No. 7 spot, with a reported $400K at 1,375 theaters in 178 markets in what I’m told is a 90-day theatrical window. Vanguard‘s most notable numbers were in the West and the South. But, of course, they weren’t very strong. Critics hated the movie at 29% Rotten, but PostTrak audiences were a bit more positive at 72% and a 57% recommend. Older males showed at 64% guys, 55% over 35. Diversity breakdown was 51% Caucasian, 18% African American, 22% Asian/other and 9% Hispanic.

Universal/Blumhouse’s Freaky led the box office in its second weekend, with $1.2M, -65% for a running $5.6M. It is not a time for victory laps and bragging. Around the world, Freaky stands at $9.2M. Yikes. Freaky saw $410K on Friday, a lift on its second Saturday with $550K, +34%, and it’s expecting $260K today.

As much as exhibition praised Warner Bros. recently for its cannibalistic Christmas Day release of Wonder Woman 1984 in theaters and HBO Max, even if the DC sequel didn’t have have the HBO Max component, that movie alone couldn’t save the domestic box office during COVID-19, as we’re operating in a marketplace where several cities are off-line or curbed by local curfews.

Wonder Woman 1984 is primed to open in an exhibition infrastructure that’s more broken down around the world vs. when Tenet played, amounting to a $356M WW result. Last weekend, distribution sources told me that 3,400 cinemas were open, and now there’s only 2,850, with most of California closed, along with New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Minnesota, Florida, Colorado, Washington, Oregon and New Mexico. Oy.

Here in upper Los Angeles County, where more lockdowns are being threatened by the government, people are rushing out to grab whatever they can for Thanksgiving. With all the traffic and filled parking spaces, one wouldn’t think that there’s a pandemic going on except for the fact that we’re wearing masks and lining up to get in at Trader Joe’s. Even if movie theaters were open, no one would go. It’s interesting, because there’s a hypocrisy in place among the general populous. People will head to Target, Wal-Mart, the grocery store — even airports (and you can imagine what the next month is going to be like at major hubs). But the movies, wherever they’re open, are just not in the cards for people. Yes, part of that is lack of product, or they’re not aware their movie theater is open. But no one wants to go to the cinema during a pandemic.

Because of these dynamics, studios have cut down their spending to promote their movies. According to iSpot TV spending of late, Universal spent roughly $8M on Freaky and Focus Features’ Let Him Go, respectively, as of Thursday. However, I’m told and iSpot even shows that Uni has shelled out $19M+ for its Wednesday release of The Croods: A New Age, which is a 30-day play before Christmas PVOD drop. Even with that type of financial commitment, which is low by normal marketplace standards, what can anyone expect with a majority of the country’s theaters closed down?

The TV spend on Vanguard didn’t even register on iSpot, however. Gravitas reports they’ve taken out TV spots on linear cable targeting Men 18-49 across sports and entertainment networks from Nov. 14-18, i.e. ESPN, Adult Swim, FX, FXX, Fox Sports, History, Paramount Network, NBC Sports, the NFL Network TNT, and TBS. Also, there were non-skippable ads for the Stanley Tong-directed and written action pic on smart TV and OTT devices like Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Hulu, Sling, AT&T TV Now and fuboTV.

On digital, there was a Vanguard ad on TikTok promoting Chan’s Nov. 19 fan event. However, RelishMix wasn’t impressed with the moderate result of that, nor the overall campaign’s digital push. “There’s next-to-nothing across digital/social platforms to market this project, other than some behind-the-scenes and cookie cutter featurette materials that have trickled over from the original release in China,” reports the social media analytics corp…the campaign completely lacks strategy and positioning, with one trailer yielding 6.7M on YouTube views for over 25 videos.”

In addition to an Entertainment Weekly web page takeover, there were pre-roll video ads on EW and sister site People. There were ads on Spotify targeting the pic’s older male demo. 30-second spots were also taken on streaming and nationally syndicated radio, in the latter sector hitting such shows as NFL Sunday Night, NCAA Football, Bob & Tom, Free Beer and Hot Wings, and Westwood One’s Rock Reach network of 435 stations.

Gravitas acquired Vanguard in collaboration with Lionsgate on The Secret: Dare to Dream earlier this summer in a seven-figure deal. The Chan movie, even in his homeland China market, didn’t set his fans on fire, grossing only $43.9M in the PRC, which is 88% of the film’s global $49.65M box office to date.

Sony had the Guy Pearce period drama The Last Vermeer in 912 theaters, and it tanked like many other pics in this environment, with $225K, including $84K on Friday, $86K on Saturday, and a projected $55K today. The good news is that producer Dan Friedkin’s feature directorial debut received 4 out of 5 stars on PostTrak from audiences and an OK result from critics at 68% fresh.

The movie follows a soldier who investigates a renowned Dutch artist who is accused of conspiring with the Nazis.  The few who showed up were 52% female, 90% over 25, with 52% over 45 years old. Diversity breakdown was 74% Caucasian, 14% Hispanic, 7% Asian, & 5% African American. Sony didn’t share in Comscore with other distributors and exhibitors.

Warner Bros. finally began sharing figures with everyone on Comscore this past week on Tenet.

Paramount had the Josh Duhamel feature directorial debut, Buddy Games, a comedy which starred the Transformers star plus Olivia Munn and Dax Shepard. It went theatrical in 401 sites before its Nov. 24 DVD, PVOD, digital release grossing $140K. Not good numbers here, with most cinemas grossing under $100, I hear, on Friday night.

The top 10 as we see it for this past weekend:

1. Freaky (Uni) 2,057  theaters (-415), 3-day: $1.2M (-66%)/Total: $5.6M/Wk 2
2. War With Grandpa (101) 1,688 (-457) theaters, 3-day: $733K (-44%), Total: $16.1M/Wk 7
3. Let Him Go (Foc) 1,907 theaters (-551), 3-day: $710K (-59%)/Total: $7.9M/Wk 3
4. Come Play (Foc) 1,364 (-602) theaters, 3-day: $550K (-49%), Total: $8M/Wk 4
5. The Santa Clause (Dis) 1,581 theaters, 3-day: $461K/Total $145.1M/Wk 1 of re-release
6. Honest Thief (Open) 1,254 (-589) theaters, 3-day: $452K (-42%), Total: $13M/Wk 7
7. Vanguard (Gravitas) 1,375, 3-day: $400K/Wk 1
8. Tenet (WB) 864 theaters (-359) 3-day: $360K (-52%), Total: $56.9M/Wk 12
9. Fate/Stay Night (Fathom) 304 theaters, 3-day: $200K/Wk 1
10. Elf (NL) 275 theaters (-85), 3-day: $178K (+5%) Total: $175M/Wk 2 of re-release

 

via Deadline

Body Swap Horror Comedy ‘Freaky’ Topes with $3.7M at the BO!!

Universal/Blumhouse’s Freaky is coming in lower than expected at $3.7M after a $1.4M Saturday that dipped 6% from Friday’s $1.5M. With overseas totaling $1.9M from 20 territories, including Australia, Freaky‘s global start stands at $5.6M. It’s the 14th time that a Blumhouse movie has led the box office in the studio’s history. Blumhouse’s last No. 1 pic was The Invisible Man, with $28.2M before the pandemic threw the box office into the dumpster.

While Wall Street and exhibition stocks got excited about the potential of a COVID-19 vaccine in the near future, with the Pfizer trials at over a 90% effective rate, those good vibes weren’t seeping into the box office this past weekend. Moviegoers continued to be jarred by TV news chatter of increased lockdowns and record spikes across the country.

It’s clear, given the numbers, that the major studios aren’t investing in these movies, given the broken- down marketplace (17% of all U.S. theaters are closed). The No. 1 results for a movie since Columbus Day weekend are in the $3.6M-$4M range. Freaky is another example of this. It will be interesting to see if grosses are higher over Thanksgiving when the studio opens DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age, which is part of the NBC Universal symphony marketing program. That pic is primed to get a proper blast across the conglom’s vertical tentacles, i.e. cable, TV networks, etc.

Also slowing business was word-of-mouth, despite Freaky notching an 85% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with Cinemascore at B-, and the PostTrak exits standing at 77% positive and a 54% definite recommend.

Freaky was rated R, despite looking like a PG-13 movie in its high school content and young cast, and thus drew 50/50 male-female, with 18-24 showing up at 36%, 25-34 at 27%, and 9% under 18. The 25 and older crowd repped 55% of all ticketholders. Twenty-two percent of Freaky‘s moviegoers came with a date while 20% took a friend, and another 20% went with 2-4 friends. Diversity demos for Freaky showed 44% Caucasian, 26% Hispanic, 20% African American, 5% Asian, and 5% Other. If this was a PG-13 horror film, Freaky would have skewed more toward younger females.

Top markets for Freaky were Los Angeles/Orange DMA, Dallas, surrounding NYC DMA, San Francisco, Houston, Phoenix, Chicago, Philly, Atlanta and Detroit.

101 Studios’ My War With Grandpa now stands at $15.2M in its domestic tally in weekend 6, and has a good chance with Thanksgiving of making it to $20M. Even though the pic lost 203 locations, along with the Sacramento and San Diego cinema shutdowns, the movie only dipped -12%, which exceeded the distributor’s expectations. The Saturday to Saturday dip was only -5%, with $639K. Grandpa was notable in the West, Mountain, Midwest and East, with over-indexing markets being Salt Lake City, Houston, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Detroit, Seattle, Kansas City , Pittsburgh, Des Moines, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus, Milwaukee and Cincinnati.

Imani/Faith Media’s True to the Game 2 saw a 6% uptick in its 3-day grosses after a 34 theater uptick in its weekend 2 count. African American audiences gave this Jamal Hill-directed movie a boost. The movie is still in the top 10.

Remember Relativity Media? Ya know, the once-great-then-distressed Ryan Kavanaugh studio? Well, they were back this weekend under its new Ultra V ownership with the period David Oyelowo-Gugu Mbatha Raw movie Come Away. Ultra V acquired Relativity and the studio’s catalog in 2018 out of bankruptcy, and this was one of the first movies the new admin picked up under new management, plotting a theatrical VOD release.

Mike Polydoros’ PaperAirplane worked with Relativity on the release of the Brenda Chapman-directed feature (she did Pixar’s Brave). Booked at 475 runs in 126 markets, the movie did $108K, for a $227 per site result. Critics panned the PG film, which is a fantasy homage to Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland at 36% Rotten. Pic follows eight-year-old Alice and her mischievous brother Peter, who journey to London to sell a treasured heirloom. Returning home, Alice seeks temporary refuge in a wondrous rabbit hole, while Peter enters a magical realm as leader of the lost boys.

The Mel Gibson Santa Clause action fantasy movie Fatman did very little business with $108K at 259 sites, and a 41% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics. Pic hits VOD on Nov. 24.

Sony Classics’ The Climb opened to $103.5K at 408 theaters, with a low theater average of $254 for this 91% certified fresh feature about an adult bromance from filmmaker Michael Angelo Covino. The pic made its world premiere at Cannes in 2019. One thing is for certain this coming awards season, and that is that a picture’s fate at the Oscars won’t be pre-determined by its box office results, and this one has a lot of amour.

See-Saw/NEON’s Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan romance Ammonite saw 280 runs in 97 markets gross $85K or $304 per site. The movie arrives on PVOD in December. RT is low at 69% fresh.

Weekend top 10:

1. Freaky (Uni) 2,472 theaters, 3-day $3.7M/Wk 1
2. Let Him Go (Foc) 2,458  theaters (+4), 3-day: $1.8M (-55%)/Total: $6.9M/Wk 2
3. War With Grandpa (101) 2,415 (-203) theaters, 3-day: $1.3M (-12%), Total: $15.2M/Wk 6
4. Come Play (Foc) 1,966 (-247) theaters, 3-day: $1.1M (-39%), Total: $7.3M/Wk 3
5. Honest Thief (Open) 1,843 (-374) theaters, 3-day: $800K (-30%), Total: $12.4M/Wk 6
6. Tenet (WB) 1,223 theaters (-189) 3-day: $735K (-21%), Total: $56.3M/Wk 11
7. Guardians of the Galaxy (Dis, re) 1,560 theaters, 3-day: $406K, total: $333.7M/Wk 1 of re-release
8. True to the Game 2 (Faith Media) 281 theaters (+34), 3-day: $288K (+6%)/Total: $611K/Wk 2
9. Toy Story (Dis) 1,360 theaters (-742), 3-day $222K (-56%), Total: $223.5M/Wk 2 of re-release
10. Elf (NL) 288 theaters, 3-day: $170K , Total: $174.8M/Wk 1 of re-release
11. The Last Shift (Sony) 135 theaters (+127) 3-day: $164,6K, Total: $804.6K/Wk 8

 

via Deadline

‘Tenet’ Hits $350M Globally While ‘Let Him Go’ Takes Top Spot at the Domestic BO!!

Focus Features is calling Let Him Go‘s opening weekend at $4.1M after a Saturday that was up 6% over Friday with $1.56M. Sunday is being figured at $1.07M.

Talking about how the specialty label released an older adult skewing (66% over 35) feature in the pandemic marketplace, leaning toward women 52%; demos which have been seen as reluctant to head back to the cinema, Focus Distribution Boss Lisa Bunnell tells Deadline this morning, “There are moviegoers who want to go back to theaters. If you don’t offer them a film, if you don’t give people the opportunity to see a movie, you’ll never know if they’ll go back or not.” Bunnell also adds, “We’re just trying to keep theaters going.”

In an earlier note sent out to press, Bunnell beamed about the specialty label’s B.O. notch of having two movies open back-to-back at the weekend B.O. at No. 1, last weekend being Amblin’s Come Play, “We’re thrilled to have our second film open at No.1 in back-to-back weekends and equally excited to see audiences coming back to theaters to watch the caliber of storytelling from Kevin, Diane and Lesley on the big screen.”

The Costner-Lane crime thriller based on Larry Watson’s bestselling novel grossed prominently this past weekend in the South and the West with Focus reporting that the pic’s top DMAs were Dallas (5.5% of weekend B.O.), Phoenix (3.8%), Houston (3.4%), Los Angeles/Orange County (3.1%), Salt Lake City (2.4%), Austin, San Francisco, New York (each 1.8%), San Antonio and Sacramento (both at 1.7% each). In sum, Texas has handled theatrical re-openings well, sparking business overall for pics at the box office. It’s not a ton of business, but at least it’s a pulse. Typically it’s the suburbs seeing more moviegoing than the actual city itself (i.e. outlying areas of Dallas). “People want to get out and do things,” added Bunnell.

The top gross for Let Him Go was the Five Drive-In in Toronto, Canada with $12,6K.  The best hardtop theater for the Thomas Bezucha directed and written feature was the Palladium in San Antonio with close to 10K in the second spot.

The Let Him Go trailer launched on the season finale of Costner’s Yellowstone series on Aug. 23. Focus was also running it on Tenet during its opening weekend over Labor Day. To date, the trailer has yielded 26.6M view. Focus placed an early TV spot during NBC’s Joe Biden Town Hall on Oct. 5, with spots also running on college football, FX’s Fargo, AMC’s Fear of the Walking Dead, and targeted drama/thriller/arthouse fans on digital.

Indicative that families, another demo that studios shied away from during the pandemic, yearn to get out of the house and head to the movies, is 101 Studios’ The War With Grandpa which in its fifth weekend is 19% with $1.5M in its 5th weekend with $13.5M. Sources say this sleeper could make its way to $30M at the domestic box office, which would be marvelous in this environment. Since theaters re-openings in late August that would ultimately be the second-best domestic gross during the pandemic After Tenet‘s current $55.1M and ahead of New Mutants’ current $23.5M and Unhinged‘s $20.8M.

Dino will deep-dive into the indie box office later this morning, but of note, Vertical Entertainment had The Informer, one of the films left over from the distressed Aviron which we told you about earlier this year, with that film label’s founder William Sadleir arrested by Feds back in May for a $1.7M COVID-19 scam. The crime thriller, directed by Andrea di Stefano, and starring Joel Kinnaman, Rosamund Pike, Clive Owen, Common, and Ana de Armas follows an ex-convict working undercover, who intentionally gets himself incarcerated again in order to infiltrate the mob at a maximum security prison. The pic dropped on both VOD and theaters, earning $143K in the latter at 283 locations. I hear that 75% of the pic’s locations generated a location average under $100. Pic’s Rotten Tomatoes score was 62% fresh.

There was also Faith Media’s Jamal Hill-directed True to the Game 2 popping in the chart which stars Vivica A. Fox. The thriller follows a NYC journalist, who after her friend’s death, becomes the target of a criminal looking to collect on a debt. The movie didn’t do much. Pic was booked in 63 markets at 257 locations with halfway decent runs in Baltimore, Detroit, Atlanta and Philly.

Weekend Box Office Top 10:

1. Let Him Go (Foc) 2,454  theaters, 3-day: $4.1M/Wk 1
2. Come Play (Foc) 2,213 (+30) theaters, 3-day: $1.7M (-45%), Total: $5.6M/Wk 2
3. War With Grandpa (101) 2,348 (-17) theaters, 3-day: $1.5M (+19%), Total: $13.4M/Wk 5
4. Honest Thief (Open) 2,217 (-143) theaters, 3-day: $1.1M (-15%), Total: $11.2M/Wk 5
5. Tenet (WB) 1,412 (-189) theaters, 3-day: $905K (-2%), Total: $55.1M/Wk 11
6. Toy Story (Dis, re) 2,102 theaters, 3-day: $505K, total: $223M/Wk 1 of re-release
7. The Empty Man (20th/Dis) 1,243 (-808) theaters, 3-day $277K (-52%), Total: $2.7M/Wk 3
8. True to the Game 2 (Faith Media) 247 theaters, 3-day: $270K/Wk 1
9. Spell (Par) 368 theaters (-1) 3-day: $150K (-27%), Total: $405K/Wk 2
10. The New Mutants (20th/Dis) 327 (-225) theaters, 3-day $110K (-26%), Total: $23.5M/Wk 11

 

via Deadline

‘Come Play’ Tops Halloween Chart With $3.2M at the BO!!

Focus Features and Amblin‘s Halloween offering Come Play filled its trick-or-treat bag with $3.2 million in domestic grosses, easily enough to top another hollow weekend at the box office amid the ongoing pandemic.

Opening in 2,183 theaters, the horror-thriller came in ahead of expectations and jumped 18 percent from Friday to Saturday (Halloween).

Jacob Chase’s directorial debut stars Azhy Robertson, Gillian Jacobs and John Gallagher Jr. The project began as a short film which was optioned, developed and financed by Amblin into a feature in close association with Chase and producers Alex Heineman and Andrew Rona under their Picture Company banner. The budget was a reported $9 million.

Even though every state save for New Mexico is open or partially open in terms of movie theaters, only about half of cinemas across the U.S. are presently operating. Major markets including New York City and Los Angeles are off limits. Most studios have delayed their bigger films, leaving exhibitors to rely on smaller movies and repertory titles.

Come Play‘s No. 1 theater was the AMC Orange near Anaheim, while drive-ins also turned in big numbers. The top market overall was Dallas, while the best theater average was in Sacramento at the Sacramento 6 Drive-in with $12,170.

“Moviegoers all across the country have had a chance to see this film that I, along with the entire cast and crew, put so much heart and empathy into,” Chase said in a statement. “While it isn’t exactly how we pictured the movie coming out when we made it, I’ve been remarkably impressed with Focus getting it into so many theaters safely during COVID. Wear your masks and keep your fellow humans safe!”

Focus movies, like titles from parent studio Universal, can appear early on premium on-demand per a new deal with AMC Theatres.

Overseas  — where cinemas have begun shutting down again in major European markets because of  a surge in COVID-19 cases — Come Play grossed $574.800 from 12 markets.

Another new entry overseas was Warner Bros.‘ The Witches, which was sent straight to HBO Max in the U.S. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Anne Hathaway, the film grossed $4.8  million from its first 17 markets, led by Russia with $1.6 million.

Back on the North American chart, Liam Neeson‘s action pic Honest Thief, from Open Road, came in No. 2 in its third weekend, grossing $1.4 million from 2,360 theaters for a cume of $9.5 million.

101 Studio‘s The War With Grandpa, now in  its fourth weekend, placed third with $1.1 million from  2,365 sites for a total of $11.3 million.

Tenet came in No. 4 with $885,000 for a domestic total of $53.8 million. Overseas, it  finished the frame with an international total of $293.3 million  and $347.1 million domestically.

The Empty Man, from 20th Century and Disney, fell to No. 5 in its second weekend  with $561,000 from 2,051 cinemas for a total of $2.3 million.

 

via The Hollywood Reporter

Liam Neeson Actioner ‘Honest Thief’ Maintains Tops Spot at the BO!!

Liam Neeson’s thriller “Honest Thief” repeated as the winner of a subdued domestic box office with $2.4 million at 2,502 locations.

The Open Road release declined 44% from its opening frame and has taken in $7.5 million in its first 10 days in North America. The distributor added screens in New York state following New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to give movie theaters outside of New York City permission to reopen at reduced capacity starting on Oct. 23.

Tom Ortenberg, CEO of Open Road said: “Our belief was that releasing a crowd-pleaser of a film, like ‘Honest Thief,’ at this point in time, would generate the positive word-of-mouth necessary to successfully propel the film for many weeks. Back to back weeks at number 1, confirms that belief.”

The “Honest Thief” number is one of the lowest-winning weekend totals in theaters during the past two months, but Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, said it demonstrated the fundamental appeal of the moviegoing experience.

“The performance of ‘Honest Thief’ proves that moviegoers haven’t given up on the theatrical experience and that an action thriller starring Liam Neeson is the perfect antidote to today’s trying times and supplies that big screen escape that audiences have been craving,” Dergarabedian said. “With an unlimited supply of content at home on the small screen, it should be heartening to theatrical exhibition that movies in theaters remain relevant to audiences and even though the box office numbers (for obvious reasons) are lower than what would be typically seen at this time of year, there is clearly an interest by consumers in the movie theater experience.”

The New York City, Los Angles and San Francisco markets remained closed due to the pandemic along with the Regal Cinemas chain, which shuttered its 536 U.S. locations on Oct. 8. Even though about 85% of U.S. markets are open, Comscore reports that only 49% of movie theater locations are open. In addition, other U.S. theaters are operating with reduced hours and at reduced capacity with social distancing restrictions.

101 Studios’ third weekend of family comedy “The War With Grandpa” showed solid holding power with a 25% decline to $1.9 million at 2,345 venues for a 17-day total of $9.7 million. The Robert De Niro vehicle led the box office over the Columbus Day weekend with $4 million, breaking the five-weekend winning streak of “Tenet,” the big-budget Christopher Nolan thriller.

Disney’s opening of horror-thriller “The Empty Man” debuted softly with $1.3 million at 2,027 domestic locations. In the film, James Badge Dale stars as an ex-cop dealing with a secretive group trying to summon a supernatural entity. “The Empty Man” was developed at 20th Century Fox before Disney bought the Fox entertainment assets last year.

Christoper Nolan’s “Tenet” also took in $1.3 million at 1,801 domestic site, declining only 15% in its eighth weekend. Warner Bros. opted to open “Tenet” in North America on Labor Day weekend and has seen domestic results top $52 million. The international results have been respectable with nearly $290 million, but the film’s modest domestic performance signaled a reluctance by many U.S. moviegoers to return to multiplexes amid the ongoing pandemic. Major studios have been delaying virtually every other high-profile release as a result.

During the past week, three more high profile titles — MGM’s “Legally Blonde 3,” Universal’s “Candyman” and Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” — have been delayed. Only a few major studio movies remain on the 2020 calendar with Warner Bros.’ “Wonder Woman 1984” scheduled for Dec. 25.

Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Box Office Pro, summed up the weekend by noting the need for exhibitors to provide reassurance to potential customers.

“Relatively strong holds across the board remain the theme of pandemic box office, even if overall foot traffic remains markedly low,” he noted. “The re-opening of some New York state cinemas helps business in a minor way, but we’re in a period of the calendar now where theaters should start relying more on communication to consumers about the safety of moviegoing just as much as, or more than, promoting new releases. It’ll be a few weeks before any truly mainstream titles arrive from major studios again. The attainable goal right now is all about building consumer confidence.”

A trio of Disney re-releases took the fifth, sixth and seventh spots. the second frame of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” finished fifth with $577,000 at 1,614 locations. The third weekend of the re-released “Hocus Pocus” scared up $530,000 at 1,277 sites and the opening of the animated “Monsters Inc.” grossed $494,000 at 1,875 screens.

Open Road’s launch of the romantic drama “After We Collided” landed in eighth place with $420,000 at 460 locations. The movie, a sequel to 2019’s “After,” stars Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes Tiffin.

Freestyle’s second weekend of “Two Hearts” came in ninth with $320,000 at 1,676 sites. The romantic drama, which stars Jacob Elordi of “the Kissing Booth” and “Euphoria,” has taken in nearly $1 million in its first 10 days.

Disney’s ninth weekend of “The New Mutants” followed in 10th place with $286,000 at 830 locations, pushing the “X-Men” spinoff past $23 million overall.

 

via Variety

Liam Neeson’s ‘Honest Thief’ Opens With a Weak $3.7M at the BO!!

Liam Neeson‘s turn as older action star continued over the weekend as his film Honest Thief collected a solid $3.7 million in its U.S. box office debut.

The movie, which marks the first release from Tom Ortenberg‘s revived Open Road Films, topped yet another quiet frame in terms of moviegoing amid the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

As of last Friday, Seattle theaters were allowed to open, whereas New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday that cinemas outside of New York City can open if they are in counties meeting certain criteria.

Honest Thief has earned a total of $4.2 million when factoring in Canadian grosses.

“Moviegoers, particularly couples, came back to theaters to enjoy Honest Thief in a theatrical environment and were rewarded with a movie rated 88 percent on the audience score from Rotten Tomatoes,” said Ortenberg, who recently relaunched Open Road with Josh Green’s Raven Capital.

The movie played particularly well in Miami, Chicago, San Diego and Atlanta.

101 Studios‘ The War With Grandpa took in $2.5 million in its sophomore session for a 10-day-domestic total of $7.3 million.

Christopher Nolan‘s Tenet, from Warner Bros, grossed $1.6 million domestically for a North American total of $50.6 million and a worldwide tally of $333.9 million. The film saw a huge boost from Seattle reopenings; five of the top-10 grossing theaters were in the Seattle area.

Perennial favorite The Nightmare Before Christmas became the latest catalogue to take advantage of a relatively empty marquee, grossing $1.3 million for Disney. Fellow Disney title Hocus Pocus earned $756,000 in its second weekend.

Paramount‘s debuted Love and Monsters on premium VOD and in 387 theaters, where it earned $255,000.

 

via The Hollywood Reporter

‘War With Grandpa’ Tops ‘Tenet’ with $3.6M at the BO!!

Tim Hill‘s family friendly comedy The War With Grandpa topped the U.S. box office with $3.6 million, enough to topple Christopher Nolan‘s Tenet from the top spot.

Tenet, now in its sixth weekend of play in the U.S. grossed $2.1 million for a problematic domestic total of $48.3 million. Overseas, it zoomed to $275 million for a global total of $323.3 million, according to Warner Bros.

Overall, it was a quiet weekend in the wake of Regal Cinemas closing all but seven of its U.S. locations because of a lack of Hollywood product amid the ongoing pandemic.

From David Glasser‘s 101 Studios, The War With Grandpa stars Robert De Niro as a cantankerous grandfather who goes to war with his resourceful grandson (Oakes Fegley). The film is a leftover title from The Weinstein Co., where Glasser used to work.

Both families — as well as older adults — turned out to the see War With Grandpa. Of those buying tickets, 46 percent said it was their first time back to the cinema. “We are really pleased that 101 Studios was able to offer audiences a comedy that is bringing the whole family back to theaters,” 101 Studios president of distribution Laurent Ouaknine said.

With catalogue titles taking up more and more of the marquee, Disney had three re-releases in the marketplace, led by Hocus Pocus, which earned another $1.2 million in its second weekend. Coco, a new catalogue this weekend, earned $603,000 followed by $145,000 for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

Road-rage thriller Unhinged hit $19.3 million domestically, while fellow indie title After We Collided continues to please overseas, where it has now earned north of $42 million.

 

via The Hollywood Reporter

‘Tenet’ Continues Weak Hold on #1 with $41.2M at the BO!!

Here we are, at the end of yet another weekend trying to find the silver lining on an ever-darkening box office cloud. Sure, Warner Bros. Tenet is still at the top of the box office chart, with 20th Century Studios’ The New Mutants and Solstice Studios’ Unhinged rounding out the top three. But those rankings lose some shine when we get down into the nitty-gritty (more on that in a sec). Theaters across the U.S. feel the hurt of pandemic-affected attendance more and more with every passing day. That hurt will continue to grow as new releases grow fewer and further between, and none of them the tentpoles needed to provide the shot of life the box office so sorely needs.

So, with all of this in mind, where do we stand in the final weekend of September? Tenet is still holding on to #1 with $3.4 million domestic earned from 2,850 locations in its fourth week — another hefty 28% drop from last week. There are still key U.S. markets, primarily Los Angeles and New York, which remain closed for the most part and continue to be a thorn in Tenet‘s side on this front. This brings Christopher Nolan‘s newest movie’s domestic total up to $41.2 million. Internationally, Tenet earned $15.8 million this weekend, which takes its overseas total to $242 million and global total to $283.2 million.

Where the rest of the box office top five is concerned, there are some interesting results to be had. As previously mentioned, The New Mutants hold on to #2 with $1.15 million earned in its fifth week, bringing its domestic total up to $19.5 million despite that sharp 30% week-to-week drop. Unhinged sits at #3 with $1 million earned, moving its domestic total up to $17.1 million after more than two months in theaters. The intriguing entry in this weekend’s race is #4’s Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, which is back in theaters for its 40th anniversary. Episode V earned $908,000 domestic from 2,097 locations, averaging $433 per theater.

Other highlights from this weekend’s box office include Miranda July‘s latest, Kajillionaire, opening in 529 theaters and pulling in $215,000 domestic. It’s also a good weekend to be Richard Jenkins because not only can you see him in Kajillionaire, but you can also check him out in the #8 movie of the weekend, The Last Shift, which pulled in $235,000 from 837 locations. Finally, The Personal History of David Copperfield has dropped to #10. The Charles Dickens-inspired Dev Patel comedy closes out its fifth week in theaters with just $55,000 earned, bringing its domestic total to $1.8 million.

 

via Collider

‘Tenet’ Continues Lags in the U.S. But Crosses $250M at the Worldwide BO!!

Warner Bros. Tenet continues to trend downward at the domestic box office as it closes out another week in theaters. It was revealed last weekend (thanks to some quick numbers-crunching) that director Christopher Nolan‘s latest had earned a mere $9.5 million in its three-day Labor Day opening weekend and dropped down to $6.7 million by its second weekend. With crucial U.S. markets closed, including 80% of the Los Angeles market, Tenet‘s domestic box office slump continues with another stunning dip.

Tenet closed out its third domestic weekend in theaters with $4.7 million earned from 2,930 locations. This marks a 30% drop from last week’s domestic earnings. When added to its running total, Tenet‘s domestic box office gross now sits at $36.1 million. So, even though Tenet is technically the #1 movie in the U.S. and Canada, the numbers hardly do the Warner Bros. release any favors. As previously mentioned, with major cities across the country still shuttered due to COVID-19, Tenet‘s domestic box office gross will continue to take a hit. There is also the possibility that the lukewarm reviews of Tenet have finally spread far and wide enough to affect a prospective moviegoer’s decision to see it at this point. Folks are still going to the movies (as you’ll see in a minute), but a 30% week-to-week drop signals an increasing disinterest in seeing Tenet in all its mind-boggling glory.

On the sunnier side of the Tenet story, the movie’s international cume now sits at $214 million, with $25 million added from this weekend. Thanks to the pace of the international box office, Tenet has passed the $250 million mark in its global earnings. In addition to the U.S./Canada, the top markets to date include China ($60.6M), the United Kingdom ($18.2M), France ($15.6M), and Germany ($12.9M).

While Tenet maintains its top spot at the box office, interesting things have been happening amongst the other movies currently in theaters. 20th Century Studios’ The New Mutants is holding on to #2 at the domestic box office with $1.6 million earned from 2,518 locations at the end of its fourth week. This marks a 23% dip from last week and brings its domestic cume to $17.7 million. Opening at #3 is the Jim Caviezel-led thriller Infidel, which earned $1.5 million domestic from 1,716 locations. Meanwhile, Russell Crowe‘s thriller Unhinged sits at #4 with $1.3 million earned from 2,324 locations, bringing its domestic cume to $15.7 million at the end of its sixth week.

Toward the bottom of this weekend’s Top 10 are even more new releases from smaller studios. At #7 is the Noomi Rapace–Joel Kinnaman drama The Secrets We Keep, which earned nearly $90K from 471 locations. In eighth place is The Nest, starring Jude Law and Carrie Coon. The IFC Films movie acquired $62K from 301 locations. Meanwhile, the documentary The Way I See It, which focuses on the life and work of former Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza, earned $25K from 124 theaters. And, because life is funny and the current box office situation is very weird, #10 movie Foster Boy can boast the highest per-theater average in its opening weekend. The legal drama starring Matthew Modine and What Men Want‘s Shane Paul McGhie opened in one domestic theater and earned $6,100. Incredible.

 

via Collider

‘Mulan’ Stumbles With $23M Opening at the China BO!!

Disney‘s Mulan malfunctioned in its China box office debut with a disheartening $23.2 million.

The $200 million tentpole was made with both Chinese and American audiences top of mind.

Directed by Niki Caro, the live-action adaptation of the classic animated title headlines popular Chinese-born actress Liu Yiefei as a young woman who disguises herself as a man in order to fight in the imperial army. Mulan co-stars a slew of Chinese cinema icons, including Gong Li, Jet Li, Donnie Yen and others.

In the days leading up to the film’s Middle Kingdom opening, analysts had expected it to take in anywhere from $30 million to $40 million over the Sept. 11-13 frame. (Christopher Nolan‘s Tenet, after all, had launched to $30 million the previous weekend.)

On Friday, Mulan received particularly poor social scores on China’s leading ticket apps, Maoyan and Alibaba‘s Taopiaopiao, in a foretelling of the movie’s weekend start. Ultimately, Disney‘s global vision of a story based on an ancient Chinese fable doesn’t seem to be resonating with moviegoers in that country.

The Disney event pic was originally set to unfurl in theaters around the globe in late March, but those plans were waylaid when the novel coronavirus struck, forcing mass cinema closures.

Disney delayed the release date several times before ultimately deciding to send Mulan straight to Disney+ at a premium price in the U.S. and other select markets. In other territories — such as China and Russia — Mulan is getting a traditional theatrical release.

Late last year, Mulan became the subject of controversy after Liu voiced her support for the Hong Kong police force, which was then in the midst of brutally suppressing the city’s pro-democracy movement. Her comments sparked a heated online backlash under the hashtag #BoycottMulan. In recent weeks, the online campaign was revived.

Also, in recent days, viewers watching the movie spotted a “special thanks” in the film’s credits to various government entities in Xinjiang Provence, where China has been accused of gross human rights abuses against its Muslim Uighur minority population. (Roughly a minute of the movie was filmed in that province.)

Addressing the latest uproar last week, Walt Disney Co. chief financial officer Christine McCarthy said while Mulan was filmed almost entirely in New Zealand, scenery was filmed in 20 locations in China or order to capture the unique landscape of that country. She said it is common industry practice to “acknowledge in a film’s credits the national and local governments that allowed you to film there.”

All told, Mulan is playing on the big screen in 17 markets so far, earning an early $37.6 million to date.

The company hasn’t released any viewership numbers of those paying $29.99 to watch Caro‘s film on Disney+, although McCarthy told investors she was “very pleased with what we saw over the four-day weekend.”

 

via The Hollywood Reporter

‘Tenet’ Struggles in the U.S. However Reaches $200 Million Globally at the BO!!

Christopher Nolan‘s Tenet is struggling in North America — where moviegoing remains off limits in Los Angeles and New York City  — but continues to impress overseas for an estimated global gross of $207 million through Sunday.

Over the weekend, the pic earned an estimated $6.7 million domestically from 2,901 cinemas for a cume of $29.5 million. The studio said it’s a promising sign that Tenet dropped just 29 percent from the $9.4 million earned during the Sept. 4-6 weekend. However, it isn’t an apples to apples comparison since Tenet unfurled over the long Labor Day corridor. Also, Tenet is now playing in 100 more theaters.

The tentpole is doing especially well on premium format screens. Imax locations alone have generated $23 million in ticket sales.

In an unprecedented move, Warner Bros. has been shielding domestic grosses from public view by blocking anyone from seeing Tenet‘s weekday and weekend numbers on Comscore, a receptacle for real-time grosses provided by cinemas. Sources say Warners wants to control the narrative, versus having rival studios weigh in.

Warners is reporting grosses normally for international markets, which are well ahead of the U.S. in terms of cinema re-openings. Tenet has now grossed $177.5 million offshore — including another $30.6 million this weekend —  for a global total of $207 million through Sunday. It isn’t unusual for Nolan’s movies to make far more offshore.

China leads all territories with a cume of $50.8 million. Tenet ceded the No. 1 spot over the weekend to Disney‘s tentpole Mulan, which opened well behind expectations in the Middle Kingdom with $23.2 million. (The live-action adventure has gone straight to premium VOD in the U.S. and some Western European countries.) Mulan‘s foreign theatrical cume is $37.6 million.

Warners has always said that Tenet will be a marathon versus a sprint amid the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

Last week, indoor cinemas in New Jersey and Orange County began reopening in earnest. It was a major boost, considering cinemas in both areas are close to L.A. and New York City, where Nolan‘s films play best. Tenet‘s two top-grossing theaters this weekend were in Orange County, followed by a location in Northern Virginia, a Los Angeles drive-in and a theater in New Jersey.

Elsewhere, Sony is estimating a $1.1 million opening from 2,204 theaters for rom-com The Broken Hearts Gallery. Like Warners, Sony isn’t allowing anyone to see the numbers on Comscore.

Sony domestic distribution chief Adrian Smith says the film’s opening was “terrific.” He predicts an especially long run.

Every film in the marketplace faces substantial challenges amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, including reduced capacity. States still completely closed in terms of movie theaters include New York, Maryland, Michigan and New Mexico.

Despite being the only new title of the weekend, Broken Hearts Gallery came in behind holdovers The New Mutants and Unhinged in addition to Tenet.

New Mutants, from 20th Century/Disney, earned $2.1 million from 2,704 locations for a domestic tally of $15 .3 million after getting skewered by critics. Overseas, the superhero horror pic has earned $14 million for $29.3 million globally.

Starring Russell Crowe, Solstice Studios‘ Unhinged has grown its domestic gross to $13.8 million from 2,365 sites after taking in another $1.5 million over the weekend.

 

via The Hollywood Reporter

‘Tenet’ Scores $20 Million Opening at the U.S. BO!!

The good fortunes of Warner Bros. and director/writer Christopher Nolan increaseth at Tenet opens in U.S. theaters to some very surprising box office results. In another time, we might be considering these Tenet opening weekend receipts with a little less shock and perhaps more worry (It’s the lowest opening for a Nolan movie since 2006’s The Prestige.). But, alas, we live in a time where the world is dealing with a global pandemic and the debate over whether it’s truly safe to go to a movie theater rages on, so, surprise!

In light of this, we have no choice but to pick our jaws up off the floor as Warner Bros. reports on Sunday afternoon Tenet has earned $20.2 million domestically (that’s the U.S. and Canada, FYI) through Labor Day weekend. Tenet‘s earnings were gathered from a total of 2,810 locations. As movie theaters continue to earnestly reopen and keep their fingers crossed moviegoers actually return to their brick-and-mortars, it seems Tenet has the goods needed to boost business. The U.S./Canada were also among the top five highest-grossing global markets when it comes to Tenet. The official breakdown on the top five is as follows: China ($30M); U.S./Canada ($20.2M); the United Kingdom ($13.1M); France ($10.7M); Germany ($8.7M).

Tenet‘s $20.2 million domestic earnings are also helping push Nolan’s timey-wimey espionage thriller toward a $150 million global total in its second theatrical weekend. Including previews, Tenet racked up another $78.3 million internationally this weekend across 46 markets (that’s 52,913 screens). This brings Tenet‘s international total up to $126 million, representing a smash through the $100 million milestone in Week 2. Tenet‘s global total now sits at approximately $146 million, which means it’s all but certain that, by this time next weekend, I’m going to be shouting about how Tenet easily slid past $150 million at the box office over the next few days. It’s also likely that, if it manages to keep up this pace, Tenet could cross over the $500 million marker — which it absolutely needs to do in order to avoid losing money.

Elsewhere, the weekend box office marches on to mixed results. The New Mutants grossed $2.9 million domestically over the three-day holiday weekend and is expected to score a four-day weekend total of $3.5 million, bringing its domestic total up to $12.3 million through Monday. Internationally, The New Mutants earned $4.2 million internationally which, when coupled with the domestic totals, brings the 20th Century Studios movie up to $20.1 million through Sunday. Disney’s Mulan opened in nine smaller international markets leading to a $5.9 million international total. Additionally, Russell Crowe‘s road rage thriller Unhinged grossed $1.7 million domestic over the weekend, with money pulled in from 2,402 locations and bringing its domestic total to $11.3 million. Finally, The Personal History of David Copperfield chugs along with $361,000 earned domestically from 1,550 locations. This means the Dev Patel-starring dramedy has finally crossed the $1 million mark in its domestic total.

via Collider

‘Unhinged’ and ‘SpongeBob Movie’ Releases Mark Revival of the North American BO!!

The North American box office is resuming after an unprecedented five-month shutdown due to the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

The major circuits in Canada reopened in earnest over the weekend to welcome Paramount’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run and the Russell Crowe road-rage thriller Unhinged, from Solstice Studios. They are the first new Hollywood releases to open wide since the pandemic forced cinemas to close their doors in March.

In the U.S., the big chains have delayed reopening several times due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, but are now beginning to switch the lights on in advance of new product. Unhinged expects to have a sizeable footprint when opening in the U.S. on Aug. 21, while even more cinemas will be open in time Christopher Nolan’s tentpole Tenet on Sept. 3.

SpongeBob: Sponge on the Run earned an estimated $900,000 from 300 runs in Canada, where theaters are operating at 50 percent capacity as part of new protocols being implemented because of coronavirus (some cinemas there only allow 50 people total regardless of the size of the auditorium). The animated film won’t play in theaters in the U.S., where it is being sent straight to CBS All Access.

Unhinged grossed an estimated $582,000 from 299 runs for Canadian distributor VVS.

While the grosses for the pair of films weren’t huge, they were still a victory in terms of showing that consumers will go to the movies amid the ongoing pandemic.

“Any way you slice it in my opinion, people did show up and that is a good thing as we have to start somewhere on the road to recovery,” says one top executive at a rival studio. He cautions that making judgments about grosses is difficult because there are no comparisons in the age of the “new normal.”

Solstice distribution chief Shari Hardison says that drive-ins made up the biggest portion of the ticket sales for Unhinged. In terms of indoor cinemas, theaters in Canadian suburbs outperformed locations in the major cities. “We always knew this would be a slow burn,” says Solstice CEO Mark Gill.

When Unhinged drives into the U.S. next week, about 50 percent of theaters will be open in 42 states, followed by 75 percent the following weekend. For now, cinemas remain shuttered in California and New York, the two largest moviegoing markets in the country, as well as in New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, North Carolina and Maryland.

On Sunday, Comscore reported box office grosses for the first time since March, although it isn’t yet ranking films. In the U.S., a myriad of independent films are playing in a smattering of smaller cinema chains which have been able to reopen, along with drive-ins.

David Ayer’s The Tax Collector, starring Shia LaBeouf continued to do well in its second weekend, earning $203,722 from 101 theaters for a cume of $634,145 for RLJE films. The filmmakers say the pic has grossed more than $5 million on digital and VOD in its first eight days of release.

Saban Films‘ The Silencing opened with an estimated weekend gross of $44,803 on 76 screens.

Many cinemas overseas have already reopened, including in China. Warner Bros.’ rerelease of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone won the weekend in the Middle Kingdom with a pleasing $13.6 million — Imax theaters accounted for a hefty $2.1 million — while Sony’s Bad Boys for Life debuted in China to $3.2 million to finish Sunday with a global cume of $426.4 million, the best showing so far of 2020, per Comscore.

In advance of Tenet, Warners is re-releasing Nolan’s Interstellar and a 10th anniversary edition of Inception, which debuted to $1.6 million over the weekend from 37 markets. Highlights of Interstellar’s weekend included $1.7 million in China ticket sales.

In Spain, box office hit Father There Is Only One 2 (Padre No Hay MAS Que Uno), crossed the $8 million mark with $1 million in its third weekend. The sequel is from Sony Pictures Releasing International.

STXfilms’ action adventure Greenland continued its international rollout, taking in $2.8 million from 1,063 locations for an estimated total of $4.6 million.

Scoob! — which went straight to premium VOD in the U.S. — earned $1 million from 17 international markets for a theatrical cume of $14.2 million.

 

via The Hollywood Reporter

‘Harry Potter’ Re-release Tops While ‘Bad Boys For Life’ Bombs at the China BO!!

Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone cast its spell over the box office in China this weekend, as Hollywood rereleases continue to entice people back to recently reopened cinemas.

The 3D, 4K rerelease of the first film in Warner Bros‘ multi-billion dollar franchise was able to magic up a stellar $13.4 million this weekend, according to local box office consultancy Artisan Gateway. The strong showing from The Sorcerer’s Stone pushed the total box office to $21.9 million, the best single weekend performance since China’s cinemas reopened.

Theaters in China are now into their fourth week of reopening after a COVID-19 enforced lockdown put in place back in January. Despite the restart, the country’s exhibitors are still operating with limits on the number of screens and strict social distancing measures on top of having a public still wary about returning to the movies. The stronger week-to-week performance is in stark contrast to the year-on-year decline of 92.8 percent.

Puffed up partly by higher-priced IMAX admissions, on Saturday The Sorcerer’s Stone scored the biggest single-day take since the restart and its total China gross, including all previous releases, now stands at $21.4 million according to Artisan Gateway. The China rerelease of the 2001 film, based on the first book of J.K. Rowling’s phenomenally successful book series, is edging the movie closer to a $1 billion worldwide cume.

In second place was Sony‘s delayed release of Bad Boys For Life which made a modest $3.1 million. The post-COVID-19 theatrical landscape has notably lacked new Hollywood releases but the third film in the Bad Boys franchise didn’t bring the crowds out, with the film hampered by its lukewarm critical reception including a 5.7/10 rating on the popular media review platform Douban.

Coming in third was local war epic The Eight Hundred which made an impressive $2 million in previews. Directed by Guan Hu and produced by Huayi Bros., The Eight Hundred is an $80 million tentpole based on a pivotal battle in 1937 during the Sino-Japanese war: the historic siege and defense of the Si Hang Warehouse in Shanghai where 400 fighters, an unlikely mix of soldiers, deserters and civilians became known as the “Eight Hundred Heroes,” after holding out against waves of Japanese forces for four days and four nights.

The hotly anticipated war film was originally supposed to be released last summer but had its world premiere dramatically pulled from the Shanghai Film Festival and then its nationwide release canceled at the 11th hour by China’s censors, although no official reason has ever been given.

With stellar reviews, an 8.1 rating on Douban and buoyed by nationalistic fervor, The Eight Hundred should breakout big next weekend when it goes on general release.

The re-release of Christopher Nolan‘s Interstellar continued to rack up solid numbers, making another $1.3 million this weekend. Including its original run, the 2014 sci-fi epic, which stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain, has now made $123.9 million in China.

Interstellar‘s strong performance and Nolan‘s name recognition in China bodes well for the Middle Kingdom release of his high concept sci-fi movie Tenet, which has cleared the country’s censors and is set to be released on Sept. 4. To drum up a little more Nolan-mania in China, Warner Bros. is also re-releasing Inception in the country on Aug. 28.

Rounding out the top five this weekend was the re-release of Sam Quah‘s 2019 crime drama Sheep Without a Shepherd which made $1.1 million and now has a cume of $187.7 million.

 

via The Hollywood Reporter

‘The Old Guard’ Being Hailed by Netflix as a Record-Breaking Success!!!

Netflix is already sharing data and insights to suggest The Old Guard is a massive hit with viewers just one week after its release. The newest original to hit the streaming giant is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and stars Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Adapted from the Greg Rucka comics series of the same name, The Old Guard tells the story of a group of immortal warriors who recruit a new fighter into their ranks and facing off against a pharma bro keen to use their special gift for his own gain.

On Friday, Netflix shared insights on The Old Guard‘s success with subscribers just one week after the movie’s July 10 release. Tweeting via their Netflix Film account, Netflix revealed, “The Old Guard is breaking records! The Charlize Theron blockbuster is already among the top 10 most popular Netflix films ever — and Gina Prince-Bythewood is the first Black female director on the list. The film is currently on track to reach 72M households in its first 4 weeks!”

72 million households is a mighty impressive projection, as is the early celebration of The Old Guard‘s success with viewers. However, it’s worth noting Netflix’s metric for these kinds of jaw-dropping numbers is less than thrilling. As we’ve reported in the past, Netflix has noted (in the fine print of their reports the viewership stats they choose to make public) viewing totals are tallied by counting the number of subscribers who’ve watched at least two minutes of a movie or TV show. It’s unclear if that metric has changed in recent months. If it hasn’t, then this early excitement over The Old Guard‘s impact with viewers might have a bit of a pall over it.

THE OLD GUARD is breaking records! The Charlize Theron blockbuster is already among the top 10 most popular Netflix films ever — and Gina Prince-Bythewood is the first Black female director on the list.

The film is currently on track to reach 72M households in its first 4 weeks! pic.twitter.com/pM8vOTNa6m

— Netflix Tudum (@NetflixTudum) July 18, 2020

The Old Guard joins a mixed bag of Netflix originals in the streamer’s top 10 movies, with numbers based on millions of households. Other movies in this list include: Extraction (99M); Bird Box (89M); 6 Underground (83M); The Irishman (64M); The Wrong Missy (59M); and The Platform (56M). If The Old Guard manages to hit Netflix’s projected reach of 72 million households, its position at number six on this list will be cemented. More importantly, as Netflix’s tweet points out, The Old Guard‘s viewership numbers and potential success will also mean big success for Prince-Bythewood. No matter how this all shakes out, a win for Prince-Bythewood is always a heartening takeaway.

The Old Guard is now available to stream on Netflix.

 

via Collider

‘Greyhound’: Tom Hanks’ Film Smashes Apple TV+’s Opening-Weekend Records!!

Originally scheduled for a theatrical release, Sony Pictures’ naval war drama Greyhound made its streaming debut last Friday on Apple TV+. According to Deadline, the Tom Hanks-led film immediately broke an Apple TV+ record by having the biggest opening-weekend viewing of any other movies and TV shows on the platform. In addition, the film has also brought Apple new subscribers, as 30% of film’s viewers were new to the service.

Based on C.S. Forester’s novel The Good Shepherd, the film will be set in the early days of WWII. In Greyhound, an international convoy of 37 Allied ships, led by captain Ernest Krause (Hanks) in his first command of a U.S. destroyer, crosses the treacherous waters of the Black Pit in the North Atlantic while hotly pursued by wolf packs of Nazi U-boats. With no air cover protection for 5 days, the captain and his convoy must battle the surrounding enemy in order to give the allies a chance to win the war. The film is directed by Aaron Schneider.

The film stars Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Cast Away), Stephen Graham (Snatch, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Rocketman), Rob Morgan (Mudbound, Stranger Things, Daredevil), and Oscar nominee Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas, The Boys, Death Wish).

 

via Coming Soon

‘Little Women’ Hits $100M at the Overseas BO as Cinemas Begin Reopening Worldwide!!

Greta Gerwig‘s Oscar-nominated film Little Women has crossed the $100 million mark at the international box office in a welcome sign as cinemas begin to reopen around the globe after shuttering three months ago due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Sony and New Regency film pulled in $475K from 472 screens in 12 foreign markets, led by Japan — where it opened last weekend — with $300K for a two-week total of $1.3 million. Little Women also opened recently in Denmark, where it earned $170K over the weekend for a territory total of $1 million.

Little Women‘s global gross now stands at $209 million.

Sony reported the weekend grosses on Sunday, becoming the first Hollywood studio to issue box office numbers since the shutdown and as roughly 2,000 theaters go back online worldwide.

In addition to solid box office traffic in Japan and Denmark, there was also good news in South Korea, where Sony‘s local-language film Gyul-Baek (Innocence) earned a strong $1.2 million in its second weekend for an early total of $4.2 million.

In the U.S., most cinemas are planning to reopen by mid-July in time for new titles including Mulan on July 24 and Tenet on July 31. Late last week, AMC came under criticism when saying it would defer to local authorities in terms of whether customers are required to wear face masks. The largest circuit in the U.S. quickly reversed course and said masks would be required (Regal Cinemas followed suit).

 

via The Hollywood Reporter

Due to Strong Drive-In Theater Buzz ‘The Wretched’ Passes $1 Million Mark at the BO!!

IFC’s horror movie “The Wretched” passed the $1 million mark after a month of drive-in movie theater buzz.

The indie film took in $162,000 at 95 sites over the weekend. After premiering at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival, it launched on May 1 at just 11 drive-ins, including the Mission Tiki in Montclair, Calif., where it had an informal premiere.

Written and directed by Brett Pierce and Drew T. Pierce, “The Wretched” follows a young boy who discovers an evil witch in the nearby woods. The cast includes John-Paul Howard, Piper Curda, Zarah Mahler, Azie Tesfai and Jamison Jones.

“Anyone who at this point disputes or discounts the power of the big screen experience need only look at the stellar ongoing drive-in performance of IFC’s ‘The Wretched,’” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

Meanwhile, Quiver’s thriller “Becky” was at the top of the small but growing U.S. box office with $178,186 at 42 locations.

The film stars Lulu Wilson as a 13-year-old rebel who is brought to a weekend getaway at a lake house by her father, played by Joel McHale, in an effort to try to reconnect. The trip immediately takes a turn for the worse when they encounter group of convicts on the run, led by a merciless man portrayed by Kevin James. Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion directed the film from a script by Nick Morris, Ruckus Skye and Lane Skye.

A total of 554 of the nation’s 5,400 movie locations are open, including 243 drive-ins, according to Comscore. Quiver and IFC are the only distributors reporting grosses this weekend as moviegoing slowly comes back to life amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Later this summer, Solstice Studios is opening Russell Crowe thriller “Unhinged” on July 1 with plans to launch on a nationwide basis. Fathom Events and Screen Media have unveiled plans to open war thriller “The Outpost” at 500 locations on July 2.

Most theaters are not expected to open until mid-summer, and no other major releases are set to launch until July 17, when Warner Bros. has said it will open Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet.” However, with shelter-in-place guidelines possibly still effective, it’s unclear whether “Tenet” will be able to maintain that date.

 

via Variety

‘Trolls World Tour’: Animated Sequel Scores Biggest Digital Debut Ever!!

Universal‘s Trolls World Tour has scored the biggest debut for a digital movie release ever; here’s what its actual numbers probably look like. A sequel to the studio and DreamWorks Animation‘s 2016 animated jukebox musical adaptation of the Troll dolls, Trolls World Tour was originally scheduled to open in theaters around the world this month. However, as more and more theater chains shut down until further notice because of the coronavirus pandemic, Universal made the bold choice to release it straight to streaming, instead.

In truth, Universal has wanted to try an early VOD release and forgo a theatrical run with its films since as far back as 2011’s Tower Heist. And while they decided to go ahead and use the COVID-19 outbreak as an excuse to finally give this model a shot, the vast majority of 2020 movies delayed by the virus have either been rescheduled for a future theatrical release date or are expected to be in the future. All the same, industry analysts have kept a close eye on Trolls World Tour since it released last Friday (April 10), based on the possibility its performance could have an impact on how movies are distributed after the coronavirus has been brought under control.

In an official press release, Universal announced Trolls World Tour had the biggest opening day and weekend ever for a digital movie release, bringing in ten times as much as the studio’s previous biggest opening day for a “traditional digital release”. The Universal film in question (per Deadline) is Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which reportedly took in $2-3 million in its first day of domestic digital release. Based on these numbers, the Trolls sequel is projected to easily surpass Avengers: Endgame‘s known $30 million take from its initial week of digital rentals in the U.S.

For comparison’s sake, the original Trolls opened with $46.5 million at the U.S. box office in November 2016 and went on to bring in $347 million worldwide. Universal refrained from releasing firm numbers in its press release about the sequel, saying “We will wait for a clearer picture of results that will emerge in the coming weeks before sharing additional statistics.” Indeed, it’s probably best to hold off on declaring Trolls World Tour a success or failure until the film’s long-term performance has been revealed. Even if the sequel made as much as $30 million in its first day of digital release (based on what Universal is saying), it could depreciate must faster than if it had premiered in theaters with a similar take.

Whatever happens with Trolls World Tour, it’s unlikely to have an immediate effect on the larger industry and how films are released moving forward. The Trolls sequel is an unusual case; its budget ($90-100 million) is far less than those for other animated tentpoles (March’s Onward, for example, cost upwards of $200 million), and Universal has already signed deals with various digital platforms to ensure its profitability. Combined with the fact more people are watching it because they’re staying home to prevent further spread of the coronavirus and Trolls World Tour‘s early numbers alone aren’t enough to indicate this model would work for bigger-budgeted movies post-COVID-19. No doubt, Hollywood will be forever changed by the pandemic, but it’s better to wait for some firmer data before jumping to conclusions about what this all means.

 

via Screen Rant

‘Onward’ Tops Again, While ‘I Still Believe’ and ‘Bloodshot’ Open Modestly at the Coronavirus-Affected BO!!

Concerns over COVID-19 have continued to increase and the effect on the global box office has been felt. This weekend’s top ten combined for an estimated $50.35 million, which is the lowest, week eleven combined gross for the top ten since 1995 with all holdovers dropping -60% or more compared to last weekend. With all new wide releases postponed until April 10, things are unlikely to improve.

At the top of the weekend box office is Disney and Pixar‘s Onward with an estimated $10.5 million, dipping an unheard of -73% compared to opening weekend. The film’s domestic cume now stands at $61 million after ten days in release. Internationally, the animated feature added an estimated $6.8 million from 47 markets bringing the international cume to $41.4 million for a worldwide total that now stands at $101.7 million.

Lionsgate‘s release of I Still Believe debuted in second place, bringing in an estimated $9.5 million. Like all of the weekend’s new releases, the film, understandably, fell below expectations, but audiences that turned out liked what they saw. Along with an “A” CinemaScore from opening day audiences, the film received a 99% audience score on RottenTomatoes. The opening weekend audience was 74% female and 73% were over the age of 25 with the studio reporting it played strongest in the South and Midwest.

Despite the challenging environment, Sony‘s Bloodshot almost managed to meet expectations with an estimated $9.3 million debut and, like I Still Believe, audience impression defied the critical response with the RottenTomatoes audience score coming in at 78% compared to a 31% critical rating. Opening day audiences gave the film a “B” CinemaScore.

Internationally, Bloodshot debuted in 50 markets, debuting at #1 in over half of them. Overall, the film brought in $13 million overseas for an international cume totaling $15.1 million in what Sony refers to as “a challenging environment marked by cinema closures in multiple markets”. Major market debuts this weekend included Russia ($2.4m) and Mexico ($1.2m).

Universal and Blumhouse‘s The Invisible Man landed in third with the best hold among the weekend top ten, dipping -60% for an estimated $5.85 million, pushing the film’s domestic cume over $64 million as it kicks off its third week in release. Internationally, the film added $6.2 million, pushing the overseas total over $58 million for a worldwide tally that stands at $122.7 million.

Rounding out the top five is another Universal and Blumhouse feature, the new release The Hunt, which saw its initial release delayed due to controversy surrounding the film’s content and two mass shootings in the U.S. last August. The film didn’t find any help this weekend, managing just $5.3 million, debuting in 3,028 locations. Opening day audiences gave the film a “C+” CinemaScore to go along with a 65% audience score on RottenTomatoes. Internationally, The Hunt opened in just four markets with the United Kingdom leading the way, finishing in third with an estimated $673k.

Limited releases include Focus‘s Never Rarely Sometimes Always, which opened in four locations in NY and LA with an estimated $18,000 ($4,601 PTA); Purdie‘s Heart of Africa opened with an estimated $24,175 in 20 theaters ($1,209 PTA); Sky Island‘s Inside the Rain brought in an estimated $8,000 from one theater; Bleecker‘s The Roads Not Taken opened in three theaters with an estimated $3,853 ($1,284 PTA)

As noted in our lede, there are no new wide releases next weekend.

 

via Box Office Mojo

	Title	Weekend	Gross	Weeks
	Onward	$10.5M	$60.3M	2
	I Still Believe	$9.5M	$9.5M	1
	Bloodshot	$9.3M	$10.5M	1
	The Invisible Man	$6.0M	$64.4M	3
	The Hunt	$5.3M	$5.8M	1
	Sonic the Hedgehog	$2.6M	$145.8M	5
	The Way Back	$2.4M	$13.4M	2
	The Call of the Wild	$2.2M	$62.1M	4
	Emma.	$1.4M	$10.0M	4
	Bad Boys for Life	$1.1M	$204.3M	9

 

‘Onward’ Wins Weekend with $40 Million as ‘The Way Back’ Opens Modestly at the BO!!

Disney and Pixar‘s Onward topped the weekend box office, but fell just a bit shy of expectations, a performance some may relate to the current COVID-19 concerns, though most everything else performed as expected if not better. Universal‘s The Invisible Man held on quite well, delivering a second place performance, while WB‘s release of The Way Back landed within expectations.

With an estimated $40 million, Disney and Pixar‘s Onward fell on the extreme, lower end of expectations, which some saw creeping as high as $50 million. While critical opinion was high heading into the weekend and the film received an “A-” CinemaScore from opening day crowds and 96% audience score on RottenTomatoes, it was unable to catch fire over Saturday and Sunday. That said, with additional schools soon to be on spring break over the coming weeks, there is still more than enough opportunity film the film to deliver a respectable overall performance should concerns over COVID-19 begin to subside. Overall, audiences were 52% female with kids and parents making up 58% of the opening weekend crowd.

Internationally, Onward grossed an estimated $28 million from 47 territories, comprising a little over 60% of all overseas markets. Leading the way was the UK with an estimated $4.4 million followed by France ($3.3m), Mexico ($3.0m), Russia ($2.1m), Spain ($1.9m), Germany ($1.9m) and Brazil ($1.1m). The film still has several markets where it has yet to open with mid-April openings set for Korea, Italy and Japan while releases in Australia, Turkey, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Taiwan remain and a date yet to be set for China.

Finishing in the runner-up position is Universal and Blumhouse‘s The Invisible Man, holding on much better than we had anticipated, dipping just -46% for a $15.1 million second weekend. The $7 million production now finds its domestic cume climbing over $52 million after just ten days in release. Internationally, the film added an additional $17.3 million this weekend for an overseas total that now tops $45 million and a global tally, just shy of $100 million at $98.3 million.

Rolling into third is Warner Bros.‘s The Way Back with an estimated $8.5 million. While on the lower end of expectations for the $20+ million production it is within the anticipated range. Opening day audiences gave the film a “B+” CinemaScore while the overall weekend crowd was 53% female and 87% of the audiences as aged 25 or older. Internationally, The Way Back debuted in 14 overseas markets this weekend to an estimated $640k on 448 screens. Australia led the way with $219k while the next key markets to open will be in April.

Paramount‘s Sonic the Hedgehog isn’t too far behind in fourth with an estimated $8 million as it begins its fourth week in release with a domestic cume that now tops $140 million. Internationally, the film added another $12 million for an overseas total reaching $154.8 million and a global haul that now stands over $295 million.

Rounding out the top five is 20th Century‘s The Call of the Wild, finishing the weekend with an estimated $7 million for a domestic cume that now tops $57 million as it begins its third week in release. Internationally, it added another $4.8 million for an overseas cume that now tops $42 million and a global total just shy of $100 million at $99.6 million.

Just outside the top five is Focus‘s Emma, which expanded nationwide this weekend into 1,565 theaters (+1,468) and finished with an estimated $5 million for a $6.9 million domestic cume. It’s a solid performance for the picture, which also earned a “B” CinemaScore from Friday audiences.

Internationally, Emma is now playing in 27 markets from which it brought in $1.5 million this weekend for an overseas total that now stands at $14 million. Among the weekend’s ten new markets, Germany led the way with an estimated $372k debut with the UK still the top global market with over $9.1 million.

Elsewhere, Sony‘s Bad Boys for Life became the first release of 2020 to top $200 million domestically as it added another $3 million this weekend for a domestic cume that now stands at $202 million. Globally, the film has now brought in $415 million with international contributing $213 million.

In limited release, A24‘s First Cow opened in four locations with an estimated $96,059 ($24,015 PTA); Sony Classics released Burnt Orange Heresy on four screens with an estimated $18,296 ($4,574 PTA); Greenwich‘s The Booksellers opened in one theater with an estimated $17,000; Good Deed debuted Extra Ordinary in 32 locations with an estimated $83,954 ($2,623 PTA); Roadside‘s Hope Gap debuted on 18 screens with an estimated $32,655 ($1,814 PTA); and Kino Lorber opened Bacurau in two theaters with an estimated $15,210.

Next weekend sees a trio of new releases, the widest of which will be Lionsgate‘s debut of I Still Believe from Andrew and Jon Erwin whose I Can Only Imagine was a breakout success in 2018, bringing in over $83 million domestically. Additionally, Universal will finally release The Hunt after shelving the pic last year over some controversy and Sony will release Vin Diesel‘s Bloodshot.

 

via Box Office Mojo

	Title	Weekend	Gross	Weeks
	Onward	$40.0M	$40.0M	1
	The Invisible Man	$15.2M	$52.7M	2
	The Way Back	$8.5M	$8.5M	1
	Sonic the Hedgehog	$8.0M	$140.8M	4
	The Call of the Wild	$7.0M	$57.5M	3
	Emma.	$5.0M	$6.9M	3
	Bad Boys for Life	$3.1M	$202.0M	8
	Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn	$2.2M	$82.6M	5
	Impractical Jokers: The Movie	$1.8M	$9.7M	3
	My Hero Academia – Boku no hîrô akademia THE MOVIE – Heroes: Rising – Hîrôzu: Raijingu	$1.5M	$12.7M	2

 

‘The Invisible Man’ Tops with $29 Million at the BO!!

Universal and Blumhouse‘s The Invisible Man delivered on expectations, becoming the first true stand out among the year’s several horror films to have already hit theaters. At the same time FUNimation‘s My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is already the studio’s second largest release of all-time after just three days in theaters.

With an estimated $29 million, Universal and Blumhouse‘s The Invisible Man finished atop the weekend box office. Critics and audiences alike took to the film, as it holds a 89% critics score on RottenTomatoes to go along with 90% audience score. Opening day audiences also gave the film a “B+” CinemaScore, which is a solid result for a genre film. Looking ahead, fellow Blumhouse releases with similar debuts include Happy Death Day, Insidious: The Last Key and The Purge: Anarchy and they finished with domestic runs from $55-71 million, suggesting great things for this $7 million production.

Internationally, the film added another $20.2 million from 47 markets for a $49.2 million global debut. Leading the way is a $2.86 million launch in the UK followed by France ($2.19m), Mexico ($1.8m), Australia ($1.65m), Germany ($1.2m), Spain ($.1m) and Korea ($1.08m). Several markets will release next weekend including a March 5 release in Russia, ending with a May 1 release in Japan.

Paramount‘s Sonic the Hedgehog landed in second place with an estimated $16 million, pushing the film’s domestic cume over $128 million as it is now just shy of the $131 million domestic run for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which will make it the second highest grossing video game adaptation of all-time.

Internationally, Sonic added another $26.8 million from 62 markets for a $137.2 million overseas cume. This weekend saw the film add another six territories including a $2 million opening in Indonesia and an estimated $1.1 million in Poland. The film has now reached over 75% of the international marketplace with a March 27 release set for Japan and a China date still up in the air.

Disney‘s release of 20th Century‘s The Call of the Wild brought in an estimated $13.2 million, dipping -47% in its second weekend. The film’s domestic cume now stands at $45.9 million after ten days in release, leaving it plenty of room yet to run considering its $135 million production budget. Internationally, the film added another $11 million this weekend for an overseas cume totaling $33.4 million and a global tally that stands at $79.3 million.

FUNimation‘s My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising landed in fourth with an estimated $5.1 million. After opening on Wednesday, this puts the film’s domestic cume reaching $8.5 million, making it the studio’s second largest domestic release of all-time, topping the $8 million for 2015’s Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ while unlikely to catch last year’s $30.7 million run for Dragon Ball Super: Broly.

Sony‘s Bad Boys for Life rounds out the top five with an estimated $4.3 million for a domestic cume that now tops $197 million. The film also added another $4.9 million internationally this weekend, pushing its overseas cume to $208 million for a $406 million global haul, approximately $8 million behind the worldwide total for the first two films combined.

In limited release, Oscilloscope‘s Saint Frances opened in one theater with an estimated $16,150 while 101 Studios debuted Burden in five theaters with an estimated $20,142 ($4,028 PTA)

Next weekend sees the release of Disney and Pixar‘s Onward into over 4,000 locations along with the Ben Affleck-led The Way Back, debuting in approximately 2,600 theaters.

 

via Box Office Mojo

Title		Weekend	Gross	Weeks
1.	The Invisible Man	$29.0M	$29.0M	1
2.	Sonic the Hedgehog	$16.0M	$128.2M	3
3.	The Call of the Wild	$13.2M	$45.8M	2
4.	My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising	$5.1M	$8.4M	1
5.	Bad Boys for Life	$4.3M	$197.3M	7
6.	Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn	$4.1M	$78.7M	4
7.	Impractical Jokers: The Movie	$3.5M	$6.6M	2
8.	1917	$2.6M	$155.8M	10
9.	Brahms: The Boy II	$2.6M	$9.7M	2
10.	Fantasy Island	$2.3M	$24.0M	3

 

‘Sonic’ Holds Top Spot, as ‘Call of the Wild’ Opens Well at the BO!!

Paramount‘s Sonic the Hedgehog managed to hold off 20th Century‘s The Call of the Wild for a second weekend at #1, topping $106 million after just ten days in release and already ranking as the fourth largest video game adaptation domestically of all-time. STX‘s release Brahms: The Boy II currently holds a narrow lead for a fourth place finish while truTV‘s release of Impractical Jokers: The Movie managed to land just outside the top ten despite playing in just 357 locations.

Paramount‘s Sonic the Hedgehog dipped a little more than we anticipated, but still managed to hold on to the #1 spot at the weekend box office over its sophomore frame. The film fell -55% compared to its strong debut last weekend and delivered an estimated $26.3 million over the three-day, pushing the film’s domestic cume over $106 million after just ten days in release. The film now sits just behind The Angry Birds Movie ($107.5m) as the fourth largest video game adaptation domestically of all-time.

Internationally, Sonic added another $38.3 million, pushing the international cume to $96.5 million for a global tally topping $203 million. New openings were led by Russia with $6.3 million while the UK still leads the way overseas with a cumulative total of $19.1 million.

Finishing in second place is Disney‘s release of 20th Century‘s The Call of the Wild. The adaptation of the classic Jack London adventure novel cost a reported $135 million and the film managed an estimated $24.8 million three-day debut. The performance, while ahead of pre-weekend expectations, still leaves a lot of room to run for the picture with a price-tag that high and an overtly American story that may not be able to generate a large following outside the country. Those that turned out stateside seemed to have enjoyed it as it earned an “A-” CinemaScore from opening day crowds and a 90% audience score on RottenTomatoes. Opening weekend audiences were split 50/50 among males and females with 62% of the opening weekend crowd coming in aged 25 or older.

Internationally, the film launched in 40 markets with an estimated $15.4 million for a $40.2 million global launch. Leading the way was a $2.6 million opening in France followed by the UK ($1.9m), Mexico ($1.4m) and Russia ($1.2m). Next weekend sees openings in Japan, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela with an April 16 date set for South Korea.

WB‘s Birds of Prey finished in third with an estimated $7 million as the film’s domestic cume now tops $72 million as it enters its third week in release. The film also added another $10 million internationally this weekend from 78 markets, pushing its international cume over $101 million for a global tally that currently stands at $173.7 million.

Narrowly edging out Bad Boys for Life for fourth is STXfilms and Lakeshore Entertainment‘s horror sequel Brahms: The Boy II with an estimated $5.9 million. The film received a “C-” CinemaScore from opening day audiences while receiving a 40% audience score at RottenTomatoes. The film’s opening weekend crowd was 53% female with 56% of the overall crowd coming in under the age of 25. Internationally, the film launched in 23 markets with an estimated $2.22 million for a global launch just over $8 million.

Rounding out the top five is Sony‘s Bad Boys for Life with an estimated $5.86 million, pushing its domestic cume to $191 million as it will soon become the first release of 2020 to top $200 million domestically. Internationally the film added another $8.1 million, including a $1.1 million debut in Italy, pushing the overseas cume to $200 million for a worldwide tally reaching $390 million.

Just outside the top ten is the film extension of the truTV series “Impractical Jokers”, the aptly titled Impractical Jokers: The Movie, which finished with an estimated $2.6 million from 357 locations ($7,308 PTA). The film will continue to expand into more cities and theaters next weekend.

In limited release, Lionsgate‘s release of Pantelion Films’s Las Pildoras De Mi Novio took in an estimated $1.4 million on 350 screens this weekend earning $4,071 per screen. The film received an “A-” CinemaScore.

Focus‘s domestic debut of Emma. brought in an estimated $230,000 from five locations ($11,626 PTA) while continuing to play internationally where it added four new markets and brought in an estimated $2.4 million for an overseas cume that now stands at $8.4 million. The UK still leads the way overseas with a cume that now totals an estimated $6 million. The pic will expand to nearly 100 locations domestically next week while also opening in Korea, Netherlands, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Additionally, Oscilloscope debuted the 2020 edition of CatVideoFest in 30 locations with an estimated $220,150 ($7,338 PTA) with an expectation to add another 80 locations next weekend. Amazon Studios also debuted Seberg starring Kristen Stewart in three locations in New York and Los Angeles with an estimated $60,487 ($20,162 PTA) and will see the film expand into over 300 locations nationwide next weekend.

Next weekend sees yet another horror film hit theaters in Universal‘s The Invisible Man, debuting in over 3,500 theaters.

 

via Box Office Mojo

	Title	Weekend	Gross	Weeks
	Sonic the Hedgehog	$26.3M	$106.6M	2
	The Call of the Wild	$24.8M	$24.8M	1
	Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn	$7.0M	$72.5M	3
	Brahms: The Boy II	$5.9M	$5.9M	1
	Bad Boys for Life	$5.9M	$191.2M	6
	1917	$4.4M	$152.0M	9
	Fantasy Island	$4.2M	$20.2M	2
	Gisaengchung	$3.1M	$48.9M	20
	Jumanji: The Next Level	$3.0M	$311.0M	11
	The Photograph	$2.8M	$17.6M	2

 

‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Zooms Past Competition with $57 Million Opening the BO!!

Paramount‘s Sonic the Hedgehog exploded onto screens this Presidents’ Day weekend, delivering the largest opening weekend ever for a video game adaptation to go along with an estimated $68 million, four-day holiday debut. Meanwhile Sony‘s Fantasy Island and Universal‘s The Photograph are neck-and-neck in a race for third and Searchlight‘s Downhill finished just inside the top ten.

With an estimated $57 million three-day performance, Paramount‘s Sonic the Hedgehog topped last May’s Pokemon Detective Pikachu to become the largest three-day opening ever for a video game adaptation. The film, based on the iconic SEGA video game, is expected to finish around $68 million for the four-day holiday frame, which would be the fourth largest Presidents’ Day opening ever, with some anticipating the film will top $70 million by the time the long, holiday weekend is over.

Sonic not only performed well this weekend, it was a hit with audiences, earning an “A” CinemaScore to go along with a 95% audience rating on RottenTomatoes. Opening weekend crowds were 56% male with 70% of the audience coming in aged under 25 years old.

Internationally, the film launched in 40 markets this weekend bringing in $43 million for an estimated $100 million global haul. Leading the way was Mexico with a $6.7 million debut followed closely by the UK, where the film opened with an estimated $6.2 million. Additional openings include France ($4.3m), Germany ($3.3m), Brazil ($3m), Australia ($2.8m), Spain ($2m), Italy ($1.9m), Ukraine ($1m) and Colombia ($1m). Sonic will open in Russia next week followed by a March release in Japan with a date yet to be set for China.

WB‘s Birds of Prey slipped to second, dipping -48% in its second weekend, bringing in an estimated $17.1 million over the three-day and expected to deliver $19.6 million for the four-day holiday frame, pushing the film’s domestic total to $61.7 million. Internationally, the film generated an estimated $23 million from 78 overseas markets, representing a -46% drop from opening weekend. The film’s international cume now totals $83.6 million, pushing the global tally just shy of $143 million. Mexico currently leads the way overseas with an estimated $7.9 million, followed by the UK with $7.6 million.

In third and fourth we find a close race between a pair of the weekend’s other newcomers with Sony‘s Fantasy Island currently holding the edge, debuting with an estimated $12.4 million over the three-day and expected to finish around $14 million for the holiday frame. The film received a “C-” CinemaScore from opening day crowds, which would appear generous if you compare it to the 9% critical rating on RottenTomatoes, though seems right in line with the 45% audience score. The film’s opening weekend crowd was 52% female with 46% of the overall audience coming in aged 25 or older.

Internationally, Fantasy Island launched with an estimated $7.6 million in 35 markets with France leading all markets with a $1.3 million debut followed by Indonesia ($950k), and Australia ($700k). The film will open in Germany next week followed by debuts in Russia (Mar 5), UK (Mar 6), Mexico (Mar 27), Brazil (Apr 16) and South Korea (May 14).

Right behind Fantasy Island is Universal‘s romance The Photograph, which played much better with critics and audiences, receiving a “B+” CinemaScore and 82% audience rating on RottenTomatoes. As for its performance, the film debuted with an estimated $12.27 million over the three-day and is expected to finish with $13.4 million for the four-day holiday. Opening weekend crowds were 56% female with 64% of the audience coming in aged 25 or older.

Rounding out the top five is Sony‘s Bad Boys for Life, which dipped just -6% this weekend, bringing in an estimated $11.3 million over the three-day and is expected to finish with $12.8 million for the holiday frame as its cume now tops $182 million domestically. Internationally, the film added another $11.1 million, pushing the overseas total to $187 million for a global cume that now stands at $368 million with the film set to open in Italy next week.

Elsewhere, Neon‘s Parasite is coming off its huge wins at the Oscars last weekend and expanded into over 2,000 locations this weekend from which it saw an impressive bump, bringing in an estimated $5.5 million over the three-day and is expected to finish with $6.65 million for the four-day holiday frame. The performance pushes the film’s domestic gross over $44 million, currently standing as the fifth largest foreign language release ever domestically by a slim margin, soon to top Instructions Not Included ($44.46m).

Rounding out the top ten is Searchlight‘s Downhill, which managed to outperform expectations with an estimated $4.6 million three-day and a four-day expected to top $5 million. However, a weak critical response and a “D” CinemaScore doesn’t bode well for the film’s future prospects.

Next weekend sees two new wide releases in 20th Century‘s The Call of the Wild and STX‘s horror sequel Brahms: The Boy II. Additionally, Lionsgate will release Pantelion‘s Las Pildoras De Mi Novio and Focus will debut Emma, which launched internationally this weekend in seven markets, bringing in $3.2 million, led by a $2.1 million launch in the UK.

 

via Box Office Mojo

	Title	Weekend	Gross	Weeks
	Sonic the Hedgehog	$57.0M	$57.0M	1
	Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn	$17.1M	$59.3M	2
	Fantasy Island	$12.4M	$12.4M	1
	The Photograph	$12.3M	$12.3M	1
	Bad Boys for Life	$11.3M	$181.3M	5
	1917	$8.1M	$144.4M	8
	Jumanji: The Next Level	$5.7M	$305.7M	10
	Gisaengchung	$5.5M	$43.2M	19
	Dolittle	$5.1M	$70.5M	5
	Downhill	$4.7M	$4.7M	1

 

‘Birds of Prey’ Underwhelms with a $33 Million Opening at the BO!!

Positive reviews and audience response wasn’t enough to send Warner Bros.‘s Birds of Prey flying too high this weekend. While the latest DC Comics adaptation was able to secure the weekend’s #1 slot it fell well short of expectations. However, Oscar contender 1917 was one of three titles to see a single digit drop as audiences sought to see the film that is widely expected to take home tonight’s Best Picture honors.

At the top of the box office is WB‘s Birds of Prey, finishing with an estimated $33.25 million from 4,236 theaters (fourth widest ever for an R-rated release), falling well short of industry expectations as well as the studio’s anticipated $45 million start. Things looked good heading into the weekend with the film receiving a strong critical response — 81% on RottenTomatoes and 60 on Metacritic — which was then followed by an “B+” CinemaScore from opening day audiences and an 83% audience score on RottenTomatoes. However, it appears there just wasn’t enough audience to push this one as high as most expected, though word of mouth may be able to keep it alive over the coming weeks if it proves to be more than just a niche film.

Opening weekend crowds for Birds of Prey were 51% female with 65% of the audience coming in aged 25 or older. The film scored best with younger audiences, of which gave the film an “A-” CinemaScore, which suggests the R-rating may have been a major reason the film struggled to take flight, especially considering its predecessor, Suicide Squad, was a PG-13 feature and debuted with $133 million. It will be interesting to see what WB does with next year’s The Suicide Squad, which is currently expected to be R-rated. Will that now change?

Internationally, Birds of Prey debuted in 78 markets with an estimated $48 million. Leading the way was Mexico with an estimated $4.6 million launch followed by Russia ($4m), UK ($3.9m), Brazil ($2.8m), France ($2.7m), Australia ($2.7m), Indonesia ($2.4m), Korea ($1.9m), Germany ($1.8m), Taiwan ($1.5m), Italy ($1.4m) and Spain ($1.38m). Japan will be the final market to open on March 20.

Sony‘s Bad Boys for Life drops to second place after three straight weekends at #1. This weekend the film dropped -32% for an estimated $12 million three-day, pushing the domestic cume over $166 million as it enters its fourth week in release. Internationally, the film added another $15.8 million for an overseas gross totaling $170 million and a worldwide tally now reaching $336 million.

As mentioned in our lede, Universal‘s 1917 had a terrific hold as it entered the weekend as the front-runner for Oscar’s Best Picture honors this evening. The film dipped just -5%, bringing in an estimated $9 million for a domestic cume that now stands at $132.5 million. Internationally, the film brought in over $15 million from Universal and Amblin markets currently in play, bringing the overseas total just shy of $155 million for a global performance now topping $287 million. The film launches in Japan, its final international market, next weekend.

Universal‘s Dolittle finished in fourth with an estimated $6.66 million, dipping just -12% as it kicks off its fourth weekend in release with a domestic cume just shy of $64 million. Internationally, the film opened in the UK and France this weekend, which helped generate nearly $19 million for the weekend, for an international cume that now stands at $94.7 million for a $158.7 million global cume. Key international markets yet to release include Brazil, Russia, Japan and China, the latter of which is yet to be dated.

Rounding out the top five is Sony‘s Jumanji: The Next Level, which brought in an estimated $5.5 million, dipping just -8% as it kicks off its ninth week in release with a domestic cume that now tops $298 million. Internationally, the film delivered an estimated $3.3 million this weekend from 58 markets still in play, taking the international cume to $470 million and the worldwide total to $768 million.

Finally, we once again feel it’s worth mentioning Lionsgate‘s Knives Out, which fell just outside the top ten for the first time last weekend, but bounced right back this weekend, dipping just -9% and delivering an estimated $2.35 million three-day, pushing the film’s domestic cume to $158.9 million. Could the bump be the result of the news just three days ago that Lionsgate is moving forward with a sequel? Overseas, the film added another $1.3 million for an international cume of $140.7 million and a worldwide cume to date of $299.6 million.

Next weekend will see a trio of new wide releases for Valentine’s Day weekend including Universal‘s romance The Photograph, Sony‘s Blumhouse horror Fantasy Island, Searchlight‘s comedy remake Downhill and, of course, Paramount‘s videogame adaptation Sonic the Hedgehog, the latter of which is launching in 4,100 locations.

 

via Box Office Mojo

	Title	Weekend	Gross	Weeks
	Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn	$33.3M	$33.3M	1
	Bad Boys for Life	$12.0M	$166.3M	4
	1917	$9.0M	$132.5M	7
	Dolittle	$6.7M	$64.0M	4
	Jumanji: The Next Level	$5.5M	$298.5M	9
	The Gentlemen	$4.2M	$26.9M	3
	Gretel & Hansel	$3.5M	$11.5M	2
	Knives Out	$2.4M	$158.9M	11
	Little Women	$2.3M	$102.7M	7
	Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker	$2.2M	$510.5M	8

 

‘Little Women’: Greta Gerwig’s Film Crosses $100 Million at the Domestic BO!!

While the film has been undervalued this awards season, Greta Gerwig’s radical adaptation of Little Women is a bona fide box office hit. The Sony Pictures film crossed the $100 million domestic mark at the box office on Thursday, scoring a solid win after opening in theaters on Christmas Day. The film had legs and no doubt word-of-mouth helped propel it to this particular benchmark, as Gerwig’s adaptation of the classic Louisa May Alcott novel puts an emotional, brilliant twist on the source material that marries Alcott’s real life with her characters.

The Sony adaptation cost $40 million to produce before marketing and is expected to be nicely profitable for the studio, having now amassed $165 million worldwide. It’s up for six Oscars in total on Sunday, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay for Gerwig as well as Best Actress (Saoirse Ronan) and Supporting Actress (Florence Pugh), but Gerwig was notably shut out of the Best Director race.

No matter, between this and Lady Bird Gerwig has solidified herself as one of the best directors working today, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what she puts together next. The profitability of Little Women, not to mention its critical acclaim, will hopefully afford her some flexibility and bargaining power in choosing her next directorial project.

As for the box office of the rest of the Best Picture nominees this year, we obviously don’t have tallies for Netflix’s Marriage Story or The Irishman, but here’s how the domestic totals of each film stack up—understanding that some will definitely get a boost after Sunday.

Joker – $335,039,764

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – $142,112,493

1917 – $121,458,369

Ford v Ferrari – $115,510,945

Little Women – $100,000,000

Parasite – $33,229,324

Jojo Rabbit – $28,378,300

 

via Collider

‘Bad Boys For Life’ Stays on Top as ‘The Rhythm Section’ Flops at the BO!!

For a third straight weekend in a row Sony‘s Bad Boys for Life topped the weekend box office, and continues to do so with ease, though it isn’t as if the competition from a pair of newcomers was stiff. Both UAR‘s Gretel & Hansel and Paramount‘s The Rhythm Section fell below expectations, and the latter is even struggling to remain in the weekend top ten and earned a record no film ever wants.

With an estimated $17.7 million this weekend, Sony‘s Bad Boys for Life finished atop the weekend box office for the third straight week in a row. The film’s domestic gross now tops $148 million, making it the highest grossing release in the Bad Boys franchise. Internationally, Bad Boys brought in an estimated $30.8 million, lifting the film’s international cume to $142.7 million for a franchise best, $271 million global cume.

Universal‘s 1917 once again takes the runner-up position as the Best Picture contender delivered an estimated $9.66 million this weekend, pushing the film’s domestic cume just shy of $120 million. Internationally, the film brought in an estimated $20.9 million from 61 markets, including openings in Russia, Taiwan, Sweden, and Thailand. The international cume currently stands at $129.8 million.

Universal also took third place with Dolittle bringing in an estimated $7.7 million as the struggling, $175 million production has now managed just over $55 million domestically as it kicks off its third week in release. Internationally the film has now grossed over $71 million after bringing in an estimated $17.7 million this weekend from 63 markets. The film’s global cume now stands at $126.6 million with releases in France, the UK, Brazil, Russia and Japan yet to come along with a release date for China not yet set.

United Artists Releasing‘s Gretel & Hansel debuted in fourth position, opening with an estimated $6 million, coming up shy of expectations. The performance doesn’t come as much of a shock given it is the fourth horror/thriller to be released in the first five weeks of the year, not to mention it is the fourth to debut with poor reviews and, once again, audiences tended to agree with critics, giving the film a “C-” CinemaScore and a 20% audience rating at RottenTomatoes. The film played to an opening weekend crowd that was 53% female with 73% of the overall audience coming in aged less than 35 years old.

A pair of films are virtually in a dead heat for fifth place with STXfilms‘s The Gentlemen edging out Jumanji: The Next Level by just $10,000 based on estimates. The Guy Ritchie-directed action comedy dipped -44% in its second weekend, bringing in an estimated $6 million for a ten-day domestic cume totaling $20.4 million. Internationally, the film added another 12 markets, bringing in an estimated $4 million for an overseas cume totaling $28 million and a global tally that now tops $48 million.

Further down the list, and just making its way into the top ten is Paramount‘s The Rhythm Section. Signals heading into the weekend weren’t positive, but this one fell short of even the most pessimistic of expectations, bringing in just $2.8 million for the weekend from 3,049 locations for a $918 per theater average, the worst opening ever for a film debuting in over 3,000 locations. The film received a “C+” CinemaScore from opening day audiences while the opening weekend crowd was 53% male with 75% of the overall audience coming in aged 25 years or older.

In limited release, Magnolia and ShortsTV debuted the 2020 Oscar-Nominated Short Films with an estimated $1.1 million in 460 locations. In 15 years of releasing the Oscar Shorts this is Magnolia‘s widest opening ever due to the shortened window between nominations and this year’s ceremony.

Additional limited releases include Bleecker‘s The Assistant brought in an estimated $84,702 from four locations ($21,176 PTA); the independent release of Created Equal: Clarence Thomas In His Own Words debuted in 23 theaters with an estimated $74,718 ($3,248 PTA); Sony Classics released The Traitor in three theaters with an estimated $25,530 ($8,510 PTA); Greenwich‘s Incitement opened in two locations with an estimated $21,750; and Outsider debuted José in one theater with an estimated $10,200.

Next weekend sees Margot Robbie back in her role as Harley Quinn in the DC Comics adaptation Birds of Prey, opening in over 4,100 locations.

 

via Box Office Mojo

	Title	Weekend	Gross	Weeks
	Bad Boys for Life	$17.7M	$148.1M	3
	1917	$9.7M	$119.2M	6
	Dolittle	$7.7M	$55.2M	3
	Gretel & Hansel	$6.1M	$6.1M	1
	The Gentlemen	$6.0M	$20.4M	2
	Jumanji: The Next Level	$6.0M	$291.2M	8
	Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker	$3.2M	$507.1M	7
	The Turning	$3.1M	$11.7M	2
	Little Women	$3.0M	$98.8M	6
	The Rhythm Section	$2.8M	$2.8M	1

 

‘Bad Boys’ Continues Domination as ‘Gentlemen’ Opens Solid at the BO!!!

Sony‘s Bad Boys for Life entered its second weekend with a strong holdover performance, repeating atop the weekend box office and topping $120 million domestically after just ten days in release. Meanwhile, STX‘s release of Guy Ritchie‘s The Gentlemen enjoyed a solid debut while Universal‘s The Turning finished just outside the top five, disappointing both critics and audiences alike.

With an estimated $34 million, Sony‘s Bad Boys for Life is proving to be a hit with audiences, repeating atop the weekend box office in its second weekend, dipping just -46% compared to the film’s strong debut over the holiday weekend last week. The performance pushes the film’s domestic cume over $120 million after just ten days in release and it is now less than $20 million shy of already becoming the highest grossing domestic release in the Bad Boys franchise with a fourth film already in the works.

Internationally, the film added another 19 markets and grossed $42 million this weekend, pushing the international cume to $95 million for a global tally reaching $215 million. The weekend’s top market was Russia where Bad Boys for Life brought in an estimated $4.7 million followed by France ($4.1m), Belgium ($1.4m), Netherlands ($1.5m), Ukraine ($1.1m), Colombia ($1.1m) and South Africa ($1m). The United Kingdom remains the film’s top overseas market where it has grossed $10.7 million thus far.

Universal‘s 1917 held on very well this weekend, dipping just -28%. The Best Picture contender exhibited its might, delivering an estimated $15.8 million this weekend, pushing the film’s domestic cume to $103.8 million. Internationally, the film added an estimated $23.7 million from 50 markets, including new openings in Brazil, Italy, Norway, Indonesia and Colombia with the international cume now reaching just shy of $97 million for a global tally that now tops $200 million.

Universal also took home the weekend bronze as Dolittle dipped -43% in its sophomore frame, pulling in an estimated $12.5 million. The $175 million production still has plenty of work to do as its domestic cume now stands at $44.68 million. Internationally the film added $13.2 million this weekend, pushing the domestic overseas cume to $46.4 million for a global tally that currently stands just over $91 million.

Landing in fourth is STXFilms‘s release of Guy Ritchie‘s The Gentlemen, pulling in an estimated $11 million this weekend to go along with a strong critical reception and a “B+” CinemaScore from opening day crowds. STX acquired North American rights to the film from Miramax for $7 million and following this weekend’s performance is planning a “significant expansion in theaters next weekend”. The opening weekend audience for the film was 60% male with 55% of the audience coming in aged between 25 and 44.

As for international rights, those remain with Miramax and following a limited release in just a few markets over the past few weeks, this weekend The Gentlemen added another 20 territories where it generated another $3.1 million, pushing the film’s early international total to $22.5 million and an early global cume topping $33.5 million. The UK is still the top grossing market with an estimated $12.2 million so far while it has generated another $8.8 million in Australia and New Zealand. Key upcoming markets include France (Feb 5), Russia (Feb 13), Mexico (Feb 14) and Germany (Feb 27).

Rounding out the top five is Sony‘s Jumanji: The Next Level with an estimated $7.9 million, pushing the sequel’s domestic performance over $283 million. The film also added another $9.6 million this weekend internationally, bringing the global cume to $738 million.

Just outside the top five is where we find Universal and DreamWorks‘s The Turning. The horror/thriller delivered an estimated $7.3 million and to go along with a poor critical response, opening day audiences gave the film a rare “F” CinemaScore, an opinion that was echoed by RottenTomatoes audiences, giving the film a 13% audience score to go along with a 3.7/10 score on IMDb. The film played to a crowd that was 52% female with 47% of the overall audience coming in aged 25 or older.

Internationally, The Turning earned an estimated $800k from openings in 13 markets, including Mexico and the United Kingdom. Amblin Partners and Universal are distributing the film internationally, with eOne distributing on behalf of Amblin in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and Benelux.

We would also be remiss if we didn’t once again mention that Lionsgate‘s Knives Out had the smallest drop among wide release holdovers in the top ten for the seventh week in a row, dipping just -15% for a three-day gross totaling $3.65 million and a domestic cume that now totals $151.8 million. Internationally the film has grossed nearly $135 million for a global tally topping $286 million.

Additional notes from this past weekend include Neon‘s Parasite becoming the studio’s highest grossing domestic release of all-time, bringing in nearly $31 million and topping I, Tonya‘s $30 million domestic gross from two years ago. Additionally, Disney‘s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has now become only the 15th film to ever top $500 million at the domestic box office.

In limited release, Roadside‘s The Last Full Measure brought in an estimated $1.05 million from 614 theaters ($1,718 PTA); Disney‘s release of FIP‘s Panga brought in an estimated $281,000 from 102 locations ($2,754 PTA); and RLJ Entertainment‘s release of the H.P. Lovecraft sci-fi adaptation Color Out of Space opened in 81 venues with an estimated $217,800 ($2,689 PTA). As for Color Out of Space, the Nic Cage starrer now has a domestic cume totaling $358,164 as a result of over $140k coming from advanced sneak peek showings this past Wednesday and will be adding additional theaters next weekend.

Next weekend will see Paramount release the Blake Lively action-thriller The Rhythm Section in over 3,000 locations while UAR will test their hand with the fourth thriller of the new year already with Gretel & Hansel in over 2,500 theaters.

 

via Box Office Mojo

	Title	Weekend	Gross	Weeks
	Bad Boys for Life	$34.0M	$120.6M	2
	1917	$15.8M	$103.9M	5
	Dolittle	$12.5M	$44.7M	2
	The Gentlemen	$11.0M	$11.0M	1
	Jumanji: The Next Level	$7.9M	$283.4M	7
	The Turning	$7.3M	$7.3M	1
	Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker	$5.2M	$501.6M	6
	Little Women	$4.7M	$93.7M	5
	Just Mercy	$4.1M	$27.1M	5
	Knives Out	$3.7M	$151.9M	9

 

Akshay Kumar Becomes the Only Actor to Gross over Rs. 1000 Cr. at the 2019 Worldwide BO!!

Akshay Kumar has fast become one of the most bankable actors of recent times. With each of his films managing to rake in the moolah, Akshay, who features in multiple releases each year, is riding high. In fact, in 2019 Kumar featured in four releases viz. Kesari, Mission Mangal, Housefull 4 and Good Newwz. Looking at the box office, each of these releases went on to become hits crossing the Rs. 150 cr mark at the box office. If that wasn’t enough, looking at the worldwide collections of Akshay Kumar’s releases in 2019 the detail that stands out is that the actor has managed to rake in over Rs. 1000 cr. in gross collections from these four releases.

Akshay Kumar’s Worldwide Gross Box Office Collections

Good Newws – Rs. 298.39 cr.

Mission Mangal – Rs. 290.59 cr.

Housefull 4 – Rs. 280.27 cr.

Kesari – Rs. 207.09 cr.

Total – Rs. 1076.34 cr.

When compared to other actors for the year 2019, Akshay Kumar surpasses Hrithik Roshan, who comes in second with over Rs. 600 cr. gross from two, releases viz. War and Super 30.

Hrithik Roshan’s Worldwide Gross Box Office Collections

Super 30 – Rs. 208.93 cr.

War – Rs. 474.79 cr.

Total – Rs. 683.72 cr.

Interestingly, while Akshay Kumar has managed to set a new box office record in 2019, the actor has an equal number of releases in 2020 as well. With Sooryavanshi, Laxmmi Bomb, Prithviraj and Bachchan Pandey slated to hit screens this year, expectation are that the actor might just surpass his own record.

 

via Bollywood Hungama

‘Chhapaak’: Deepika Padukone’s Acclaimed Film Crashes at the BO!!

Meghna Gulzar’s enormously anointed topical and disturbing drama Chhapaak has failed to draw in the audiences. Quite a setback for Deepika Padukone, whose performance as an acid-attack victim is outstanding and director Gulzar whose last two films Talvar and Raazi were both critical and commercial successes.

A section of analysts feel Deepika’s controversial visit to the JNU in Delhi proved detrimental to the film’s box office performance. Says trade insider Amod Mehra, “There was a lot of resentment about Deepika’s unjustified stand (her visit to the JNU). Plus, by keeping silent she did not even convey her true feelings… That apart, any film which does not connect with the audience fails at the box office. The film was bold. But the screenplay was not gripping as well as the emotions were played down.”

Trade guru Taran Adarsh feels Chhapaak was never designed as a massy product. “There’s no denying that Chhapaak is a well-made film. Sensitively told with a superb performance by Deepika. However, the screenplay and treatment of the subject material restricts its prospects to urban centers mainly. The numbers, therefore, are decent at premium multiplexes, but dull at Tier-2 and 3 cities. So it’s a poor show in mass belt. The film definitely deserved a wider reach, but the BO numbers are disappointing.”

Prominent trade analyst Girish Johar says, “Chhapaak is a brilliant effort by the entire team and kudos to Deepika, Vikrant Massey and Meghna Gulzar for front-lining this one. The film is an empowering one and makes a solid statement on the times we live in. It has its moments and touches the heart.”

Girish too is disheartened by the low collections of Chhapaak. “The box office performance on the other hand doesn’t match the praise because the film is for a very selective audience. It is not an entertainer neither is it a commercial film. It has subtle elements for the top-tier cities and for the niche audiences, which are lauding the effort. But as we move down the strata the audiences’ connect is missing as I feel they feel the pain most and hence, let alone watch, they want to avoid all discussion on a subject like an acid attack, as it wrenches their hearts. Also the reviews have been pretty much mixed. Good reviews for a film of this caliber adds a lot of strength to its legs at BO run.”

Adds Atul Mohan, “Nothing in Chhapaak for masses to connect with. The film was made and projected as a niche product for high-end multiplex audiences. The release strategy was also planned this way. No doubt that this one will find praise and may bring fame from international circuits and festivals.”

 

via Bollywood Hungama

‘Bad Boys for Life’ and ‘Dolittle’ Outperform Expectations at the BO!!

The Martin Luther King holiday is bringing more box office heat than originally expected as Sony‘s Bad Boys for Life delivered the second largest MLK four-day performance ever as well as the studio’s largest R-rated opening ever. Added to that, even Universal‘s Dolittle outperformed expectations, though the $175 million production still has a long way to go.

Debuting with an estimated $68.1 million, Sony‘s Bad Boys for Life exploded into theaters, delivering the second largest Martin Luther King weekend gross ever, topping 2014’s Ride Along, which opened with $48.6 million. The film’s $59.17 million three-day performance is also the second largest January three-day debut, just behind 2015’s American Sniper ($89.26m) as well as the studio’s largest R-rated opening ever, topping the $57 million opening for 22 Jump Street back in 2014.

While the records are great, some of the best news the film could receive began with the solid critical response followed by a welcome audience reaction, resulting in an “A” CinemaScore and a 97% audience rating on RottenTomatoes. As for that crowd, the opening weekend audience was 55% male with 61% of the overall crowd coming in aged 25 or older.

It will be interesting to see where the film goes from here as its three-day tops the $56.8 million debut for John Wick: Chapter 3, which went on to gross over $171 million domestically, and is right behind the likes of Mission: Impossible – Fallout ($61.2m opening), Straight Outta Compton ($60.2m opening) and Hobbs & Shaw ($60m opening). You can follow these comps throughout the film’s release in our showdown here.

Internationally, Bad Boys for Life brought in an estimated $38.6 million from 39 markets with Germany leading the way with a $5.1 million debut. Mexico and Spain kicked in $3.8 million and $2.2 million respectively while 12 markets in the Middle East generated a combined $5.1 million. Upcoming key releases included France (Jan 22), Russia (Jan 23), Brazil (Jan 30), Japan (Jan 31) and Italy (Feb 20).

In second place is Universal‘s Dolittle, a $175 million production that entered the weekend with rather low expectations and some dreadful reviews. The film, however, managed to outperform those mediocre expectations and delivered an estimated $30 million four-day performance. To go along with that, the film received a “B” CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences and while the reviews were poor, the film holds a decent, 76% audience rating on RottenTomatoes. The crowd coming in was 51% female with 43% of the audience aged 25 or older.

Internationally, the film got its overseas start last week in four markets and expanded its global footprint this weekend to a total of 46 markets this weekend, bringing in an estimated $17.2 million for a global tally that is now just shy of $50 million. Leading the way i Australia with a $2.36 million debut followed by Indonesia with a $2.1 million opening. The film’s top market is Korea where it has brought in $10.6 million as it enters its second week in release. There are still plenty of markets where the feature has yet to open including Argentina (Jan 23), Spain (Jan 24), Vietnam (Jan 25), Germany (Jan 30), Italy (Jan 30), Mexico (Jan 31), France (Feb 5), the UK (Feb 7), Brazil (Feb 20), Russia (Feb 20), China (Feb 21) and Japan (Mar 20).

Universal also took third place for the holiday weekend with their Oscar contender 1917 bringing in an estimated $27 million for the four-day holiday, bringing its domestic cume to $81.6 million as it enters its fourth week in release and only its second week in wide release. The film received a hefty ten Oscar nominations last week and is riding high after a strong performance at the Golden Globe Awards. Internationally, the picture added an additional $26 million this weekend from 37 Amblin and Universal international markets, bringing the international cume to $62 million through Sunday and a global total reaching $143.5 million.

Sony finished in fourth place with Jumanji: The Next Level with an estimated $12.57 million for the four-day holiday weekend, bringing its domestic cume to $273.48 million as it enters its sixth week in release. Internationally the film added another $17 million, bringing its overseas cume to $438 million for a global tally that now stands at $709 million.

Rounding out the top five is Disney‘s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which added an estimated $10.6 million over the holiday weekend, bringing its domestic cume just shy of $495 million, which puts it in the top 15 all-time domestically. Internationally, the film added another $10.9 million, bringing the overseas cume to $534.6 million for a global tally topping $1.026 billion.

It also must be mentioned once again, for what is now six weeks in a row, Lionsgate‘s Knives Out has enjoyed the smallest drop in the top ten among wide release holdovers. Dipping just -23.6%, the film brought in an estimated $4.3 million for the three-day and $5.25 million for the four-day holiday, bringing its domestic cume to $146.9 million as it enters its eighth week in release. Add $131 million internationally to that total and the picture has now generated nearly $278 million globally.

Outside the top ten, GKIDS debuted director Makoto Shinkai‘s animated feature Weathering With You this past Wednesday where it brought in over $3 million in its first two days in release, which made it the studio’s highest grossing film ever in just two days. This weekend it played in 486 locations where it brought in an additional $2 million, pushing its domestic cume over $5 million more than double the studio’s 2018 release Mary and the Witch’s Flower, which was GKIDS‘s largest grossing film ever until now. The film has now grossed over $182 million globally since debuting in Japan last July.

Next weekend sees a pair of new wide releases in Guy Ritchie‘s The Gentlemen (which has already brought in $18.4 million from three markets) and the Universal horror The Turning.

 

via Box Office Mojo

	Title	Weekend	Gross	Weeks
	Bad Boys for Life	$59.2M	$59.2M	1
	Dolittle	$22.5M	$22.5M	1
	1917	$22.1M	$76.8M	4
	Jumanji: The Next Level	$9.6M	$270.5M	6
	Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker	$8.4M	$492.0M	5
	Just Mercy	$6.0M	$19.6M	4
	Little Women	$5.9M	$84.4M	4
	Knives Out	$4.3M	$146.0M	8
	Like a Boss	$3.8M	$16.9M	2
	Frozen II	$3.7M	$464.9M	9

 

‘Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker’ Hits $1 Billion at the Worldwide BO!!!

It’s official: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has crossed the $1 billion mark in global sales. The J.J. Abrams-directed feature has spent 28 days in theaters across the world following its debut on December 20, 2019. Since then, Rise of Skywalker has continued to be a high-earner both in the domestic box office rankings as well as at the international box office despite it being the lowest-earning Star Wars sequel trilogy installment.

Thanks to Disney’s latest box office update, Rise of Skywalker officially has $1,001.0 million worldwide in the bank. This number reflects a domestic overall total of $481.3 million and an international overall total of $519.7 million. That total reflects earnings from two days of previews plus 26 official, wide-release days. Rise of Skywalker is currently showing on 4,279 screens across the U.S. while its highest-earning international markets are the UK ($72M), Germany ($61.7M), Japan ($56.4M), France ($50.7M), and Australia ($30.3M).

Rise of Skywalker crossing the $1 billion mark is big, yes, but the epic Skywalker saga conclusion took a noticeably longer time to hit that mark than its predecessors, 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Back in 2015, The Force Awakens hit $1 billion in just 12 days — a record-breaking win, by the way. As for The Last Jedi, it took 17 days to hit $1 billion and made it the highest-grossing film of 2017. It’s not necessarily a bad thing for Rise of Skywalker to have taken so long to hit $1 billion but it is worth keeping a peg in as we look to the future of the Star Wars universe and what stories or characters are box office gold.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is still in theaters

 

via Collider

‘1917’ Tops With $36.5 Million Weekend, as ‘Underwater’ and ‘Like a Boss’ Underperform at the BO!!

Universal‘s 1917 made the most of strong word of mouth and two Golden Globe wins, topping the weekend box office with ease as it expanded nationwide following two weeks in limited release. Meanwhile, Paramount‘s Like a Boss fell a bit shy of its pre-weekend expectations and Fox‘s Underwater drowned. WB‘s expansion of Just Mercy, however, was able to deliver a top five finish as it also went nationwide following its limited release over the December holidays.

With an estimated $36.5 million, Universal‘s release of Sam Mendes‘s 1917 topped the weekend box office with ease as it expanded into 3,434 locations after playing in just 11 theaters over the previous two weeks. As recently as last week tracking for the film had it opening around $25 million, but following a pair of Golden Globe wins last Sunday and strong word of mouth, the film shattered those expectations and don’t be surprised if it gains even more heat following tomorrow morning’s Oscar nominations. Internationally, the film debuted in 30 Amblin and Universal international markets with nearly $20 million, pushing the worldwide cume over $60 million.

1917 earned an “A” CinemaScore following it’s limited release and wide audiences felt similarly, awarding it an “A-“. This weekend’s crowds were 60% male while 80% of the weekend audiences as aged 25 or older.

Second place goes to Disney‘s release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which dropped another -57% with an estimated $15 million, bringing the film’s domestic cume to $478.2 million as it enters its fourth week in release. Internationally, the film added another $24.2 million, bringing the overseas cume to $511.4 million for a global tally reaching $989.6 million as it pushes toward becoming the seventh 2019 release from Disney to top $1 billion globally.

Sony‘s Jumanji: The Next Level finished in third with an estimated 14 million, dipping -47% as it enters its fifth weekend in release, pushing the film’s domestic cume to $256.8 million. Internationally, Jumanji lifted its international cume to $414 million after taking in $22.6 million this weekend 65 markets, bolstering the film’s worldwide total to $671 million.

In a tie for fourth with an estimated $10 million is Paramount‘s wide release of Like a Boss and WB‘s expansion of Just Mercy. Beginning with Like a Boss, the R-rated comedy starring Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne and Salma Hayek was expected to debut in the low double digit millions and fell just a bit shy of those expectations. Reviews for the film heading into the weekend were poor, scoring just 21% at RottenTomatoes, but the CinemaScore for the film wasn’t too bad, receiving a “B” from opening day crowds. Like a Boss played to an audience that was 56% female with 65% of the overall crowd coming in aged 25 or older.

As for Just Mercy, after debuting in just four theaters on Christmas Day and playing in those same four locations for the past two weeks, the film expanded into 2,375 locations this weekend and audiences liked what they saw, giving the film an “A+” CinemaScore, complimenting the 82% critical rating at RottenTomatoes. The film’s audience was 60% female with 85% of the overall audience coming in aged 25 or older, both figures just a fraction below exits following the film’s limited release. The film should continue to play well over the coming weeks given the lack of serious competition in the drama category.

Finishing outside the top five is Fox‘s new release Underwater. The PG-13 thriller fell short of studio expectations, delivering an estimated $7 million for the weekend while earning a “C” CinemaScore from opening day crowds. The film’s opening weekend audience was split, 50/50 male and female with 64% of the overall audience coming in aged 25 or older.

Internationally, Underwater opened in 21 markets including France, Brazil and Mexico from which it brought in an estimated $7.1 million. The film’s top overseas market was Indonesia with $1.5 million followed by France with a $1 million debut. Next weekend the film opens in Philippines and Thailand followed by late January openings in Russia, Australia, Italy and Spain with openings in the UK (Feb 7), Korea (Apr 9) and Japan (May 15) to follow.

It also deserves mentioning once again that Lionsgate‘s Knives Out had the smallest drop among wide release holdovers for the fourth straight weekend. Dipping just -36%, the film from Rian Johnson brought in an estimated $5.7 million for a domestic cume that now tops $139 million. It also added another $5.5 million internationally for a global cume that now stands at $265.4 million with a late January release in Japan still to come.

Next weekend’s wide releases include Sony‘s Bad Boys for Life in approximately 3,700 locations while Universal will bring Dolittle to over 3,900 theaters. As for Dolittle, it got a jump start on its domestic release opening in four overseas markets this weekend with over $8 million, including a $6.78 million debut in Korea and another $1.1 million in Ukraine. The film will add another 42 markets next weekend along with its domestic launch.

 

via Box Office Mojo

	Title	Weekend	Gross	Weeks
	1917	$36.5M	$39.2M	3
	Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker	$15.1M	$478.2M	4
	Jumanji: The Next Level	$14.0M	$257.1M	5
	Like a Boss	$10.0M	$10.0M	1
	Just Mercy	$10.0M	$10.4M	3
	Little Women	$7.7M	$74.0M	3
	Underwater	$7.0M	$7.0M	1
	Frozen II	$5.8M	$459.4M	8
	Knives Out	$5.7M	$139.6M	7
	Spies in Disguise	$5.1M	$54.6M	3

 

‘Rise of Skywalker’ Tops $900M Globally, as ‘Grudge’ Debuts with $11.3M at the BO!!

Disney domination continues as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker leads the way domestically for the third straight weekend, topping $450 million domestically and over $900 million worldwide while Frozen II has now become the highest grossing animated release of all time worldwide reaching $1.325 billion worldwide. As for Sony‘s new release of The Grudge, it topped expectations and rounded out the weekend’s top five, while nearly all of the weekend’s holdovers within the top ten dropped less than 40% compared to last weekend.

Disney‘s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker brought in an estimated $33.7 million this weekend, dipping -53% to kick off its third week in release. The performance pushes the film’s domestic cume over $450 million, doing so in just 17 days. The film also added another $50.5 million internationally this weekend for an overseas cume that now stands at $468 million for a global total reaching $918.8 million as it will soon become Disney‘s seventh $1+ billion global release of 2019.

In second is the first of three Sony titles in the top five, Jumanji: The Next Level. The sequel enters its fourth week in release with an estimated $26.5 million this weekend, dipping just -25% as the film’s domestic cume now stands at $236.2 million. While it is still pacing behind the first film in terms of overall domestic cume, it is showing signs of holding on for a long run similar to that first film, though a direct comparison is almost impossible to make given the holiday release timing of the two.

Internationally, Jumanji added another $42.4 million this weekend, bringing the overseas cume to $374 million for a global tally reaching $610 million. This weekend saw no new major international releases with China remaining the top overseas market with $41.2 million. The film will release in Brazil on January 16.

Sony‘s Little Women dipped just -19% in its second weekend as Greta Gerwig‘s adaptation added an estimated $13.57 million this weekend, bringing the film’s domestic cume to $60 million. Internationally, the film added $9.5 million this weekend from six markets, bringing the overseas cume to $20.4 million. This weekend saw the film debut in Australia with $3.4 million followed by openings in France ($1.5) and the cume in the UK growing to $12 million.

Disney‘s Frozen II finished in fourth with an estimated $11.29 million bringing its domestic cume just shy of $450 million. Added to that, the film added another $42.4 million internationally, which raises it’s overseas cume to $875.3 million for a massive, $1.325 billion worldwide making Frozen II the highest grossing animated release of all time worldwide, topping Frozen ($1,281M) and Incredibles 2 ($1,243M).

Rounding out the top five is Sony and Screen Gems‘s The Grudge with an estimated $11.3 million, which is ahead of pre-weekend expectations, but the film’s “F” CinemaScore doesn’t bode well for future prospects, just as it didn’t help its day-to-day performance this weekend. As for the opening weekend crowd, the audience was 53% male and 51% of the overall audience coming in was aged 25 or older.

Internationally, The Grudge opened in 29 markets with an estimated $5.8 million. Leading the way was Indonesia with $1 million. Upcoming releases include Germany (Jan 9), France (Jan 15), Russia (Jan 16), UK (Jan 24), Australia (Jan 30), Brazil (Feb 13) and Italy (Feb 27).

Outside the top five we have to mention Lionsgate‘s Knives Out, which entered its sixth week in release this weekend and dipped just -9% with an estimated $9 million from 2,142 locations, bringing the film’s domestic cume to $130.25 million. This is the third straight weekend in a row the Rian Johnson written and directed feature has had the lowest drop among domestic, wide release holdovers and it’s finding equal success internationally where it added another $8.8 million for an international cume totaling $117.2 million and a global tally just shy of $250 million.

Next weekend will see the wide release of Fox‘s Underwater and Paramount‘s Like a Boss while Universal will go wide with 1917 in over 3,200 locations and WB will also expand the release of Just Mercy into over 2,200 theaters.

 

via Box Office Mojo

	Title	Weekend	Gross	Weeks
	Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker	$33.7M	$450.8M	3
	Jumanji: The Next Level	$26.5M	$236.2M	4
	Little Women	$13.6M	$60.0M	2
	The Grudge	$11.3M	$11.3M	1
	Frozen II	$11.3M	$449.9M	7
	Spies in Disguise	$10.1M	$46.7M	2
	Knives Out	$9.0M	$130.3M	6
	Uncut Gems	$7.8M	$36.8M	4
	Bombshell	$4.1M	$24.6M	4
	Cats	$2.6M	$24.7M	3

 

‘Frozen II’ Is Officially the Highest-Grossing Animated Film of All Time!!

Disney’s 2020 is already beginning on a high note as Frozen II is crowned the highest-grossing animated movie of all time at the end of the first weekend in January. This new honor marks a major turn for the fortunes of the sequel to the 2013 hit Frozen. At the end of December 2019, Frozen II was sitting pretty as the 7th highest-grossing film of all time and had officially passed Frozen‘s overall domestic total of $400 million.

Now, Frozen II heads into the first full week of January 2020 with a domestic total of $450 million and a global total of approximately $1.32 billion. This big win for Frozen II also reminds us it’s on the rarer side for a sequel to surpass the success of its predecessor but, then again, we shouldn’t be too surprised that the movie which gave us “Let It Go” has given way to a movie with even more bangers and appeals to the tried-and-true family audience demo, right? Also, since it’s also a foregone conclusion at this point in time that Disney is king of anything unless otherwise noted, it’s worth reminding you the House of Mouse is now officially home to the top three animated films of all time. Per CNBC, after Frozen II comes Frozen with $1.28 billion worldwide and then Incredibles 2, which earned $1.24 billion in global sales in 2018.

In 2019, Disney was home to multiple billion dollar movies which resulted in $10 billion in global sales by the time the year closed out. Thanks to it now being the parent company to Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, and 20th Century Fox, we should expect to see even more financial gains on a jaw-dropped scale come Disney’s way in 2020.

 

via Collider

‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ Lags Behind Predecessors at the BO!!

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker took in nearly $17 million at the domestic box office over the New Year’s Day holiday, a tally that brings the Skywalker Saga’s closer over the $400 million mark. It took Star Wars: The Force Awakens just over 7 days to hit the same mark, while Star Wars: The Last Jedi reached the total domestically in under 12 days, with a Christmas Day bump. The Rise of Skywalker needed the New Year’s holiday to get there in under 13 days.

The $407.5 million domestic take over nearly two weeks is about matched by $407.9 from international territories, totaling $815.4 million. A billion-dollar-plus run is obviously within reach, but it remains to be seen whether The Rise of Skywalker can reach The Last Jedi‘s total of $1.3 billion; The Force Awakens‘ $2.1 billion tally feels like it’s out of the realm of possibility. It doesn’t help that China isn’t on board with the film, but that’s been a problem the previous films have faced as well.

The Rise of Skywalker has plenty of its own internal, inherent problems though. There’s the Palpatine of it all, the lessons the franchise capper could have learned from other franchises but didn’t, minority characters taking a backseat to the story, and the film’s controversial ending, to name but a few. This is a movie that is ostensibly closing a 40+ year story; there’s no reason that it shouldn’t be surpassing even the Avengers: Endgame box office. The fact that it isn’t speaks to the many problems within the movie itself. It’s worth a watch for history’s sake, but expect the box office performance to take a nosedive between now and when the movie inevitably arrives on Disney+.

 

via Collider