By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Déjà vu … All Over Again
Real Steel nosed ahead of a couple of newcomers to take top spot at the weekend box office with an estimated $16.1 million. Dusted off but hardly gleaming were new versions of Footloose and The Thing that followed with respective grosses of $15.8 million and $8.7 million. The third new release was the birder comedy The Big Year that laid an egg with a $3.3 million launch.
In a week of significant disappointment there were few straws of hope to grasp with niche and regional freshmen largely flatlining. Exclusive openers weren’t much better though the belated release of star driven Fireflies in the Garden had an OK bow of $31,300 at five venues. And that sole bright spot was unquestionably Spaniard Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In that grossed $224,000 from an initial six screen run.
Box office dipped 7% from seven days earlier and a resounding 34% from 2010. Last year debuts of Jackass 3D and Red led with respective bows of $50.3 million and $21.8 million.
While expectations for all three incoming movies were modest, each of the trio failed to do better than low end projections. Both Footloose and The Thing managed to attract their target audiences but with not quite the intensity tracking reports had indicated. The Big Year can be viewed as close to a total audience rejection.
The exit demos once again tended to skew older or not quite as young as trending of the past two decades. The youthful Terpsichore that is Footloose attracted an audience that was 64% composed of folks 25 years and older while The Thing was 56% aged 30 years and younger. There was no discernable pulse among The Big Year’s ticket buyers.
Holdovers were generally resilient with drops generally in the 25% to 33% range. But apart from the 3Dized The Lion King the fall hasn’t generated a sizeable hit or a resounding commercial surprise. In such a climate one shouldn’t be taken aback by distribution plans for shorter theatrical windows or PPV experiments that will fall closer to opening dates.
The sense of desperation is palpable and growing. The erosion of the 18 to 25 frequent movie goer base can’t be ignored and providing easier and more economical access to that group has thus far resulted in some disastrous experimentation. But if they’re not coming back to the multiplex both distribution and exhibition are going to have to alter their playbook.
Weekend (estimates) October 14 – 16, 2011 | |||||
Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
Real Steel | BV | 16.1 (4,690) | -41% | 3440 | 51.6 |
Footloose | Par | 15.8 (4,440) | NEW | 3549 | 15.8 |
The Thing | Uni | 8.7 (2,910) | NEW | 2996 | 8.7 |
The Ides of March | Sony/Alliance | 7.4 (3,360) | -29% | 2199 | 22 |
Dolphin Tale | WB | 6.3 (1,910) | -31% | 3286 | 58.6 |
Moneyball | Sony | 5.5 (1,940) | -26% | 2840 | 57.7 |
50/50 | Summit | 4.3 (1,810) | -24% | 2391 | 24.3 |
Courageous | Sony/Tricord | 3.4 (2,770) | -31% | 1214 | 21.4 |
The Big Year | Fox | 3.3 (1,530) | NEW | 2150 | 3.3 |
The Lion King 3D | BV | 2.7 (1,210) | -40% | 2267 | 90.5 |
Dream House | Uni/eOne | 2,5 (1,140) | -45% | 2172 | 18.4 |
Contagion | WB | 1.8 (1,090) | -38% | 1684 | 72 |
Abduction | Lions Gate | 1.4 (840) | -50% | 1707 | 25.8 |
The Help | BV | 1.2 (960) | -38% | 1267 | 164.9 |
Drive | FilmDistrict | 1.1 (1,540) | -41% | 703 | 32.1 |
What’s Your Number | Fox | 1.1 (870) | -64% | 1282 | 12.9 |
Killer Elite | Open Road | 1.0 (690) | -55% | 1431 | 23.7 |
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hollows, Part 2 | WB | .29 (890) | -28% | 330 | 380.2 |
Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain | Code Black | .28 (1,510) | -39% | 188 | 7.4 |
Take Shelter | Sony Classics | .27 (11,370) | 425% | 24 | 0.43 |
Cars 2 | BV | .26 (1,270) | -8% | 205 | 190.8 |
The Way | PDA | .24 (2,390) | 117% | 100 | 0.4 |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $83.60 | ||||
% Change (Last Year) | -34% | ||||
% Change (Last Week) | -7% | ||||
Also debuting/expanding | |||||
The Skin I Live In | Sony Classics | .22 (37,410) | 6 | 0.22 | |
The Guard | Sony Classics | .12 (1,290) | 2% | 94 | 4.8 |
Labios Rojos | Lions Gate | 65,200 (970) | 67 | 0.07 | |
Machine Gun Preacher | Relativity | 52,700 (1,250) | 29% | 42 | 0.41 |
Marecages | Metropole | 31,900 (1,520) | 21 | 0.03 | |
Fireflies in the Garden | Senator | 31,300 (6,260) | 5 | 0.03 | |
Silenced | CJ Entertainment | 27,400 (27,400) | 1 | 0.03 | |
The Woman | Blood Disgusting | 16,300 (960) | 17 | 0.02 | |
Aazaan | Alchemia | 11,300 (230) | 50 | 0.01 | |
Texas Killing Fields | Anchor Bay | 8,900 (2,970) | 3 | 0.01 | |
Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – Oct. 13, 2011) | |||||
Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share | |||
Warner Bros. (24) | 1488.1 | 18.40% | |||
Paramount (14) | 1424.7 | 17.60% | |||
Buena Vista (15) | 1050.5 | 13.00% | |||
Sony (25) | 1034.7 | 12.80% | |||
Universal (15) | 932 | 11.50% | |||
20th Century Fox (14) | 779.2 | 9.60% | |||
Weinstein Co. (12) | 280.9 | 3.50% | |||
Lions Gate (14) | 180.6 | 2.20% | |||
Relativity (7) | 144.4 | 1.80% | |||
Focus (7) | 123 | 1.50% | |||
Film District (3) | 108.8 | 1.30% | |||
Fox Searchlight (10) | 107.7 | 1.30% | |||
Summit (7) | 89.9 | 1.10% | |||
Sony Classics (15) | 79.6 | 1.00% | |||
CBS (3) | 57.5 | 0.70% | |||
Other * (282) | 216.4 | 2.70% | |||
8098 | 100.00% |