The Weekend Report, February 5, 2012

Chronicle of a Super Bowl Foretold

It was a win by a nose for the youthful super adventure Chronicle over the spooky goings on of The Woman in Black. The former grossed an estimated $21.9 million to the latter’s $12.6 million. The session had a third national debut with the ripped from the headlines eco adventure Big Miracle slotting fourth with $8.5 million.

Freshmen in limited and exclusive release were spearheaded by W.E., a cross generational love story employing Edward VIII’s abdication for the “woman I love,” as its spine opened to $49,200 at four venues. Otherwise the results for newcomers were largely dismal including a $30,500 tally on 25 screens for the shocker The Innkeepers and the $3,400 box office from 11 locations for the Spanish-language La Cara Oculta.

With the industry girding for Super Bowl, the opening movie going salvo was heartening. Weekend revenues were off 8% from seven days earlier but a hearty 35% improved from 2011 when debuts of The Roommate and Sanctum topped the charts with respective box office of $15 million and $9.4 million.

Coupled with the upbeat viewing turn was news that the avid audience that appeared to have abandoned the multiplex in 2011 was slowly returning. The trio of new titles all had exit demos that showed a majority of ticket buyers were aged 25 years and younger.

Neither Chronicle nor The Woman in Black was expected to open as well as last weekend’s leader The Grey that bowed to $19.7 million. Pundits have largely readjusted estimates to reflect the growing influence of older viewers and the new entries weren’t targeted to plus 25s. However, while the former skewed 55% male and the latter 59% female, they also drew in 61% younger than 25% for Chronicle and 57% in the same demo for Woman in Black.

Big Miracle also unsurprisingly tilted distaff with 68% of viewers composed of the fairer sex. But the big surprise was that the seemingly mature appealing saga attracted 67% of its box office from those identified 25 years and younger.

Oscar and movie goers appear to be favoring The Descendants and Hugo with the former exploiting award attention into a successful platform and the latter receiving a commercial reprieve. But The Artist continues to struggle with audience residence to a silent film in monochrome. Incidents of ticket buyers in shock at encountering inter-titles and a black and white movie continue despite an aggressive campaign that doesn’t fudge on either element that contributes to the picture’s charm and uniqueness.

The kudos come on also hasn’t been anything like a face card for the likes of The Iron Lady or Albert Nobbs and conversely hasn’t been much of an impediment for the overlooked We Need to Talk About Kevin.

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