By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report, June 10, 2012
Pacquiao vs. Bradley wasn’t the only weekend surprise.
The weekend’s other curious match-up pitted Prometheus, a quasi-prequel to Alien, against the third installment of the animated Madagascar franchise. Tracking, gut instinct and tossing the I Ching all favored the space odyssey. But while Prometheus led Friday box office, Saturday and projected Sunday matinee business provided Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted the edge with a projected $59.9 million weekend. Prometheus debuted with a still impressive $50.1 million.
The session featured just OK response to the latest Bollywood entry Shanghai—loosely based on the classic Z—of $122,000 at 37 venues and similar response for the American indie Peace, Love & Misunderstanding of $103,000 from 30 screens. Also several exclusive launches showed promise including Safety Not Guaranteed with just shy of $100,000 at nine sites, $54,600 for the Canadian bow of Cannes grad Cosmopolis; and a solo $13,700 for Dark Horse from startup Brainstorm Media.
Overall weekend revenues topped $180 million for a sizeable 27% boost from seven days back and a 32% improvement from 2011’s comparable three-day. One year back the top spot went to the opening of Super 8 with $35.4 million with the second weekend of X-Men: First Class the runner-up with $24.1 million.
Industry trackers had pegged the Madagascar 3 opening at $50-$55 million with Prometheus ahead at $55-$60 million. It’s well known that tracking family films is precarious if for no other reason that polling rarely or minimally talks to anyone younger than 16 years of age. One can be relatively certain that a healthy chunk of the 54% of M3’s opening weekend audience were in their early teens and younger. Exit demos also tilted 56% female.
Of note this weekend was the fact that both of the national debuts were 3D offering with 74% of Madagascar playdates stereoscopic and Prometheus going out with 92% of its engagements in the process. However, 3D accounted for 42% and 54% of the respective films box office.
It’s jaw-dropping how quickly 3D has gone from industry salvation to an enhancement that a majority of viewers don’t want to pay the extra gelt to experience. The majors have all done internal studies about response to stereoscopic movies and anecdotally moviegoers simply don’t feel that the added experience is worth an additional surcharge. That’s a telling response in the current economic climate. It’s also disturbing looking forward in the light of the boost 3D continues to provide in most international markets.
| Weekend (estimates) June 8 – 10, 2012 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
| Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted | Par | 59.9 (14,070) | NEW | 4258 | 59.9 |
| Prometheus | Fox | 50.1 (14,750) | NEW | 3396 | 50.1 |
| Snow White and the Huntsman | Uni | 23.0 (6,080) | -59% | 3777 | 98.5 |
| Men in Black III | Sony | 13.7 (3,620) | -51% | 3792 | 135.7 |
| The Avengers | BV | 11.1 (3,550) | -46% | 3129 | 572.2 |
| The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | Fox Searchlight | 3.2 (2,450) | -29% | 1298 | 30.9 |
| What to Expect When You’re Expecting | Lions Gate | 2.7 (1,310) | -38% | 2087 | 35.8 |
| Battleship | Uni | 2.3 (1,160) | -56% | 1954 | 59.8 |
| The Dictator | Par | 2.2 (1,330) | -53% | 1651 | 55.2 |
| Moonrise Kingdom | Focus | 1.6 (16,560) | 81% | 96 | 3.8 |
| Dark Shadows | WB | 1.3 (860) | -64% | 1550 | 73.7 |
| The Hunger Games | Lions Gate | 1.1 (1,480) | -29% | 751 | 400.3 |
| For Greater Glory | Arc Entertainment | .85 (1,320) | -55% | 642 | 3.4 |
| Bernie | Millennium | .83 (2,500) | -8% | 332 | 4.8 |
| Chernobyl Diaries | WB | .82 (690) | -74% | 1180 | 16.9 |
| Intouchables | Alliance/Weinstein | .44 (3,980) | -4% | 111 | 3.5 |
| Mirror Mirror | Relativity | .38 (1,270) | 4% | 303 | 63.5 |
| The Lucky One | WB | .35 (860) | 7% | 402 | 59.5 |
| Think Like a Man | Sony | .32 (1,110) | -53% | 287 | 90.3 |
| Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax | Uni | .31 (1,060) | -10% | 290 | 212 |
| To the Arctic | WB | .29 (5,760) | 37% | 51 | 3.3 |
| 21 Jump Street | Sony | .28 (1,020) | -25% | 275 | 137.7 |
| The Three Stooges | Fox | .24 (1,000) | -10% | 243 | 43.1 |
| Crooked Arrows | Branded Pictures | .23 (820) | -64% | 278 | 1.6 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $137.46 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 32% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | 27% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Hysterical | Sony Classics | .16 (1,890) | -7% | 84 | 0.7 |
| Shanghai | FLF | .12 (3,310) | 37 | 0.12 | |
| Peace, Love & Misunderstanding | IFC | .10 (3,430) | 30 | 0.1 | |
| Safety Not Guaranteed | Film District | .10 (10,720) | 9 | 0.1 | |
| Cosmopolis | eOne | 54,600 (9,100) | 6 | 0.05 | |
| Endukantty Premantta | Ficus | 52,300 (1,580) | 33 | 0.05 | |
| Where Do We Go Now? | Sony Classics | 38,200 (1,230) | -52% | 31 | 0.32 |
| Bel Ami | Magnolia | 37,200 (2,320) | 16 | 0.04 | |
| Lola Versus | Searchlight | 33,600 (8,400) | 4 | 0.03 | |
| Double Trouble | China Lion | 17,100 (1,420) | 12 | 0.02 | |
| Dark Horse | Brainstorm | 13,700 (13,700) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| For the Love of Money | Archstone | 9,500 (1,900) | 5 | 0.01 | |
| Cartas a Elena | FreeStyle | 6,800 (570) | 12 | 0.01 | |
| Poulet aux prunes | Alliance | 4,900 (1,630) | 3 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – June 7, 2012) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share | |||
| Buena Vista (9) | 780.6 | 17.10% | |||
| Sony (13) | 676.3 | 14.80% | |||
| Universal (10) | 662.5 | 14.50% | |||
| Lions Gate (9) | 560.5 | 12.30% | |||
| Warner Bros. (16) | 536.8 | 11.80% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (9) | 344.8 | 7.60% | |||
| Paramount (12) | 342.9 | 7.60% | |||
| Relativity (5) | 168.8 | 3.70% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (8) | 82.2 | 1.80% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (5) | 74.2 | 1.60% | |||
| Open Road (3) | 72.2 | 1.60% | |||
| CBS (2) | 63.5 | 1.40% | |||
| Summit (4) | 47.1 | 1.00% | |||
| Focus (4) | 24.2 | 0.50% | |||
| Sony Classics (13) | 21.5 | 0.50% | |||
| Other * (150) | 100.9 | 2.20% | |||
| 4559 | 100.00% | ||||
