By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com

The Weekend Report

Jack of Some Trades

Jack the Giant Slayer cut a sufficient swath estimated at $27.2 million to emerge the top weekend attraction at the box office. The frame’s other new national releases were considerably more modest. The barely legal 21 and Over bowed to $8.9 million while the shocker sequel The Last Exorcism II opened with $7.7 million. And running well beneath the radar, the submarine thriller Phantom dived in with $462,000 at 1118 locales.

In the niches there was disappointment for the sober sided Bollywood entry The Attacks of 26/11 on the recent Mumbai terrorist attacks that grossed $163,000 at 52 venues. Conversely the Pinoy circuit saw a strong showing of $235,000 at 37 sites for the romantic A Moment in Time and the kidcentric The Last Medallion: The Adventures of Billy Stone got by with $165,000 from 69 playdates.

Exclusive engagements saw a dynamic bow for the thriller Stoker of $159,000 from seven engagements in a week jam-packed with new titles. The only other limited opener to show evidence of a commercial pulse was the tuneful Hava Nagila: The Movie with a $7,200 tally from a solo flight.

Post-Oscar revenues pushed close to $110 million and a modest 5% boost from last weekend’s box office. It was however the sixth consecutive weekend of downturns from 2012 with the current session off 36% compared to last year’s performance when debuts of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax and Project X led sales with respective bows of $70.2 million and $21.1 million.

Jack the Giant Slayer had been tracking with anticipation of a $35 million debut. However, industry pundits posited that in light of a hefty negative it really needed to post a $50 million box office. Certainly part of the problem was an advertising campaign that worked assiduously to mask its family friendly bona fides.

Jack’s fate rests with international response with initial Asian engagements strong but hardly definitive. On the home front the audience was 55% male and an audience 56% aged 25-years and upward.

Drinking from The Hangover trough 21 and Over attracted a crowd that was 73% aged 25-years and younger. It was surprisingly evenly split between the sexes according to exit polling.

Whether one viewed the Oscar telecast as horrible or took a more generous view of wretchedly sophomoric, the 2013 major winners wound up adding a few screens and seeing modest theatrical box office upturns. However, the truth is the era of the Oscar bump disappeared more than a decade ago with contenders opting to capitalize on ancillary revenue streams.

Weekend (estimates) March 1 – 3, 2013
Title Distributor Gross (avg) % chng Thtr Cume
Jack the Giant Slayer WB 27.2 (7,720) NEW 3525 27.2
Identity Thief Uni 9.7 (3,000) -31% 3230 107.4
21 and Over Relativity 8.9 (3,220) NEW 2771 8.9
The Last Exorcism II CBS 7.7 (2,860) NEW 2700 7.7
Snitch Lions Gate 7.6 (3,030) -42% 2511 24.3
Escape from Planet Earth Weinstein Co. 6.7 (2,150) -37% 3110 43.2
Safe Haven Relativity 6.3 (2,120) -40% 2951 57.1
Silver Linings Playbook Weinstein Co. 5.8 (3,160) 1% 1836 115.4
A Good Day to Die Hard Fox 4.4 (1,710) -56% 2589 59.5
Dark Skies Weinstein Co. 3.5 (1,530) -57% 2313 13.4
Warm Bodies Lions Gate 2.6 (1,360) -46% 1930 62
Life of Pi Fox 2.3 (3,640) 42% 626 116.9
Argo WB 2.1 (2,150) 16% 985 132.7
Side Effects OpenRoad/e1 1.7 (1,510) -50% 1112 28
Quartet Weinstein Co. 1.6 (2,260) 46% 725 11
Zero Dark Thirty Sony/Alliance 1.3 (1,760) -43% 722 93.5
Django Unchained Weinstein Co. 1.0 (1,010) 2% 983 160.3
Lincoln BV .94 (1,440) -37% 652 180
Beautiful Creatures WB .91 (850) -75% 1075 18.5
Wreck-It Ralph BV .56 (1,590) -13% 352 187.4
Les Miserables Uni .55 (1,560) -13% 352 147.6
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters Par .54 (900) -68% 601 54.1
Phantom RCR .46 (410) NEW 1118 0.46
Amour Sony Classics .45 (1,360) -37% 333 5.8
Mama Uni/eOne .33 (740) -72% 447 70.9
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $104.10
% Change (Last Year) -36%
% Change (Last Week) 5%
Also debuting/expanding
A Moment in Time ABS .23 (6,340) 37 0.24
The Gatekeepers Sony Classics .23 (5,050) 74% 46 0.66
Asterix & Obelix au service de sa majeste Alliance .19 (2,390) -34% 79 0.57
The Lost Medallion: Adventures of Billy Stone FreeStyle .17 (2,390) 69 0.17
Stoker Searchlight .16 (22,760) 7 0.16
The Attacks of 11/26 Eros .16 (3,140) 52 0.16
No Sony Classics .10 (8,760) 39% 11 0.32
A Place at the Table Magnolia 91,200 (2,610) 35 0.09
Legend of Sarila Seville 75,700 (1,680) 45 0.08
Haute cuisine Metropole 61,400 (3,840) 16 0.06
I, Me aur Main Big Pictures 55,200 (1,280) 43 0.06
The Sweeney eOne 16,900 (1,540) 11 0.02
The Movie Out Here Alliance 15,300 (570) 27 0.02
Mr. Pellikoduku Blue Sky 11,700 (290) 41 0.01
Ernest & Celestine Metropole 11,100 (430) 26 0.01
War Witch TriBeCa 8,600 (4,300) 2 0.01
Leviathan Cinema Guild 8,300 (8,300) 1 0.01
Genius on Hold FreeStyle 7,700 (3,850) 2 0.01
Hava Nagila: The Movie Intl Film Circuit 7,200 (7,200) 1 0.01
Charlie Zone Pacific Northwest 4,600 (2,300) 2 0.01
Molly’s Theory of Relativity Adopt 4,300 (4,300) 1 0.01
Welcome to Pine Hill Oscilloscope 3,200 (3,200) 1 0.01
The Condemned Strand 2,800 (2,800) 1 0.01
Day of the Falcon Image Ent. 2,500 (250) 10 0.01
Domestic Market Share (January 1 – February 28, 2013)
Distributor (releases) Gross Percentage
Universal (5) 267.8 18.40%
Weinstein Co. (7) 228.2 15.70%
Warner Bros. (8) 168.8 11.60%
Lions Gate (10) 149.8 10.30%
20th Century Fox (6) 145.2 10.00%
Paramount (8) 120.3 8.30%
Sony (4) 102.3 7.00%
Buena Vista (5) 69.7 4.80%
Open Road (3) 64.4 4.40%
Relativity (2) 59.6 4.10%
Film District (3) 19.1 1.30%
Alliance/eOne (7) 16.5 1.10%
Focus (3) 13.8 0.90%
Sony Classics (6) 7.6 0.50%
Other * (49) 22.6 1.60%
1455.7 100%
* none greater than 0.45%
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Leonard Klady's Friday Estimates
Friday Screens % Chg Cume
Title Gross Thtr % Chgn Cume
Venom 33 4250 NEW 33
A Star is Born 15.7 3686 NEW 15.7
Smallfoot 3.5 4131 -46% 31.3
Night School 3.5 3019 -63% 37.9
The House Wirh a Clock in its Walls 1.8 3463 -43% 49.5
A Simple Favor 1 2408 -50% 46.6
The Nun 0.75 2264 -52% 111.5
Hell Fest 0.6 2297 -70% 7.4
Crazy Rich Asians 0.6 1466 -51% 167.6
The Predator 0.25 1643 -77% 49.3
Also Debuting
The Hate U Give 0.17 36
Shine 85,600 609
Exes Baggage 75,900 62
NOTA 71,300 138
96 61,600 62
Andhadhun 55,000 54
Afsar 45,400 33
Project Gutenberg 36,000 17
Love Yatri 22,300 41
Hello, Mrs. Money 22,200 37
Studio 54 5,300 1
Loving Pablo 4,200 15
3-Day Estimates Weekend % Chg Cume
No Good Dead 24.4 (11,230) NEW 24.4
Dolphin Tale 2 16.6 (4,540) NEW 16.6
Guardians of the Galaxy 7.9 (2,550) -23% 305.8
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4.8 (1,630) -26% 181.1
The Drop 4.4 (5,480) NEW 4.4
Let's Be Cops 4.3 (1,570) -22% 73
If I Stay 4.0 (1,320) -28% 44.9
The November Man 2.8 (1,030) -36% 22.5
The Giver 2.5 (1,120) -26% 41.2
The Hundred-Foot Journey 2.5 (1,270) -21% 49.4