By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com

The Weekend Report

Dog Day Matinee    

Lee Daniels’ The Butler continued to serve it up and take top spot among weekend moviegoers with an estimated $16.9 million.

A sure sign of summer’s end is the lack of new product to buttress the declining days until the Labor Day holiday. Three new national releases failed to ignite much fire with the best of the batch being third-ranked The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, a teen lit fave that fell short of Twilight potential with an opening weekend launch of $9.4 million. On its tail were the apocalyptic comedy The World’s End at $9 million and the horror entry You’re Next with $7.1 million.

Exclusive bows were largely bland with exceptions including SXSW winner Short Term 12 bowing to $55,300 at four screens and China import The Grandmaster chop-socking $132,000 from seven initial bouts.

In the niches ,Bollywood provided a solid performance with Madras Café grossing $261,000 with backup from Punjabi Jatt Boys Putt Jatta De at $57,200 at 23 venues and a disappointing $23,600 for Telugu Anthaku Mundu Aataruvatha at 22 sites. There was also tepid response for Lac Mystère in Québec of $48,100 from 32 engagements.

Session revenues topped $110 million, which translated into a 22% dip from seven days prior, but exceeded the 2013 comparable by 16%. Twelve months back, holdovers of The Expendables 2 and The Bourne Legacy were in the catbird seat with respective weekend’s of $13.4 million and $9.3 million.

Anticipation was high (or at least better than the box office result) for Mortal Instruments, a femme-skewing adventure from the series by author Cassandra Clare. It jumpstarted the weekend with a Wednesday launch that generated $4.75 million in two days, but quickly lost steam and fell short of fair results. The initial audience was 68% composed of women. with 54% of the crowd aged 21-years and older according to studio exit results. Sequel potential will rest on overseas results.

Comedy at the end of the world seems to have caught on this summer, and Brit fave The World’s End appeared to have superior crossing power to earlier Wright-Pegg effort Paul. It proved to be a boy’s thing with a 58% male audience and 54% of the audience aged 30-years and older.

The session also saw the national expansion of Blue Jasmine to excellent (but not record-breaking) returns and similar upbeat platform biz for The Spectacular Now and Austenland.

Weekend (estimates) August 23 – 25, 2013
Title Distributor Gross (avg) % chng Thtrs Cume
Lee Daniels’ The Butler Weinstein Co. 16.9 (5,440) -31% 3110 52.2
We’re the Millers WB 13.4 (3,890) -25% 3445 91.7
The Mortal Instruements: City of Bones Sony 9.4 (3,020) NEW 3118 14.2
The World’s End Focus 9.0 (5,800) NEW 1548 9
Planes BV 8.6 (2,540) -36% 3378 59.6
You’re Next Lionsgate 7.1 (2,920) NEW 2435 7.1
Elysium Sony 6.9 (2,380) -49% 2913 68.9
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters Fox 5.2 (1,920) -40% 2730 48.4
Kick-Ass 2 Uni 4.3 (1,450) -68% 2945 22.4
Blue Jasmine Sony Classics 4.1 (3,230) 81% 1283 14.6
2 Guns Uni/eOne 3.4 (1,830) -42% 1841 65.4
Jobs Open Road 2.9 (1,230) -57% 2381 12.1
The Smurfs 2 Sony 2.8 (1.500) -42% 1852 62.6
Despicable Me Uni 2.5 (1,810) -35% 1402 350.6
The Wolverine Fox 2.5 (1,710) -45% 1449 125.1
The Conjuring WB 2.1 (1,520) -46% 1355 131.7
Paranoia Relativity 1.4 (560) -61% 2459 6.3
Grown Ups 2 Sony .93 (1,500) -46% 620 129
The Spectacular Now A24 .63 (4,090) 53% 154 1.9
Turbo Fox .62 (1,320) -43% 470 78.8
The Heat Fox .52 (1,270) -41% 409 156.4
The Way, Way Back Fox Searchlight .42 (1,400) -43% 302 18.6
Chennai Express UTV .39 (2,710) -57% 143 4.7
Pacific Rim WB .38 (1,470) -46% 260 99.2
Monsters University BV .37 (1,520) -20% 243 261.8
Now You See Me Lionsgate .36 (1,450) 134% 246 116.4
Red 2 Lionsgate .35 (890) -50% 389 51.6
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $105.20
% Change (Last Year) 16%
% Change (Last Week) -22%
Also debuting/expanding
In a World Roadside .29 (3,920) 35% 75 0.65
Fruitvale Station Weinstein Co. .28 (710) -46% 392 15.2
Madras Café Viva .26 (4,580) 57 0.26
The Grandmaster Weinstein Co. .13 (18,810) 7 0.13
Blackfish Magnolia .12 (1,470) -36% 83 1.6
Austenland Sony Classics .12 (5,200) 192% 23 0.18
20 Feet from Stardom Weinstein Co. 72,500 (1,150) -40% 63 4.2
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints IFC 63,700 (2,280) 141% 28 0.1
Jatt Boys Putt Jatta De White Hill 57,200 (2,490) 23 0.06
Short Term 12 Cinedigm 55,300 (13,820) 4 0.06
Lac Mystere Seville 48,100 (1,500) 32 0.05
The Frozen Ground Lionsgate 26,800 (2,230) 12 0.03
Anthaku Mundu Aataruvatha Fables 23,600 (1,050) 22 0.02
You Will Be My Son Cohen Media 18,400 (3,070) 20% 6 0.04
Drinking Buddies Magnolia 17,900 (8,950) 2 0.02
Una Noche IFC 16,300 (5,430) 3 0.02
Savannah Ketchup 15,800 (1,130) 14 0.02
Therese MPI 15,100 (3,020) 5 0.02
The Trials of Muhammad Ali Kino 2,700 (2,700) 1 0.01
Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – Aug. 22, 2013)
Distributor (releases) Box Office (millions) Market Share
Warner Bros. (17) 1216.9 16.40%
Universal (13) 1202.6 16.30%
Buena Vista (10) 1119.9 15.10%
20th Century Fox (13) 907.9 12.30%
Paramount (12) 723.1 9.80%
Sony (13) 696.5 9.40%
Lionsgate (18) 470.2 6.30%
Weinstein Co. (17) 384.3 5.20%
FilmDistrict (5) 120.2 1.60%
Relativity (4) 110.8 1.50%
Open Road (5) 103.3 1.40%
Focus (6) 53.7 0.70%
Sony Classics (15) 42.1 0.60%
Other * (240) 247.2 3.40%
7398.7 100%
* none greater than 0.45%
Top Domestic Grossers (Jan. 1 – Aug. 22, 2013)
Title Distributor Box Office
Iron Man 3 BV 408,351,942
Despicable Me 2 Uni 348,100,420
Man of Steel WB 289,875,976
Monsters University BV 261,420,191
Fast & Furious 6 Uni 238,497,875
Oz the Great and Powerful BV 234,911,825
Star Trek Into Darkness Par 227,271,488
World War Z Par 198,540,021
The Croods Fox 187,033,567
The Heat Fox 155,847,878
The Great Gatsby WB 144,840,419
Identity Thief Uni 134,863,488
The Conjuring WB 129,610,708
Grown Ups 2 Sony 128,044,631
The Wolverine Fox 122,595,676
G.I. Joe: Retaliation Par 122,551,310
Now You See Me Lionsgate 116,096,827
The Hangover Part III WB 112,200,072
Epic Fox 107,279,341
Silver Linings Playbook * Weinstein Co. 103,633,972
* does not include 2012 box office
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One Response to “The Weekend Report”

  1. Woody says:

    “The World’s End appeared to have superior crossing power to earlier Wright-Pegg effort Paul”

    Edgar Wright had no involvement with “Paul”. Pegg wrote it with Nick Frost and it was directed by Greg Mottola.

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