The Weekend Report

You can’t hear a shout-out in space. But on Earth, Gravity handily pulled down an estimated $54.8 million to rest atop the box office charts. The frame’s only other national release was the thriller Runner Runner that turned third place with $7.6 million.

Once again, there was a deluge of new exclusives with the majority destined for rapid evaporation. Exceptions included the nonfiction basketball profile Linsanity that slam-dunked $83,400 at nine courts. Also encouraging was South Korean historical drama The Face Reader that’s been a box office sensation at home and grossed $144,000 at 19 sites in its domestic bow and the Cannes-prized worker’s rights saga A Touch of Sin that opened to $20,200 from two screens.

New releases in niche and limited launches were unusually active. Mexican comedy Pulling Strings opened strong with $2.4 million while inspirational music-themed Grace Unplugged and the JFK assassination revisit in Parkland both proved soft with respective bows of S1 million and $311,000. Also disappointing were two new Indian entries. Hindi Besharam with Ranbir Kapoor grossed $372,000 despite a record launch of 217 playdates and the Tamil Idharkuthane Aasalpattai Balak recorded $40,500 from 18 venues. 

Weekend revenues clawed to about $125 million and a bump of 14% from last weekend. However, once again it was off the 2012 pace with a 13% decline. Twelve months back the debut of Taken 2 grossed $49.5 million with Hotel Transylvania in the bridesmaid slot with $27.1 million.

The critical response to Gravity was appropriately and deservedly out of this world and audience response assumed a comparable orbit as it passed studio high-end estimates of $50 million. It set a new record for an October release and a new IMAX benchmark for a non-sequel of $11.2 million. The word was obviously out that the film had to be seen in 3D and preferably in IMAX with 80% of the box office coming from stereoscopic engagements and IMAX averages besting other engagements by 125%.

The film tilted slightly male with 54% of the opening weekend slice and a whopping 82% of the audience aged 25-years and older. It’s almost certain that the film will attract a younger crowd going forward based on the phenomenal word-of-mouth.

Runner Runner got an advance start internationally last week with a potent $11.9 million debut that ranked second on the foreign charts. Domestic response was significantly tamer and judging from studio exit polls composed of a carbon copy demo of Gravity‘s (perhaps benefiting from that film’s sellouts). It was 53% male with 70% of the audience aged 25-years and beyond.

The session also featured Saturday sneaks of already-acclaimed Captain Phillips in roughly 800 theaters that posted 75% capacity crowds. The ripped-from-the-headlines of an American merchant ship taken by Somali pirates found an evenly split male/female audience with 71% aged 35-years and older.

The marketplace Cassandra element remains the jaw-dropping erosion of the 18-to-25 year old demo that dominated moviegoing for three decades. It’s unlikely the trend will flip back in the foreseeable future for a myriad of reasons that cannot be outlined in a glib fashion. Still, the implications of the trend could have profound implications for future production decisions as well as the face of the next generation of ticket buyers.

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