By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Sci-fi yarn Ender’s Game led the frame with an opening attack estimated at $27.8 million. Two other yarns made their national debuts. The final fling comedy Last Vegas slotted third with $16.2 million and a notch back at $16.1 million was the family- friendly animated Free Birds.
In a limited bow the Brit feelgood yarn About Time got a solid $1.1 million from 175 initial playdates while the 110-screen launch of Keanu Reeves’ Man of Tai Chi fizzled with a $46,300 box office. Also firm was Bollywood’s super guy Krrish 3 with a $1 million launch. The franchise recorded a record $13 million on home turf and as in the U.S. muted competition from the likes of Arrambam and All in All Azhaguraja.
Exclusives were largely tepid to poor with the exception clearly Dallas Buyers Club. The long-gestating early AIDS-era saga exploded with a $262,000 gross from nine screens.
Overall session box office generated roughly $130 million for a tidy 25% expansion from seven days earlier. However, it remained 8% behind the 2012 benchmark when debuts of Wreck-It Ralph and Flight topped the chart with respective openings of $49 million and $24.9 million.
The adaptation of future teens in space Ender’s Game was pegged to lead weekend movie options and performed to expectations. However, timing may prove a significant aspect of its future with Thor: The Dark World poised to dominate next weekend’s business. The hammer-wielding superhero bowed in 38 international territories ahead of its domestic launch with a Val-holler haul estimated at $109 million.
Ender’s Game tilted 58% male with 54% of the initial audience aged 25-years and older according to distributor exit polls.
Despite positive response from previews the industry remained guarded about the appeal of a quartet of senior stars taking the assault on The Hangover city in Last Vegas. Opening day figures rapidly dispelled all concerns. The audience tilted 53% female and a significant 83% aged 25-years and older.
There was also an upbeat response to Free Birds that entered the marketplace in a general lull in family viewing.
12 Years a Slave continued to expand successfully and is now poised to go national. Conversely All is Lost _ also a slow roll out _ is seeing the wind missing its sail and prospects for Diana figuring into award’s season appear as remote as those of The Fifth Estate.
Weekend (estimates) November 1 – 3, 2013 | |||||
Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
Ender’s Game | Lionsgate | 27.8 (8,150) | NEW | 3407 | 27.8 |
Bad Grandpa | Par | 20.1 (6,010) | -37% | 3345 | 61.7 |
Last Vegas | CBS | 16.2 (5,290) | NEW | 3065 | 16.2 |
Free Birds | Relativity | 16.1 (4,310) | NEW | 3736 | 16.1 |
Gravity | WB | 13.0 (4,310) | -35% | 3024 | 219.1 |
Captain Phillips | Sony | 8.4 (2,790) | -28% | 3021 | 82.5 |
12 Years a Slave | Fox Searchlight | 4.6 (11,150) | 114% | 410 | 8.7 |
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 | Sony | 4.2 (1,720) | -34% | 2430 | 106.2 |
The Counselor | Fox | 3.3 (1,070) | -58% | 3044 | 13.7 |
Carrie | Sony | 3.3 (1,470) | -45% | 2252 | 31.9 |
Escape Plan | Lionsgate | 2.3 (1,160) | -50% | 1966 | 21.6 |
Enough Said | Fox Searchlight | 1.1 (1,630) | -31% | 662 | 14.8 |
About Time | Uni | 1.1 (6,010) | NEW | 175 | 1.1 |
Krrish 3 | Eros | 1.0 (4,900) | NEW | 208 | 1 |
All is Lost | Roadside Attractions | .55 (4,390) | 12% | 131 | 1.4 |
Insidious: Chapter 2 | FilmDistrict/eOne | .42 (760) | -52% | 553 | 82.8 |
Despicable Me 2 | Uni | .42 (1,360) | 8% | 309 | 374.8 |
We’re the Millers | WB | .41 (730) | -30% | 555 | 149.2 |
Prisoners | WB | .40 (850) | -63% | 465 | 59.9 |
Rush | Uni/eOne | .33 (1,100) | -53% | 303 | 26.5 |
Dallas Buyers Club | Focus/Remstar | 26 (29,150) | NEW | 9 | 0.26 |
Planes | BV | .26 (900) | 8% | 289 | 89.3 |
Baggage Claim | Fox Searchlight | .24 (820) | -57% | 294 | 21.2 |
Blue is the Warmest Color (Adele) | Metropole/IFC | .23 (5,200) | 95% | 45 | 0.62 |
Arrambam | Ayngaran | .22 (3,230) | NEW | 69 | 0.35 |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $123.15 | ||||
% Change (Last Year) | -8% | ||||
% Change (Last Week) | 25% | ||||
Also debuting/expanding | |||||
I’m in Love with a Church Girl | High Top | .19 (790) | -62% | 243 | 2.1 |
The Saratov Approach | Three Coin | .16 (3,960) | 8% | 41 | 0.9 |
She’s the One | ABS | .15 (3,920) | -57% | 39 | 0.74 |
Blue Jasmine | Sony Classics | .11 (1,160) | -27% | 94 | 32.4 |
Wadjda | Sony Classics | 96,400 (1,150) | -22% | 84 | 1.3 |
Nosotros los Nobles | Pantelion | 82,100 (2,020) | 41 | 0.08 | |
All in All Azhaguraja | ATMUS | 72,400 (1,320) | 55 | 0.07 | |
Kill Your Darlings | Sony Classics | 71,700 (3,770) | 71% | 19 | 0.22 |
Diana | eOne | 66,400 (1,750) | 38 | 0.07 | |
Brother’s Keeper | Desertwind | 62,800 (5,710) | 11 | 0.06 | |
Man of Tai Chi | Weinstein Co. | 46,300 (420) | 110 | 0.05 | |
Angels Sing | Film Arcade | 14,800 (1,350) | 11 | 0.01 | |
Big Sur | Ketchup | 14,200 (1,090) | 13 | 0.01 | |
Blood and Ties | CJ Entertainment | 12,300 (12,300) | 1 | 0.01 | |
A Pervert’s Guide to Ideology | Zeitgeist | 10,800 (5,400) | 2 | 0.01 | |
Skinwalker Ranch | DeepStudios | 8,200 (510) | 16 | 0.01 | |
Mikeyboy | Bosch Media | 7,800 (7,800) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Running from Crazy | Vitagraph | 7,100 (7,100) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Aftermath | Menemsha | 6,800 (3,400) | 2 | 0.01 | |
These Birds Walk | Oscilloscope | 6,000 (6,000) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Casting By | Submarine | 5,900 (2,950) | 2 | 0.01 | |
Broken Circle Breakdown | TriBeCa | 5,700 (5,700) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Sal | TriBeCa | 5,500 (5,500) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Why We Ride | Gnarlynow | 5,300 (2,650) | 2 | 0.01 | |
Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – Oct. 31, 2013) | |||||
Distributor (releases) | Box Office (millions) | Market Share | |||
Warner Bros. (21) | 1581.7 | 17.90% | |||
Universal (15) | 1303.5 | 14.70% | |||
Buena Vista (11) | 1169.8 | 13.20% | |||
Sony (18) | 1013.3 | 11.40% | |||
20th Century Fox (15) | 979.9 | 11.10% | |||
Paramount (13) | 770 | 8.70% | |||
Lionsgate (23) | 562.1 | 6.30% | |||
Weinstein Co. (22) | 474.6 | 5.40% | |||
FilmDistrict (8) | 200.2 | 2.30% | |||
Relativity (7) | 171.9 | 1.90% | |||
Open Road (6) | 115.3 | 1.30% | |||
Focus (8) | 85.4 | 1.00% | |||
Sony Classics (16) | 69.5 | 0.80% | |||
Fox Searchlight (10) | 67.4 | 0.75% | |||
eOne/Seville (25) | 58.4 | 0.65% | |||
Other * (290) | 233.5 | 2.60% | |||
8856.5 | 100% | ||||
* none greater than 0.4% | |||||
Top Global Grossers (Jan. 1 – Oct. 31, 2013) | |||||
Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
Iron Man 3 | BV | 1,214,790,498 | |||
Despicable Me 2 | Uni | 908,214,471 | |||
Fast & Furious 6 | Uni | 788,069,158 | |||
Monsters University | BV | 743,142,666 | |||
Man of Steel | WB | 663,863,028 | |||
World War Z | Par | 540,229,757 | |||
The Croods | Fox | 517,148,263 | |||
Oz the Great and Powerful | BV | 494,038,163 | |||
Star Trek Into Darkness | Par | 467,388,403 | |||
Pacific Rim | WB | 415,727,134 | |||
The Wolverine | Fox | 409,602,324 | |||
Gravity | WB | 383,889,631 | |||
G.I. Joe: Retaliation | Par | 374,141,049 | |||
The Hangover Part III | WB | 360,880,112 | |||
Django Unchained * | Weinstein/Sony | 356,247,618 | |||
Now You See Me | Lionsgate | 351,907,071 | |||
The Smurfs 2 | Sony | 345,001,233 | |||
The Conjuring | WB | 314,291,396 | |||
The Great Gatsby | WB | 302,806,488 | |||
A Good Day to Die Hard | Fox | 305,391,077 | |||
Les Miserables * | Uni | 301,287,664 | |||
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey * | WB | 288,252,146 | |||
Oblivion | Uni | 286,697,768 | |||
Elysium | Sony | 283,400,821 | |||
Life of Pi * | Fox | 282,636,416 | |||
* does not include 2012 box office |
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