The Weekend Report

Thor: The Dark World once again led weekend movie sales with an estimated $38.2 million … but this time it had competition. The surprising contender and the week’s only incoming national release, ensemble urban comedy The Best Man Holiday, bowed with a sturdy $30.6 million.

Feelgood holiday entry The Christmas Candle grossed $68,700 from a mere five tapers. And the heartland of Nebraska flourished with a $143,000 opening an initial four locations.

Activity in the niches was also torrid with two Indian imports displaying opening strength. The Hindi take on “Romeo & Juliet,” Ram -Leela, posted an impressive $1.4 million while Punjabi Bhaji in Problem set a record bow for its sector with a $167,000 tally from just 27 locations. In Québec, grim rural drama Le démantèlement grossed an upbeat $91,200 from 21 venues.

Weekend revenues exceeded $130 million, translating into a 23% tumble from seven days earlier. And while pundits predicted a 50% plunge from 2012, box office only slipped by 48% from last year when the launch of the finale of The Twilight Saga dwarfed the competition with a $141.1 million launch.

The Best Man Holiday wasn’t perceived to get the audience big chill, with the saga of college friends holding a reunion in Las Vegas having top-end expectations of only $22 million. It’s considerably stronger opening frankly has studio execs mystified … albeit happily so. One can speculate somewhat glibly that the predominantly African American audience opted for something a bit lighter than 12 Years a Slave.

Studio exit demos identified opening weekend viewers were 87% African American but the pictures minority viewers nonetheless gave the picture a 92% positive approval rating. The overall crowd was 75% female with 63% of the crowd aged 35-years old and more senior.

The session also included slow additional rollouts for Dallas Buyers Club, The Book Thief and All is Lost, with the first two titles continuing to demonstrate strong interest from the alternative audience. This year’s award season has already demonstrated an unforgiving, near-Darwinian nature with no let-up in sight for the next seven weeks. That puts tremendous pressure on each new release to demonstrate immediate appeal and week-to-week resilience like a hurdle runner and this week Nebraska can take a deep breath that it made through its first heat.

Next week Philomena will confront the challenge amid the considerable noise expected from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

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