By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Get Real
A quartet of new releases couldn’t unseat Captain America: The Winter Soldier on Easter weekend. The Marvelous super hero grossed an estimated $26.2 million, with Rio 2 not far behind with $22.6 million.
Among new national releases was the unexpectedly competitive true-life inspirational saga Heaven is for Real with $21.2 million and, conversely, the unexpectedly non-competitive Transcendence that eked out $11.1 million. Chiller spoof A Haunted House 2 did an OK $8.9 million and nature tale Bears was off to a fair start of $4.8 million.
Exclusive newcomers largely faltered, with the exception of the inspired pairing of John Turturro and Woody Allen in sex comedy Fading Gigolo grossing a potent $177,000 from five screens.
In the niches the Indian circuit got a solid boost from the Hindi 2 States, with $1.1 million at 136 sites while the Tamil Ternali Raman fizzled with $27,100 from 19 engagements. In Canada, local heroes The Trailer Park Boys made their third screen foray, Don’t Legalize It, with continued strength of $892,000 at 144 dispensaries. And Emmy-winning choreographer Derek Hough fell well short of “10s” as Make Your Move grossed $82,400 from 142 venues.
Session revenues generated about $135 million for a 5% slip from the preceding weekend. It was 22% improved from 12 months back when the launch of Oblivion led with $37.1 million. However, compared with the 2013 Easter holiday weekend when G.I. Joe: Retaliation opened to $40.5 million the current weekend was 6% off the mark.
The godless flock of Hollywood is beginning to see the light with the likes of Noah and God’s Not Dead and have now added Heaven is for Real. Still few expected the film to open higher than $15 million for the weekend. It jumped started the holiday with a Wednesday bow that generated $7 million pre-weekend and topped that figure on Good Friday. The film drew a majority female audience of 62% according to studio exit polling. Roughly half the audience was aged 35-years and older.
Transcendence provided another weekend shocker. Audience weren’t buying the yarn’s artificial intelligence or Johnny Depp. While tracking was soft on the picture, nonetheless indications suggested a $20 million debut that was nowhere in sight – with or without Google glass. Those that did take the bait were 56% male and 56% aged 25-years and mature.
| Weekend (estimates) April 18 – 20, 2014 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier | BV | 26.2 (6,860) | -37% | 3825 | 201.1 |
| Rio 2 | Fox | 22.6 (5,690) | -43% | 3975 | 75.5 |
| Heaven is for Real | Sony | 21.2 (8,760) | NEW | 2417 | 28.2 |
| Transcendence | WB | 11.1 (3,210) | NEW | 3455 | 11.1 |
| A Haunted House 2 | Open Road/VVS | 8.9 (3,840) | NEW | 2310 | 8.9 |
| Draft Day | Lionsgate | 6.0 (2,150) | -39% | 2781 | 19.6 |
| Divergent | Lionsgate | 5.8 (2,340) | -21% | 2486 | 134 |
| Oculus | Reliance/VVS | 5.2 (1,960) | -57% | 2648 | 21.2 |
| Noah | Par | 4.9 (1,940) | -35% | 2537 | 93.2 |
| Bears | BV | 4.8 (2,780) | NEW | 1720 | 4.8 |
| God’s Not Dead | FreeStyle | 4.3 (2,460) | -22% | 1758 | 47.8 |
| The Grand Budapest Hotel | Fox Searchlight | 3.5 (2,760) | -13% | 1280 | 45.1 |
| 2 States | UTV | 1.1 (8,160) | NEW | 136 | 1.1 |
| Muppets Most Wanted | BV | 1.0 (1,120) | -54% | 929 | 48.3 |
| Trailer Park Boys 3: Don’t Legalize It | eOne | .89 (6,180) | NEW | 144 | 0.89 |
| Mr. Peabody & Sherman | Fox | .81 (1,040) | -57% | 780 | 107.2 |
| The Lego Movie | WB | .43 (1,280) | -14% | 340 | 252.3 |
| Under the Skin | A24 | .42 (2,470) | 50% | 171 | 1 |
| The Raid 2 | Sony Classics | .40 (750) | -58% | 539 | 2.2 |
| Lunchbox | Sony Classics | .39 (2,460) | 37% | 158 | 2.3 |
| Non-Stop | Uni | .37 (1,040) | -50% | 360 | 90.1 |
| Need for Speed | BV | .28 (1,100) | -59% | 258 | 42.6 |
| Race Gurram | Ficus | .28 (5,140) | -66% | 55 | 1.4 |
| Le Weekend | Music Box | .27 (1,830) | 9% | 149 | 1.6 |
| Son of God | Fox | .27 (540) | -9% | 503 | 59.4 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $128.30 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 22% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -5% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Island of Lemurs: Madagascar | WB | .20 (5,380) | 42% | 37 | 0.8 |
| Fading Gigolo | Millennium | .18 (35,440) | 5 | 0.18 | |
| The Railway Man | Weinstein Co. | .17 (6,580) | 176% | 26 | 0.26 |
| Dom Hemingway | Searchlight | .15 (1,140) | 110% | 129 | 0.3 |
| Finding Vivian Maier | IFC | .14 (3,740) | 43% | 38 | 0.5 |
| Only Lovers Left Alive | Sony Classics | .13 (7,730) | 49% | 17 | 0.26 |
| Make Your Move | High Top | 82,400 (580) | 142 | 0.08 | |
| Joe | Roadside | 78,700 (1,640) | -26% | 48 | 0.23 |
| That Demon Within | China Lion | 66,200 (4,410) | 15 | 0.07 | |
| Jodorowsky’s Dune | Sony Classics | 41,800 (1,3,50) | -1% | 31 | 0.31 |
| En Solitaire | Metropole | 29,900 (2,130) | 14 | 0.03 | |
| Tenali Raman | ATMUS | 27,100 (1,430) | 19 | 0.03 | |
| Lotoman 003 | Panamericana | 14,500 (1,320) | 11 | 0.01 | |
| Authors Anonymous | Screen Media | 10,800 (980) | 11 | 0.01 | |
| 13 Sins | Weinstein Co. | 9,100 (210) | 45 | 0.01 | |
| small time | FreeStyle | 7,100 (645) | 11 | 0.01 | |
| Antboy | Cinedigm | 5,800 (380) | 15 | 0.01 | |
| Tasting Menu | Magnolia | 5,700 (1,140) | 5 | 0.01 | |
| Mi Verano con Amanda 3 | Innova | 5,100 (425) | 12 | 0.01 | |
| Une Autre vie | K-Films | 3,800 (1,270) | 3 | 0.01 | |
| Manakamana | Cinema Guild | 3,400 (3,400) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Fermieres | Seville | 3,200 (460) | 7 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 1 – April 17, 2014) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Mrkt Share | |||
| Warner Bros. (9) | 486.7 | 17.00% | |||
| Buena Vista (8) | 450.1 | 15.70% | |||
| Universal (8) | 381.9 | 13.30% | |||
| Paramount (8) | 309.5 | 10.80% | |||
| Sony (9) | 290.1 | 10.10% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (8) | 274.6 | 9.60% | |||
| Lionsgate (12) | 240.7 | 8.40% | |||
| Open Road (4) | 69.5 | 2.40% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (8) | 69.4 | 2.40% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (4) | 60.4 | 2.10% | |||
| Relativity (4) | 46.7 | 1.60% | |||
| FreeStyle (3) | 43.8 | 1.50% | |||
| Focus (3) | 38.6 | 1.30% | |||
| eOne/Seville (11) | 29.6 | 1.00% | |||
| Other * (108) | 77.2 | 2.70% | |||
| 2868.8 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | |||||
| Top Limited Releases (January 1 – April 17, 2014) | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
| Nebraska * | Par | 11,669,238 | |||
| Dallas Buyers Club * | Focus/Remstar | 11,433,269 | |||
| Inside Llewyn Davis * | CBS/Mongrel | 8,101,791 | |||
| Cesar Chavez | Lionsgate | 5,308,047 | |||
| The Wind Rises | BV | 5,109,802 | |||
| Jerusalem | NationalGeo | 3,695,849 | |||
| Veronica Mars | WB | 3,313,391 | |||
| The Great Beauty * | Janus/Mongrel | 2,762,582 | |||
| 2014 Oscar Nominated Shorts | Magnolia | 2,358,468 | |||
| Gloria | Roadside/Mongrel | 2,076,196 | |||
| Journey to the South Pacific | Imax | 1,897,509 | |||
| The Lunchbox | Sony Classics | 1,870,946 | |||
| Starting Over Again | ABS | 1,741,838 | |||
| Hubble 3D * | Imax | 1,703,315 | |||
| Tim’s Vermeer | Sony Classics | 1,580,270 | |||
| * does not include 2013 box office | |||||
