By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
The Other Woman was the top choice at the weekend box office with a debut estimated at $24.8 million. Two other films also entered the marketplace at a lower threshold. Actioner Brick Mansions slotted fifth with an OK $9.6 million while chiller The Quiet Ones hardly nudged the thermostat with an opening gross of $3.9 million.
Among the raft of new exclusives by far the best mileage went to the vehicular man-lost-at-sea Locke with an $84,300 box office from four screens.
In the niches there was a solid bow of $174,000 for the Punjabi action-comedy Jatt James Bond while other new films for the Indian diaspora withered. In Québec, Cédric Klapisch’s French romantic comedy Casse-tête chinoise (Chinese Puzzle) was off to a good start of $112,000 at 23 venues. Limited and regional releases were less fortuitous with $306,000 at 258 venues for Holocaust drama Walking with the Enemy, and the blend of golf and race in From the Rough in at below par with $153,000 at 195 screens.
Weekend biz was slightly shy of $120 million, which amounted to 14% decline from Easter seven days earlier. However, it expanded 27% from 2013 when the launch of Pain and Gain led with S20.2 million to sophomore entry Oblivion at $17.8 million.
The Other Woman, a tale of relationships and revenge that recalls the bygone The First Wives Club, was tipped to overtake Captain America based on industry tracking that suggested a debut in the low 20s. It proved to be a dish served hotter as a result of its appeal to the largely underserved femme audience. The film had already opened in four international territories the prior weekend to solid results.
The Cameron Diaz headliner was unsurprisingly more potent among women, who comprised 65% of the opening audience. A comparable 65% of the crowd was aged 25 years and older with 44% identified as between 18 and 34-years old.
Brick Mansions, based on the excellent 2004 French genre yarn Banlieue 13, and also produced by Luc Besson, was played up as the late Paul Walker’s final completed screen assignment (with Fast and Furious 7 as yet unfinished).
The session also featured good expansions for both The Railway Man and Only Lovers Left Alive and an even better result for Fading Gigolo with the winning comedic pairing of John Turturro and Woody Allen.
| Weekend (estimates) April 25 – 27, 2014 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
| The Other Woman | Fox | 24.8 (7,740) | NEW | 3205 | 24.8 |
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier | BV | 15.9 (4,400) | -38% | 3620 | 224.8 |
| Heaven is for Real | Sony | 13.9 (5,150) | -38% | 2705 | 52 |
| Rio 2 | Fox | 13.7 (3,710) | -38% | 3702 | 96.2 |
| Brick Mansions | Relativity | 9.6 (3,620) | NEW | 2647 | 9.6 |
| Transcendence | WB | 4.1 (1,190) | -62% | 3455 | 18.5 |
| The Quiet Ones | Lionsgate | 3.9 (1,930) | NEW | 2027 | 3.9 |
| Bears | BV | 3.6 (2,100) | -24% | 1720 | 11.2 |
| Divergent | Lionsgate | 3.6 (1,750) | -36% | 2066 | 139.5 |
| A Haunted House 2 | Open Road/VVS | 3.0 (1,310) | -66% | 2310 | 14 |
| Draft Day | Lionsgate | 2.8 (1,000) | -52% | 2781 | 24.2 |
| God’s Not Dead | FreeStyle | 2.8 (1,730) | -40% | 1600 | 52.7 |
| The Grand Budapest Hotel | Fox Searchlight | 2.4 (2,390) | -29% | 1021 | 48.8 |
| Noah | Par | 2.2 (1,390) | -55% | 1604 | 97.3 |
| Oculus | Reliance/VVS | 2.1 (1,120) | -59% | 1881 | 25.1 |
| The Railway Man | Weinstein Co. | .56 (3,590) | 241% | 156 | 0.88 |
| Muppets Most Wanted | BV | .55 (970) | -48% | 565 | 49.4 |
| Mr. Peabody & Sherman | Fox | .54 (1,150) | -32% | 468 | 108 |
| 2 States | UTV | .44 (3,240) | -59% | 136 | 1.8 |
| The Lego Movie | WB | .36 (1,180) | -10% | 303 | 252.8 |
| Lunchbox | Sony Classics | .33 (2,000) | -6% | 165 | 2.7 |
| Fading Gigolo | Millennium | .31 (8,460) | 73% | 37 | 0.56 |
| Walking with the Enemy | Liberty | .31 (1,190) | NEW | 258 | 0.31 |
| Trailer Park Boys 3: Don’t Legalize It | eOne | .27 (1,780) | -64% | 151 | 1.4 |
| Under the Skin | A24 | .26 (1,630) | -38% | 158 | 1.5 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $110.05 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 27% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -14% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Only Lovers Left Alive | Sony Classics | .20 (3,850) | 74% | 53 | 0.5 |
| Jatt James Bond | Speed | .17 (5,610) | 31 | 0.17 | |
| From the Rough | FreeStyle | .15 (780) | 195 | ||
| Island of Lemurs: Madagascar | WB | .15 (3,970) | -20% | 37 | |
| Le Weekend | Music Box | .14 (1,180) | -49% | 115 | |
| Finding Vivian Maier | IFC | .12 (2,220) | -8% | 55 | |
| Casse-tête chinoise | Séville | .11 (4,880) | 23 | ||
| Locke | A24 | 84,300 (21,080) | 4 | ||
| The Raid 2 | Sony Classics | 82,500 (1,160) | -77% | 71 | |
| Dom Hemingway | Searchlight | 65,400 (550) | -55% | 119 | |
| Jodorowsky’s Dune | Sony Classics | 48,700 (1,190) | 25% | 41 | |
| Blue Ruin | Weinstein Co. | 30,200 (4,310) | 7 | ||
| The German Doctor | IDP | 27,600 (6,900) | 4 | ||
| Prathinidhi | Supreme | 15,100 (1,680) | 9 | ||
| Kaanchi | B4U | 14,800 (460) | 32 | ||
| Beneath the Harvest Sky | TriBeCa | 13,700 (1,710) | 8 | ||
| Last Passenger | Cohen Media | 8,800 (880) | 10 | ||
| Chandamama Kathalu | Cinema Paradisco | 8,500 (450) | 19 | ||
| Vaayai Moodi Pesavum | Red Giant | 8,400 (2,100) | 4 | ||
| Belleville | Ted Trent | 6,100 (3,050) | 2 | ||
| Who is Dayani Cristal? | Kino | 5,860 (2,930) | 2 | ||
| Bright Days Ahead | TriBeCa | 4,850 (1,210) | 4 | ||
| For No Good Reason | Sony Classics | 4,700 (2,350) | 2 | ||
| Young and Beautiful | IFC | 4,300 (4,300) | 1 | ||
| Bicycling with Moliere | Strand | 3,600 (3600) | 1 | ||
| Domestic Market Share (January 1 – April 24, 2014) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Mrkt Share | |||
| Warner Bros. (10) | 502.5 | 16.50% | |||
| Buena Vista (9) | 493.9 | 16.20% | |||
| Universal (8) | 382.7 | 12.60% | |||
| Sony (9) | 321.7 | 10.50% | |||
| Paramount (8) | 316.3 | 10.40% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (8) | 305.7 | 10.00% | |||
| Lionsgate (12) | 256.4 | 8.40% | |||
| Open Road (5) | 80.7 | 2.60% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (8) | 69.7 | 2.30% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (4) | 65.5 | 2.20% | |||
| Relativity (4) | 53.2 | 1.70% | |||
| FreeStyle (3) | 50.2 | 1.60% | |||
| Focus (3) | 38.9 | 1.30% | |||
| eOne/Seville (12) | 31.1 | 1.00% | |||
| Other * (115) | 83.7 | 2.70% | |||
| 3052.2 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | |||||
| Top Global Grossers (January 1 – April 24, 2014) | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier | BV | 604,464,989 | |||
| Frozen * | BV | 581,822,862 | |||
| The Lego Movie | WB | 445,485,097 | |||
| The Wolf of Wall Street * | Par | 350,418,304 | |||
| 300: Rise of an Empire | WB | 326,530,634 | |||
| Noah | Par | 300,805,034 | |||
| Rio 2 | Fox | 300,350,377 | |||
| The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug * | WB | 277,256,540 | |||
| Mr. Peabody & Sherman | Fox | 259,863,748 | |||
| RoboCop | Sony | 242,301,117 | |||
| Divergent | Lionsgate | 217,927,273 | |||
| Non-Stop | Uni/Studio Canal | 198,852,754 | |||
| Need for Speed | BV; Mister Smith | 198,557,218 | |||
| American Hustle * | Sony/eOne; Panorama | 183,941,467 | |||
| The Monkey King | Global Star | 180,124,680 | |||
| The Monuments Men | Sony; Fox | 156,709,477 | |||
| Lone Survivor | Uni/eOne; Foresight | 154,255,104 | |||
| Ride Along | Uni | 150,378,645 | |||
| 12 Years a Slave * | Fox; Lionsgate | 144,022,388 | |||
| Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit | Par | 134,651,504 | |||
| The Grand Budapest Hotel | Fox | 121,170,532 | |||
| The Secret Life of Walter Mitty * | Fox | 118,696,497 | |||
| Dad, Where Are You Going? | Enlight | 112,464,023 | |||
| 47 Ronin * | Uni | 101,135,788 | |||
| The Man from Macau | Mega-Vision | 95,075,161 | |||
| * does not include 2013 box office | |||||
