By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
There was a lot to celebrate during the Independence holiday span … but it wasn’t at the multiplex. Weekend business hit its lowest point for the period in the past decade.
Leading the pack for a second weekend was Transformers: Age of Extinction, with an estimated $36.2 million during the three-day skirmish. The raucous comedy Tammy was second and best of a trio of newcomers with $21.2 million. The other freshmen were exorcism chiller Deliver Us from Evil, which grossed $9.5 million and family-targeted Earth to Echo that wasn’t all that <b>E.T.</b>-ish at $8.2 million.
In the niches, My Illegal Wife from the Philippines had a solid bow of $164,000 at 29 venues while Hindi Hyderabad-set detective farce Bobby Jasoos struggled to $139,000 from 74 locations. Beatlemania lacked a fiftieth-century wind with the A Hard Day’s Night reissue on a backbeat with $133,000. Still, there was at least one thumb up for Roger Ebert documentary Life Itself, scribbling $121,000 from 22 playdates.
Revenues for the session were slightly shy of $130 million for a 29% tumble from the prior weekend. It was a considerably steeper 45% plunge from 2013 when debuts of Despicable Me 2 and The Lone Ranger led with respective box office of $83.5 million and $29.2 million.
Leading up to the holiday session tracking was as high as $40 million during the 5-day portion for Melissa McCarthy as a working-class Tammy. Expectations were pared back as interest flagged and the film ultimately settled at $33 million. The R-rated comedy attracted a 58% female audience according to studio exit polls and was 66% aged 25-years and older.
Deliver Us from Evil was more on target to expectations with a $15 million tally. It tilted ever-so-slightly male at 51% and was also 51% aged 25-and-older.
Earth to Echo underperformed at $13.5 million. Exit demos were unavailable but it’s hard to imagine it dominated by any auds other than families.
The frame also featured a number of expansions including the “what-if” political screed America from controversial rabblerouser Dinesh D’souza that had OK results of $2.6 million for the weekend. Also adding up were the sci-fi actioner Snowpiercer to fair returns and good response for the Once-lite musical rom-com Begin Again.
Ida, The Grand Seduction and Words and Pictures continued to maintain a toehold among alternative fare in the marketplace.
| Weekend (estimates) July 4 – 6, 2014 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| Transformers: Age of Extinction | Par | 36.2 (8,560) | -64% | 4233 | 174.6 |
| Tammy | WB | 21.2 (6,120) | NEW | 3465 | 32.9 |
| Deliver Us from Evil | Sony | 9.5 (3,110) | NEW | 3049 | 15 |
| 22 Jump Street | Sony | 9.3 (2,800) | -41% | 3324 | 158.8 |
| How to Train Your Dragon 2 | Fox | 8.7 (2,640) | -34% | 3297 | 140 |
| Earth to Echo | Relativity | 8.2 (2,530) | NEW | 3230 | 13.5 |
| Maleficent | BV | 6.1 (2,540) | -28% | 2389 | 213.8 |
| Jersey Boys | WB | 5.2 (1,970) | -33% | 2630 | 36.7 |
| Think Like a Man Too | Sony | 4.8 (2,790) | -53% | 1729 | 57.1 |
| Edge of Tomorrow | WB | 3.6 (2,350) | -33% | 1538 | 90.8 |
| America | Lionsgate | 2.6 (2,380) | 6640% | 1105 | 4 |
| The Fault in Our Stars | Fox | 2.4 (1,280) | -54% | 1865 | 115.8 |
| X-Men: Days of Future Past | Fox | 1.8 (1,740) | -45% | 1044 | 227 |
| Chef | Open Road/VVS | 1.7 (2,490) | 3% | 686 | 22.1 |
| Begin Again | Weinstein | 1.3 (7,540) | 885% | 175 | 1.9 |
| Snowpiercer | Weinstein | 1.0 (3,880) | 467% | 250 | 1.5 |
| Godzilla | WB | .41 (1,160) | -56% | 352 | 197.9 |
| The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | Sony | .40 (1,380) | 24% | 289 | 200.8 |
| Neighbors | Uni | .39 (1,240) | -50% | 315 | 148 |
| Blended | WB | .36 (1,170) | -40% | 305 | 44.2 |
| Rio 2 | Fox | .35 (1,120) | -20% | 311 | 128.9 |
| Obvious Child | A24 | .34 (1,820) | -38% | 188 | 1.9 |
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier | BV | .33 (1,320) | -18% | 251 | 257.8 |
| A Million Ways to Die in the West | Uni | .27 (1,180) | -52% | 227 | 42.3 |
| Ida | Music Box | .22 (2,220) | -16% | 100 | 2.8 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $123.5 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -45% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -29% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Grand Seduction | eOne | .17 (2,040) | -28% | 84 | 2.5 |
| My Illegal Wife | ABS | .16 (5,660) | 29 | 0.17 | |
| Bobby Jasoos | Big Pictures | .14 (1,880) | 74 | 0.14 | |
| A Hard Day’s Night (reissue) | Janus | .13 (1,730) | 77 | 0.13 | |
| Life Itself | Magnolia | .12 (5,500) | 22 | 0.12 | |
| Third Person | Sony Classics | .11 (3,280) | 49% | 34 | 0.28 |
| Words and Pictures | Roadside | 96,300 (1,660) | -29% | 58 | 1.9 |
| Venus in Furs | IFC/Seville | 37,200 (2,190) | 13% | 17 | 0.18 |
| Yves Saint Laurent | Weinstein | 36,500 (3,650) | 52% | 10 | 0.08 |
| The Breakup Guru | China Lion | 34,700 (3,470) | -45% | 10 | 0.14 |
| Lekar Hum Deewana Dil | Eros | 14,400 (290) | 50 | 0.01 | |
| Ra Ra Krishnayya | CineGalaxy | 9,600 (870) | 11 | 0.01 | |
| School Dance | Film Arcade | 7,800 (350) | 22 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – June 29, 2014) | |||||
| Distributor | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| 20th Century Fox (13) | 893.7 | 17.10% | |||
| Warner Bros. (14) | 871.9 | 16.60% | |||
| Buena Vista (11) | 793.4 | 15.10% | |||
| Sony (13) | 774.1 | 14.80% | |||
| Universal (10) | 574.1 | 11.00% | |||
| Paramount (9) | 422.6 | 8.10% | |||
| Lionsgate (13) | 287.2 | 5.50% | |||
| Open Road (6) | 105.7 | 2.00% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (5) | 87.5 | 1.70% | |||
| Weinstein (15) | 78.3 | 1.50% | |||
| Relativity (5) | 76 | 1.40% | |||
| FreeStyle (6) | 69.9 | 1.30% | |||
| Focus (6) | 39.9 | 0.80% | |||
| eOne/Seville (16) | 36.7 | 0.70% | |||
| Other * (168) | 124.5 | 2.40% | |||
| 5235.5 | 100.00% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | |||||
