The Weekend Report

Simple simian says Dawn of the Planet of the Apes rules again with an estimated $35.8 million. However, a trio of new wide releases lined up right behind it. Best of the bunch was the shocker sequel The Purge: Anarchy that bowed to $28.3 million. Both the animated sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue and the rom-com Sex Tape entered below expectations with respective grosses of $17.9 million and $14.9 million.

Exclusive newcomers included several encouraging single screen bows including the non-fiction political road trip There’s No Place Like Utopia with $28,500 as well as the Italian import A Five Star Life with a $16,700 box office. France’s Mood Indigo tallied $27,400 from two venues and the contemplative I Origins grossed $28,300 from four initial showcases. But everything was dwarfed by the second week expansion of Boyhood that added 29 playdates and generated a per screen average of $34,410.

In the niches, Tamil import Velaiyilla Pattathari was off to a solid start of $203,000 from 31 screens. Also off to a good start was dramedy Wish I Was Here with a $497,000 tally from 68 engagements.

Overall session revenues generated roughly $150 million for a slim 1% downturn from the immediate prior weekend. It was a considerably steeper 24% slide from 2013 when the $41.8 million bow of The Conjuring usurped the $24.9 million third weekend of Despicable Me 2.

An unexpected hit 14 months ago, the low-budget thriller The Purge spawned a sequel that appears to be headed in the same direction, albeit on a slightly lower plane. Pundits had pegged its opening prospects at between $28 million and $30 million and it performed pretty much to those expectations. The opening audience skewed slightly female at 52% with an impressive $61% of viewers aged 25-years and younger in light of its R rating.

The prospects for the other two films are dimmer. Sex Tape fell well below expectations of $20 million to $22 million that would have ranked third in the lineup. Its $1.1 million Thursday previews were the first indication of a diminished result. The film attracted a 53% female audience with 59% of viewers aged 25-years and older.

Targeted at a family audience the Planes sequel was slightly below expectations of a $20 million launch. Studio exit demos pegged families as 78% of viewers unsurprisingly with a 50/50 split between the sexes. The film also opened in roughly two dozen territories with an emphasis on South America and grossed an estimated $9 million including Mexico with $1.8 million and Brazil grossing $1.5 million.

On the alternative side, Begin Again added 363 screens. The question now is just how far can Boyhood penetrate into the marketplace. Its weekend gross of $1.2 million from 34 screens in exclusive engagements in top urban markets is truly impressive. Nonetheless it will need sustained TLC and vigorous promotion to assure its embrace in second- and third-tier locales in order to reach a broad audience and secure its position as an early awards contender.

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