By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Traditionally one of the industry’s slowest sessions, the Labor Day weekend provided the usual summer’s end blahs with two new genre pics. The horror yarn As Above/So Below opened in fourth spot with an estimated $8.3 million (all figures represent only the three-day portion of the weekend) and spy thriller The November Man was a clue behind at $7.6 million.
Top grossers this skein were Guardians of the Galaxy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with respectively $16.3 million and $11.7 million.
Incoming exclusives were generally unimpressive with the possible exception of The Last of Robin Hood with a $23,100 tally at two venues.
New titles included a clutch of Indian titles primed to local holidays. Best of the bunch were the Hindi Rabhasa with a $303,000 tally from 86 locations and the Punjabi Double Di Trouble that grossed $153,000 at 33 screens. In Canada the venerable Trailer Park Boys generated a disappointing $72,800 for their lastest, Swearnet, from 92 playdates.
The last of the summer whine also saw a number of films including How to Train Your Dragon 2, Chef and Begin Again expending to get the last drop of seasonal b.o. juice.
The 4-day holiday should wind up with close to $135 million in ticket sales that reps a whopping 36% decline from 2013 when the third weekend of The Butler was still going strong with $20.2 million and the concert film One Direction: This is Us bowed with $18.5 million.
Based on preliminary data the summer 2014 tally will be approximately $3.92 billion. The good news is that the season managed to sidestep the sort of financial fiasco such as The Lone Ranger that invariable occurs in the hot months. The bad news is that with rare exception the major releases didn’t quite reach the box office heights anticipated and the alternative successes such as Chef and Boyhood were fewer than in past sessions.
That balanced out to the bad with a 14% box office decline from last year. Preliminary and final summer market share charts will be forthcoming in the coming days.
| Weekend (estimates) August 29 – 31, 2014 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | BV | 16.3 (4,710) | -5% | 3462 | 274.6 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Par | 11.7 (3,310) | -30% | 3543 | 162.4 |
| If I Stay | WB | 9.2 (3,080) | -41% | 3003 | 29.8 |
| As Above/So Below | Uni | 8.3 (3,150) | NEW | 2640 | 8.3 |
| Let’s Be Cops | Fox | 8.2 (2,730) | -24% | 3010 | 57.3 |
| The November Man | Relativity/VVS | 7.6 (2,740) | NEW | 2776 | 9.3 |
| When the Game Stands Tall | Sony | 5.6 (2,080) | -34% | 2673 | 16.2 |
| The Giver | Weinstein Co. | 5.2 (1,850) | -19% | 2805 | 31.5 |
| The Hundred-Foot Journey | BV | 4.6 (2,410) | -13% | 1918 | 39.4 |
| The Expendables 3 | Lionsgate | 3.5 (1,380) | -46% | 2564 | 33.2 |
| Cantinflas | Lionsgate | 2.6 (6,880) | NEW | 382 | 2.6 |
| Lucy | Uni | 2.6 (2,040) | -24% | 1293 | 117.7 |
| Into the Storm | WB | 2.5 (1,570) | -34% | 1603 | 42 |
| Sin City: A Dame to Kill For | Weinstein Co. | 2.1 (740) | -66% | 2894 | 10.7 |
| Ghostbusters – 30th Anniversary | Sony | 1.6 (2,080) | NEW | 784 | 1.6 |
| Boyhood | IFC/Mongrel | 1.4 (2,250) | -13% | 640 | 18.4 |
| How to Train Your Dragon 2 | Fox | 1.1 (1,010) | 122% | 1096 | 173.4 |
| Magic in the Moonlight | Sony Classics | .83 (1,890) | -32% | 438 | 8 |
| Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Fox | .81 (1,730) | -25% | 468 | 205.2 |
| Begin Again | Weinstein Co. | .78 (2,330) | 2083% | 335 | 15.3 |
| Chef | Open Road/VVS | .66 (870) | 368% | 757 | 30.2 |
| Maleficent | BV | .65 (1,920) | 10% | 338 | 238.5 |
| A Most Wanted Man | Roadside | .61 (1,830) | -29% | 333 | 14.9 |
| Hercules | Par | .59 (1,560) | -31% | 377 | 70.8 |
| Get On Up | Uni | .55 (950) | -41% | 579 | 29.6 |
| Calvary | Fox Searchlight | .52 (1,610) | 1% | 322 | 2.3 |
| Planes: Fire & Rescue | BV | .48 (810) | -17% | 589 | 57.7 |
| X-Men: Days of Future Past | Fox | .44 (560) | 204% | 794 | 233.2 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $100.10 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -36% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -10% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| The Trip to Italy | IFC/eOne | .43 (6,540) | 163% | 66 | 0.85 |
| Rabhasa | Classics | .30 (3,520) | 86 | 0.3 | |
| Love is Strange | Sony Classics | .26 (9,580) | 121% | 27 | 0.42 |
| The Admiral: Roaring Currents | CJ | .22 (5,690) | -49% | 39 | 2 |
| Double Di Trouble | White Hill | .15 (4,630) | 33 | 0.15 | |
| Frank | Magnolia | .11 (2,760) | 105% | 41 | 0.21 |
| Kundo: Age of Rampant | Well Go | .10 (3,900) | 26 | 0.1 | |
| Life of Crime | Roadside | 94,700 (2,710) | 35 | 0.09 | |
| The One I Love | Weinstein Co, | 86,300 (1,760) | 79% | 49 | 0.15 |
| Raja Natwarlal | UTV | 77,200 (1,040) | 74 | 0.08 | |
| Swearnet | eOne | 72,800 (790) | 92 | 0.07 | |
| Land Ho! | Sony Classics | 68,800 (1,060) | -11% | 65 | 0.46 |
| Peruchazhi | Fox Star | 41,400 (3,180) | 13 | 0.04 | |
| The Congress | Drafthouse | 26,500 (1,890) | 14 | 0.03 | |
| The Last of Robin Hood | IDP | 23,100 (11,550) | 2 | 0.02 | |
| Starred Up | TriBeCa | 10,300 (5,150) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| Temporary Family | Asia Releasing | 9,200 (1,840) | 5 | 0.01 | |
| Through a Lens Darkly | First Run | 8,900 (8,900) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie | Eleven Arts | 6,300 (900) | 7 | 0.01 | |
| The Notebook | Sony Classics | 3,100 (1,550) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| Last Weekend | IFC | 2,700 (2,700) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – Aug. 28, 2014) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| 20th Century Fox (14) | 1225.9 | 17.20% | |||
| Buena Vista (14) | 1183.6 | 16.60% | |||
| Warner Bros. (17) | 1060.5 | 14.80% | |||
| Sony (16) | 924.8 | 12.90% | |||
| Universal (13) | 793.3 | 11.10% | |||
| Paramount (11) | 787.6 | 11.00% | |||
| Lionsgate (16) | 346.1 | 4.80% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (19) | 132.8 | 1.90% | |||
| Open Road (7) | 118.1 | 1.65% | |||
| Relativity (7) | 115.9 | 1.65% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (7) | 91.3 | 1.30% | |||
| FreeStyle (7) | 84.4 | 1.20% | |||
| Focus (8) | 43.5 | 0.60% | |||
| eOne/Seville (22) | 41.3 | 0.60% | |||
| Other * (217) | 199.2 | 2.70% | |||
| 7148.3 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | |||||
“The Congress” opened in my market, Washington, D.C., without a print review in the Washington Post, although a search of the paper’s website turns up a review that may have appeared in a different print edition than the one I received. I wonder what the impact was of the film having been available for more than a month on VOD.
Peruchazhi with less theaters gained maximum…., Mohanlal effect !