The Weekend Report

It was a week of sweeping out the old and welcoming the new, starting with a trio of new national releases. Youth-targeted adventure The Maze Runner topped the frame with an estimated $32.3 million while the competition played below expectations. Downbeat thriller A Walk Among the Tombstones bowed with $13.1 million while Shawn Levy’s R-rated dramedy of a grieving family, This is Where I Leave You, bantered to $11.7 million.

Kevin Smith was back with Canada-set comic chiller Tusk, which failed to scare up an audience with an $840,000 tally at 602 venues. Also north of the border, Canada’s likely Oscar submission and Cannes-prized Mommy opened with a tempestuous $391,000 in Québec.

There was also a ferocious wave of new exclusive runs with most crashing on the shores. Exceptions included a single screen launch of $23,200 for the Korean gambling comedy Tazza 2 and an impressive $47,700 start for Hector and the Search for Happiness at two locations. Tracks, the Australian saga of author Robyn Davidson’s memoir of crossing Oz’s arid Outback solo, grossed $20,800 following a Canadian release that chalked up $200,000 plus. In the niches there were a handful of Indian imports, including strong starts of $1.1 million for the Telugu Aagadu and the Hindi Khoobsurat with $332,000. Dr. Cabbie, the comedy about an Indian doctor reduced to driving a hack in Toronto, was hitting all the pistons with a $739,000 debut from 55 screens.

Session box office generated roughly $105 million for an 18% boost from seven days earlier. It was also  23% improved from 2013 when the $20.8 million debut of Prisoners topped the charts.

Pundits have been itching to put the nail in the coffin on YA adventure fare but Maze Runner defied their grim assessments that ranged from $25-30 million. The picture get a head start a week back with a solid $8.5 million gross from five international territories and expanded solidly to an estimated $37.5 million box office in 50 foreign climes.

Domestically, Maze Runner attracted an almost even gender split with women at 51% and 64% of viewers aged 25-years and younger per studio exit polling. It also amped up the stakes with 712 enhanced format engagements that accounted for about 9% of the opening box office.

While expectations weren’t overboard for the adaptation of Lawrence Block’s dark thriller A Walk Among the Tombstones, the presence of Liam Neeson pegged expectations of $15-16 million. The film also tilted slightly female at 51% but considerably older with 77% of the crowd aged 25-years and upward.

The ensemble of This is Where I Leave You weren’t sitting shiva as the film opened pretty much on target with its tracking and studio cruncher bottom lines. Exit demos were also on the mark with 63% of the audience composed of women and 86% aged 25-years and more senior.

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