By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
The Equalizer vanquished the opposition with an opening tally estimated at $35.2 million. The session’s other national deb, Laika’s stop-motion animation The Boxtrolls, bowed to $17.3 million, ranking third overall.
The wave of incoming exclusives largely got washed away with only a pair of Brit imports posting encouraging results. The twisty thriller The Two Faces of January, based on a Patricia Highsmith novel, generated $41,100 from six screens while the fact-based Pride—an odd but effective mix of gay rights and the 1984 Welsh miner’s strike—grossed $106,000 from 12 engagements.
In limited wide release, The Song didn’t quite find a voice, with a $670,000 debut while Mexican spooky import Mas Negro Que la Noche had limited success with a $530,000 box office. The frame’s Indian imports Loukyam and Madras opened to just OK business with $144,000 and $88,400, respectively. And early Hendrix proved disappointing with Jimi: All is By My Side grossing $98,300 from 34 venues.
Overall revenues for the weekend rose to roughly $110 million for a modest 5% boost from seven days back. It was an even slimmer 2% down from 2013 when the opening of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 led all comers with a $34 million initial rainfall.
The new, more graphic and decidedly more physical The Equalizer proved attune to contemporary tastes and exceeded pundit predictions that had pegged opening numbers in the low $30 million range. The film skewed ever so slightly female at 52% with 65% of the audience aged 30-years old and mature according to studio exit polling.
The allegorical The Boxtrolls also topped estimates that predicted a $15 million top end. A stop-motion yarn with adult appeal, it tilted female at 57%.
The opening of Jimi: All is By My Side provided an interesting contrast to another recent musical bio, Get On Up. Both films deserve a critical thumbs up but obviously the ability to reach the largest possible audience differs greatly for a small indie distributor and a major. It also affects media exposure, especially in regard to the award worthy performance of Andre Benjamin that unfortunately is apt to be swamped by considerably more aggressive campaigns for performances and performers who had less demanding challenges.
| Weekend (estimates) September 26 – 28, 2014 | ||||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume | |
| The Equalizer | Sony | 35.2 (10,870) | NEW | 3236 | 35.2 | |
| The Maze Runner | Fox | 17.4 (4,780) | -47% | 3638 | 57.9 | |
| The Boxtrolls | Focus | 17.3 (4,990) | NEW | 3464 | 17.3 | |
| This is Where I Leave You | WB | 7.0 (2,430) | -40% | 2868 | 22.5 | |
| Dolphin Tale 2 | WB | 4.8 (1,420) | -46% | 3376 | 33.6 | |
| No Good Dead | Sony | 4.6 (2,150) | -53% | 2130 | 46.6 | |
| A Walk Among the Tombstones | Uni/eOne | 4.2 (1,550) | -54% | 2714 | 20.9 | |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | BV | 3.8 (1,550) | -28% | 2451 | 319.2 | |
| Let’s Be Cops | Fox | 1.5 (990) | -44% | 1534 | 79.6 | |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Par | 1.4 (900) | -46% | 1585 | 187.2 | |
| The Skeleton Twins | Roadside Attractions | 1.3 (3,300) | 194% | 385 | 2.4 | |
| The Drop | Fox Searchlight | 1.1 (950) | -48% | 1131 | 9.7 | |
| If I Stay | WB | .93 (730) | -50% | 1272 | 49.1 | |
| The Song | IDP | .67 (1,980) | NEW | 340 | 0.67 | |
| The Hundred-Foot Journey | BV | .61 (850) | -47% | 719 | 52.6 | |
| My Old Lady | Cohen Media | .56 (2,210) | 16% | 255 | 1.5 | |
| Mas Negro Que la Noche | Lionsgate | .53 (2,990) | NEW | 178 | 0.53 | |
| When the Game Stands Tall | Sony | .50 (630) | -54% | 794 | 29.2 | |
| The Giver | Weinstein Co. | .43 (610) | -55% | 702 | 43.8 | |
| Lucy | Uni | .36 (740) | -51% | 488 | 125.5 | |
| Dr. Cabbie | eOne | .33 (5,840) | -49% | 57 | 1.3 | |
| Boyhood | IFC/Mongrel | .28 (1,290) | -34% | 215 | 23 | |
| Tusk | A24 | .26 (440) | -69% | 602 | 1.4 | |
| Mommy | Seville | .25 (3,910) | -42% | 65 | 0.97 | |
| Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Fox | .22 (940) | -18% | 232 | 207.6 | |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $103.40 | |||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -2% | |||||
| % Change (Last Week) | 5% | |||||
| Also debuting/expanding | ||||||
| The Trip to Italy | IFC/eOne | .21 (1,050) | -32% | 200 | 3.1 | |
| Hector and the Search for Happiness | Relativity | .20 (2,110) | 383% | 94 | 0 | |
| Love is Strange | Sony Classics | .19 (1,400) | -9% | 138 | 1.8 | |
| Loukyam | Dream Media | .14 (2,530) | 57 | 0.14 | ||
| Pride | CBS/Remstar | .11 (8,850) | 12 | 0.11 | ||
| Jimi: All is By My Side | Xlrator | .10 (2,890) | 34 | 0.1 | ||
| The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby | Weinstein Co, | 93,500 (670) | -47% | 139 | 0.44 | |
| Madras | ATMUS | 88,400 (2,390) | 37 | 0.09 | ||
| Magic in the Moonlight | Sony Classics | 72,700 (650) | -47% | 111 | 10.3 | |
| Tracks * | Weinstein Co. | 71,300 (2,550) | 241% | 28 | 0.1 | |
| The Guest | Picturehouse | 52,200 (2,480) | -38% | 21 | 0.2 | |
| The Two Faces of January | Magnolia | 41,100 (6,850) | 6 | 0.04 | ||
| Field of Lost Shoes | Bosch Media | 28,600 (1,100) | 26 | 0.03 | ||
| A Matter of Faith | Five & Two | 27,300 (4,550) | 6 | 0.03 | ||
| Believe Me | Headline | 19,300 (1,280) | 15 | 0.02 | ||
| Two Night Stand | eOne | 14,000 (2,800) | 5 | 0.01 | ||
| Maria Leonora Teresa | ABS | 8,500 (2,830) | 3 | 0.01 | ||
| Days and Nights | IFC | 7,600 (7,600) | 1 | 0.01 | ||
| Advanced Style | Bond 360 | 6,300 (3,150) | 2 | 0.01 | ||
| La Ritournelle | Metropole | 4,400 (880) | 5 | 0.01 | ||
| The Little Bedroom | Cinema Libre | 3,150 (3,150) | 1 | 0.01 | ||
| Print the Legend | Netflix | 2,200 (1,100) | 2 | 0.01 | ||
| Hellaware | Factory 25 | 1,500 (1,500) | 1 | 0.01 | ||
| Top Global Grossers * (Jan. 1 – Sept. 25, 2014) | ||||||
| Title | Distributor | Box Office | ||||
| Transformers: Age of Extinction | Par | 1,082,174,859 | ||||
| Maleficent | BV | 756,154,669 | ||||
| X-Men: Days of Future Past | Fox | 746,192,697 | ||||
| Frozen | BV | 724,189,603 | ||||
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier | BV | 713,778,940 | ||||
| The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | Sony | 708,705,271 | ||||
| Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Fox | 688,757,717 | ||||
| Guardians of the Galaxy | BV | 635,785,520 | ||||
| Godzilla | WB; Toho | 523,345,942 | ||||
| How to Train Your Dragon 2 | Fox | 522,580,413 | ||||
| Rio 2 | Fox | 496,560,792 | ||||
| The Lego Movie | WB | 472,173,863 | ||||
| Lucy | Uni; Europa | 382,736,598 | ||||
| Edge of Tomorrow | WB | 368,667,083 | ||||
| Noah | Par | 362,164,780 | ||||
| The Wolf of Wall Street * | Par; Red Granite | 350,418,304 | ||||
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Par | 337,481,848 | ||||
| 300: Rise of an Empire | WB | 331,624,640 | ||||
| 22 Jump Street | Sony | 324,846,706 | ||||
| The Fault in Our Stars | Fox | 301,972,452 | ||||
| Divergent | Lionsgate | 289,044,408 | ||||
| The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug * | WB | 277,256,540 | ||||
| Neighbors | Uni | 269,789,190 | ||||
| Mr. Peabody & Sherman | Fox: Dmwks | 253,379,783 | ||||
| RoboCop | Sony | 243,433,366 | ||||
| * does not include 2013 box office | ||||||
| Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – Sept. 25, 2014) | ||||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | ||||
| 20th Century Fox (15) | 1303.1 | 17.00% | ||||
| Buena Vista (14) | 1261.6 | 16.50% | ||||
| Warner Bros. (19) | 1141.9 | 14.90% | ||||
| Sony (19) | 990.7 | 12.90% | ||||
| Universal (15) | 842.1 | 11.00% | ||||
| Paramount (12) | 826.5 | 10.80% | ||||
| Lionsgate (17) | 362.4 | 4.70% | ||||
| Weinstein Co. (20) | 157.7 | 2.10% | ||||
| Relativity (8) | 136.6 | 1.80% | ||||
| Open Road (7) | 120.5 | 1.60% | ||||
| Fox Searchlight (8) | 101.4 | 1.30% | ||||
| FreeStyle (8) | 87.6 | 1.10% | ||||
| eOne/Seville (25) | 47.6 | 0.60% | ||||
| Focus (8) | 43.5 | 0.60% | ||||
| Other (254) | 233.8 | 3.10% | ||||
| 7657 | 100% | |||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | ||||||
