By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com

The Weekend Report

The Second World War thundered into multiplexes in the form of Fury and topped the charts with an estimated $23.6 million opening salvo. The two other national bows included Guillermo Del Toro-produced animated fiesta The Book of Life slotting third with $16.9 million and the three-hankie The Best of Me striking few Sparks, remaining a few sniffles behind at $10.2 million. Platformers ranged from a drop dead $310,000 result for Jason Reitman’s sixth moral tale, Men, Women & Children, at 608 lecterns, to a tempo-setting $202,000 bounce for the percussive stamina test Whiplash at 21 venues.

In the niches Telugu Oka Laila Kosam was off to a good start with $187,000 from 61 venues. However, the big thunder came rom a spate of new exclusives; many positioning for the autumnal awards run-up. Japanese anime The Tale of the Princess Kaguya opened to $49,500 from three screens while epic Chinese Oscar submission The Golden Era grossed $53,100 at 15 sites. Considerably more potent were the discomfortingly humorous race relations satire Dear White People with $351,000 from just 11 playdates and a staggering $422,000 for fine-feathered black comedy Birdman in only four nests.

Frame revenues inched toward $135 million, registering a 12% dip from the prioer weekend. However, it was an impressive 28% upturn from 2013 when the third weekend of Gravity secured the hat trick with $30 million and the top opener was the Carrie remake with a $16.1 million entry.

None of the newcomers attained heights anticipated by trackers, including the well-reviewed Fury, which fell short of predictions that ranged from $30-33 million. The saga of a WWI Itank crew recalled the intensity of the submariners of Das Boot and emulated the similar The Beast of even more distant memory. Studio exit polling indicated an unsurprising 60% male tilt with an older audience estimated at 81% aged 25-years and older. The latter factor proved bonecrushing and suggested a new generation unwilling to embrace a once popular genre that’s only been successfully revisited by Inglouriuous Basterds of late.

The backdrop of Mexico’s Day of the Dead provided an ironic slant for The Book of Life and its colorful, flamboyant style was expected to generate between $18-20 million. The opening crowd tilted 57% female with families dominating and 54% of the opening crowd aged 25-years and younger. Polling also indicated that the audience was a significant but not overwhelming 30% Hispanic which bodes well for its longevity. The film also bowed day and date in 19 foreign climes; primarily in Latin territories familiar with the celebration and grossed an estimated $8.5 million led by Mexico and Brazil with respective openings of $3.8 million and $2 million.

The Nicholas Sparks franchise appears to be fading with his sixth entry in six years, The Best of Me, falling short of $15-16 million expectations. The picture’s performance suggests an audience of fans and scant interest for converts. Sparks’ patented format traditionally plays heavily to women and an older crowd that this weekend opted for other choices.

The award tomtoms beat loudest for Birdman and Whiplash. While neither is at pitched at a best-picture decibel level, each could secure major acting honors for, respectively, Michael Keaton and J.K. Simmons in the supporting category. Keaton faces what should be a fiercely-contested competition with the lineup that includes Eddie Redmayne channeling physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, Timothy Spall painting his Mr. Turner and Benedict Cumberbatch embodying real life code-breaker Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.

Weekend (estimates) October 17 – 19, 2014
Title Distributor Gross (avg) % chng Thtrs Cume
Fury Sony 23.6 (7,440) NEW 3173 23.6
Gone Girl Fox 17.8 (5,480) -33% 3249 107.1
The Book of Life Fox 16.9 (5,510) NEW 3071 16.9
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible … Day BV 12.0 (3,890) -35% 3088 36.8
The Best of Me Relativity 10.2 (3.470) NEW 2936 10.2
Dracula Untold Uni 9.9 (3,420) -58% 2887 40.7
The Judge WB 7.9 (2,640) -40% 3003 26.8
Annabelle WB 7.9 (2,740) -50% 2878 74.1
The Equalizer Sony 5.4 (2,390) -44% 2262 88.1
The Maze Runner Fox 4.5 (2,080) -40% 2155 90.8
Addicted Lionsgate 3.4 (3,320) -54% 1037 12.8
The Boxtrolls Focus 2.6 (1,170) -60% 2251 46
Guardians of the Galaxy BV 1.0 (1,360) -45% 730 327.8
Left Behind FreeStyle/eOne .91 (990) -68% 923 12.8
St. Vincent Weinstein .67 (9,880) 511% 68 0.8
Meet the Mormons Purdie .58 (1,820) -77% 317 4.5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Par .53 (1,420) 44% 372 189.6
This is Where I Leave You WB .51 (1,010) -68% 502 33.2
Kill the Messenger Focus .49 (1,150) -48% 427 1.8
Birdman Fox Searchlight .42 (105,500) NEW 4 0.42
Dear White People Roadside .35 (31,900) NEW 11 0.35
Dolphin Tale 2 WB .33 (650) -74% 502 40.8
No Good Deed Sony .32 (1,070) -66% 296 52.3
Men, Women & Children Par .31 (510) 595% 608 0.47
The Skeleton Twins Roadside .29 (1,860) -32% 155 4.7
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $126.80
% Change (Last Year) 28%
% Change (Last Week) -12%
Also debuting/expanding
My Old Lady Cohen Media .21 (1.630) -32% 129 3.2
Pride CBS/Remstar .20 (1,760) -8% 115 0.86
Whiplash Sony Classics .20 (9,620) 50% 21 0.21
Mommy Seville .19 (2,570) -13% 75 2.3
Oka Laila Kosam Blue Sky .19 (3,070) 61 0.19
The Good Lie WB .17 (1,230) -69% 135 2.1
Breakup Buddies China Lion 91,400 (3,810) -53% 24 0.7
The Two Faces of January Magnolia 63,300 (1,320) -27% 48 0.32
The Golden Era China Lion 53,100 (3,540) 15 0.05
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya Gkids 49,500 (16,500) 3 0.05
Rudderless IDP 34,700 (1,930) 18 0.03
Tracks Weinstein Co. 33,200 (920) -48% 36 0.41
Listen Up Philip TriBeCa 24,900 (12,450) 2 0.02
Hiroshima, Mon Amour (reissue) Rialto 17,800 (3,560) 5 0.02
Guardian Angel Richmond Media 11,400 (5,700) 2 0.01
Watchers of the Sky Music Box 8,500 (1,700) 5 0.01
My Love, My Bride CJ 7,550 (7,550) 1 0.01
Diplomacy Zeitgeist 6,900 (6,900) 1 0.01
Life Inside Out Circus Road 6,500 (3,250) 2 0.01
Felony Gravitas 4,200 (420) 10 0.01
Lakay 4 Features 3,660 (610) 6 0.01
The Hacker Wars Vitagraph 3,300 (3,300) 1 0.01
Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – Oct. 16, 2014)
Distributor (releases) Box Office Market Share
20th Century Fox (17) 1443.7 17.60%
Buena Vista (15) 1302.6 15.90%
Warner Bros. (22) 1261.1 15.40%
Sony (21) 1087.2 13.20%
Universal (16) 882.9 10.80%
Paramount (13) 830.6 10.10%
Lionsgate (19) 373.3 4.50%
Weinstein (22) 159.9 1.90%
Relativity (9) 137.9 1.70%
Open Road (7) 120.6 1.50%
Fox Searchlight (8) 103.5 1.30%
FreeStyle (9) 99.3 1.20%
Focus (9) 88.3 1.10%
eOne/Seville (25) 51.6 0.60%
Other * (281) 260.9 3.20%
8203.4 100%
* none greater than 0.4%
Top Limited Releases * (Jan. 1 – Oct. 9, 2014)
Title Distributor Box Office
Boyhood IFC/Mongrel 23,622,687
A Most Wanted Man Roadside/eOne 17,185,345
Nebraska * Par 11,669,238
Dallas Buyers Club * Focus/Remstar 11,522,869
Belle Fox Searchlight 10,726,630
Magic in the Moonlight Sony Classics 10,457,171
Inside Llewyn Davis * CBS/Mongrel 8,107,748
Island of the Lemurs: Madagascar WB 7,673,312
Cantinflas Lionsgate 6,382,924
Cesar Chavez Lionsgate 5,571,497
Jerusalem NationalGeo 5,299,866
The Wind Rises BV 5,209,580
Journey to the South Pacific Imax 4,717,904
Snowpiercer Weinstein 4,561,255
Hubble 3D * Imax 4,441,348
The Railway Man Weinstein 4,438,438
The Skeleton Twins Roadside 4,427,667
The Lunchbox Sony Classics 4,231,500
Meet the Mormons Purdie 3,952,235
Fading Gigolo Millennium 3,769,873
* does not include 2013 box office
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One Response to “The Weekend Report”

  1. Julie Long says:

    Thank you

Leonard Klady's Friday Estimates
Friday Screens % Chg Cume
Title Gross Thtr % Chgn Cume
Venom 33 4250 NEW 33
A Star is Born 15.7 3686 NEW 15.7
Smallfoot 3.5 4131 -46% 31.3
Night School 3.5 3019 -63% 37.9
The House Wirh a Clock in its Walls 1.8 3463 -43% 49.5
A Simple Favor 1 2408 -50% 46.6
The Nun 0.75 2264 -52% 111.5
Hell Fest 0.6 2297 -70% 7.4
Crazy Rich Asians 0.6 1466 -51% 167.6
The Predator 0.25 1643 -77% 49.3
Also Debuting
The Hate U Give 0.17 36
Shine 85,600 609
Exes Baggage 75,900 62
NOTA 71,300 138
96 61,600 62
Andhadhun 55,000 54
Afsar 45,400 33
Project Gutenberg 36,000 17
Love Yatri 22,300 41
Hello, Mrs. Money 22,200 37
Studio 54 5,300 1
Loving Pablo 4,200 15
3-Day Estimates Weekend % Chg Cume
No Good Dead 24.4 (11,230) NEW 24.4
Dolphin Tale 2 16.6 (4,540) NEW 16.6
Guardians of the Galaxy 7.9 (2,550) -23% 305.8
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4.8 (1,630) -26% 181.1
The Drop 4.4 (5,480) NEW 4.4
Let's Be Cops 4.3 (1,570) -22% 73
If I Stay 4.0 (1,320) -28% 44.9
The November Man 2.8 (1,030) -36% 22.5
The Giver 2.5 (1,120) -26% 41.2
The Hundred-Foot Journey 2.5 (1,270) -21% 49.4