By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
American Sniper continued to hold sway at the box office with an estimated weekend gross of $63.9 million. Trailing in second place was the debut of the sexual suspenser The Boy Next Door with $15 million. Two other titles opened nationally with near-D.O.A. results. The not-so-madcap comedy Mortdecai was deathly with $4.1 million and the animated Strange Music (“from the mind of George Lucas”) eked $5.5 million.
In limited wide release the emotionally charged Cake had an OK bake off of $976,000. The session also included a trio of new films from India with best results for the Hindi Baby of $423,000 from 85 engagements. A torrent of exclusives produced no standouts with results varying from good for hockey doc Red Army to puzzling for the Al Pacino vehicle The Humbling.
Overall revenues for the frame approached $160 million that translated to a 22% decline from the 3-day portion of last weekend’s MLK holiday. It was a significant 34% improvement from 2014 when the second weekend of Ride Along grossed $21.3 million and no new release cracked the top 5.
With close to $200 million in two weeks of wide release American Sniper has evolved into a phenomenon on and off screen. It’s almost reached a level where anyone brave enough to question its artistry, content or perspective is in danger of being brought up on charges of treason.
While none of the new titles in the marketplace was expected to display significant commercial potency, The Boy Next Door at least came close to tracking expectations and produced on a mini-budget will prove profitable. Studio exit demos revealed a decidedly female crowd of 71% and a plurality Hispanic viewer at 45%. Additionally the audience was 60% aged 25-years-old and more senior.
The other new entries appeared to suffer in different fashion. Mortdecai was promoted as a wacko comedy and a change of pace for headliner Johnny Depp. It was not what fans wanted to see and attracted a 52% female crowd with a whopping 76% of viewers aged 25-years and older.
Conversely, Strange Magic’s dubious selling point was its association to the Star Wars creator and that proved insufficient for mass imagination. Demos skewed slightly female at 56% with 71% of viewers identified as families and 53% aged 25-years and younger.
| Weekend (estimates) January 23 – 25, 2015 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| American Sniper | WB | 63.9 (17,240) | -28% | 3705 | 199.6 |
| The Boy Next Door | Uni | 15.0 (5,760) | NEW | 2602 | 15 |
| Paddington | Weinstein Co. | 12.3 (3,680) | -35% | 3355 | 40 |
| The Wedding Ringer | Sony | 11.3 (3,770) | -45% | 3003 | 39.4 |
| Taken 3 | Fox | 7.6 (2,600) | -49% | 2909 | 76 |
| The Imitation Game | Weinstein/Elevation | 7.0 (3,450) | 3% | 2025 | 60.5 |
| Strange Magic | BV | 5.5 (1,830) | NEW | 3020 | 5.5 |
| Selma | Par | 5.3 (2,580) | -40% | 2046 | 39 |
| Mortdecai | Lionsgate | 4.1 (1,560) | NEW | 2648 | 4.1 |
| Into the Woods | BV | 3.9 (1,710) | -43% | 2270 | 121.5 |
| The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies | WB | 2.8 (1,930) | -43% | 1444 | 249.6 |
| Unbroken | Uni | 2.0 (1,280) | -51% | 1606 | 112.4 |
| Birdman | Fox Searchlight | 1.9 (2,260) | 22% | 833 | 30.9 |
| Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb | Fox | 1.8 (1,280) | -55% | 1370 | 108.6 |
| Blackhat | Uni | 1.6 (640) | -58% | 2568 | 7.1 |
| The Theory of Everything | Focus | 1.3 (1,490) | 33% | 858 | 29.1 |
| The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 | Lionsgate | 1.0 (1,510) | -46% | 676 | 334.3 |
| Cake | FreeStyle | 1.0 (2,020) | NEW | 482 | 1 |
| Wild | Fox Searchlight | .94 (1,860) | -35% | 505 | 34.7 |
| Annie | Sony | .77 (1,020) | -61% | 756 | 84.2 |
| Whiplash | Sony Classics | .74 (1,310) | 105% | 567 | 7.6 |
| Spare Parts | Lionsgate | .72 (1,700) | -46% | 424 | 1.81 |
| Big Hero 6 | BV | .67 (1,490) | -38% | 451 | 216.77 |
| Foxcatcher | Sony Classics | .55 (1,070) | -44% | 516 | 10.39 |
| The Woman in Black: Angel of Death | Relativity/eOne | .51 (1,000) | -70% | 510 | 25.38 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $154.20 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 34% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -22% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| A Most Violent Year | A24 | .43 (6,530) | 60% | 66 | 1.3 |
| Baby | T-Series | .42 (4,980) | 85 | 0.42 | |
| Still Alice | Sony Classics | .39 (10,310) | 99% | 38 | 0.76 |
| Inherent Vice | WB | .38 (1,570) | -66% | 244 | 7.4 |
| Ode to My Father | CJ | .21 (6,200) | -35% | 34 | 1.5 |
| Mr. Turner | Sony Classics | .17 (3,880) | -10% | 43 | 1.9 |
| Dolly Ki Dolly | Viva | .113 (1,880) | 60 | 0.11 | |
| Two Days, One Night | IFC/Metropole | .12 (3,260) | 17% | 38 | 0.53 |
| Patas | Blue Sky | .111 (3,690) | 29 | 0.11 | |
| Leviathan | Sony Classics | 68,700 (6,250) | 75% | 11 | 0.27 |
| Manny | Gravitas | 35,600 (1,780) | 20 | 0.04 | |
| Black Sea | Focus | 34,300 (6,860) | 5 | 0.03 | |
| Mommy | Roadside Attractions | 29.500 (3,690) | 8 | 0.03 | |
| Song One | Film Arcade | 22,900 (850) | 27 | 0.02 | |
| The Humbling | Millennium | 21,300 (1,250) | 17 | 0.02 | |
| Red Army | Sony Classics | 19,200 (6,400) | 3 | 0.02 | |
| Americons | Archstone | 12,800 (910) | 14 | 0.01 | |
| The Duke of Burgundy | IFC | 12,100 (4,030) | 3 | 0.01 | |
| Love Forecast | CJ | 10,800 (10,800) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| We’ll Never Have Paris | Orion | 6,700 (520) | 12 | 0.01 | |
| R100 | Drafthouse | 6,500 (810) | 8 | 0.01 | |
| Son of a Gun | A24 | 3,400 (240) | 14 | 0.01 | |
| Tru Love | Indiecan | 3,100 (3,100) | 1 | 0.01 |
