By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
The audience enjoyed the scams of Focus as it led weekend viewing with an estimated $18.9 million. The session’s other wide newcomer The Lazarus Effect slotted fifth with $10.7 million.
In the niches the Mexican romantic comedy A La Mala opened day and date with our Southern neighbor and grossed an OK $1.5 million. The Indian circuit was relatively quiet with the Tamil Kaaki Sattai opening to $72,900. The Canadian runway rom-com After the Ball (with a one-sheet that’s a near-carbon copy of the one for A La Mala) was a traffic victim with $25,500 at 36 venues. The border crossings improved for David Cronenberg’s Cannes-prized Maps to the Stars with $141,000 box office following a $300,000 tally last year in the Great White North.
Best of the exclusive newbies was the UK indie entry ’71 about a young English soldier’s experiences during the height of The Troubles in Ireland.
Weekend revenues topped $105 million for a 10% drop from last weekend’s Oscar frame. It was also 14% drop from 2014 when the openings of Non-Stop and Son of God led with respective bows of $28.9 million and $25.6 million.
The cons of Focus were tracking to do between $18-$20 million, and despite inclement weather in swathes of the country came in on target. The picture had a slight female tilt of 53% according to studio exit polling and was decidedly older appealing with 88% of the audience aged 25-years and older.
Similarly the bring-back-the-dead thriller The Lazarus Effect performed to tracking expectations. It too tilted female with 52% of opening weekenders with 60% of the audience aged 25-years and younger.
Though the days of the big Oscar bump ended two decades back, the small Oscar bump was evident for the likes of such winners as Birdman, Whiplash, Still Alice and The Theory of Everything that all added playdates. The quartet still have some international potential to exploit and, of course, mucho ancillary revenue in the offing.
| Weekend (estimates) February 27 – March 1, 2015 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| Focus | WB | 18.9 (5,860) | NEW | 3223 | 18.9 |
| Kingsman: The Secret Service | Fox | 11.9 (3,620) | -35% | 3282 | 85.8 |
| 50 Shades of Grey | Uni | 10.9 (3,220) | -51% | 3383 | 147.7 |
| SpongBob: Sponge Out of Water | Par | 10.9 (3,140) | -34% | 3467 | 140 |
| The Lazarus Effect | Relativity | 10.7 (4,010) | NEW | 2666 | 10.7 |
| McFarland, USA | BV | 7.8 (2,810) | 44% | 2765 | 22 |
| American Sniper | WB | 7.7 (2,640) | -24% | 2914 | 331.1 |
| The Duff | CBS | 7.0 (2,680) | -35% | 2622 | 19.9 |
| Still Alice | Sony Classics | 2.7 (2,030) | 23% | 1318 | 12 |
| Hot Tub Time Machine 2 | Par | 2.4 (820) | -60% | 2901 | 10.2 |
| Jupiter Ascending | WB | 2.1 (1,350) | -45% | 1545 | 43.1 |
| Birdman | Fox Searchlight | 2.0 (1,630) | 126% | 1213 | 40.3 |
| The Imitation Game | Weinstein/Eleva | 1.9 (1,740) | -24% | 1103 | 86.8 |
| Paddington | Weinstein Co. | 1.8 (1,240) | -28% | 1421 | 70.2 |
| A La Mala | Lionsgate | 1.5 (3,830) | NEW | 384 | 1.5 |
| Whiplash | Sony Classics | .67 (1,240) | 18% | 538 | 12.3 |
| The Theory of Everything | Focus | .65 (1,060) | 17% | 611 | 35 |
| The Wedding Ringer | Sony | .57 (1,060) | -56% | 542 | 63 |
| Big Hero 6 | BV | ,51 (1,480) | -5% | 348 | 220.9 |
| Black or White | Relativity/D Film | .46 (640) | -56% | 718 | 20.6 |
| Selma | Par | .44 (1,570) | -29% | 283 | 50.4 |
| Seventh Son | Uni | .31 (920) | -68% | 339 | 16.7 |
| Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb | Fox | .29 (1,070) | -16% | 273 | 112 |
| What We Do in the Shadows | Paladin/VSC | .28 (5,650) | 81% | 49 | 0.63 |
| Taken 3 | Fox | .25 (850) | -48% | 295 | 88 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $102.60 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -14% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -10% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Mr. Turner | Sony Classics | .21 (1,830) | 9% | 114 | 3.3 |
| Asterix: Le Domain des dieux | Metropole | .17 (2,210) | -22% | 75 | 0.44 |
| Maps to the Stars | Focus World | .14 (2,140) | 66 | 0.14 | |
| Leviathan | Sony Classics | .12 (1,500) | 40% | 80 | 0.87 |
| Wild Tales | Sony Classics | .11 (5,960) | 30% | 18 | 0.36 |
| Timbuktu | Cohen Media | 92,500 (1,810) | -23% | 51 | 0.62 |
| Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal | Well Go | 84,600 (3,520) | 24 | 0.08 | |
| Kaaki Sattai | ATMUS | 72,900 (2,210) | 33 | 0.07 | |
| Triumph in the Skies | Media Asia | 71,400 (5,100) | -62% | 14 | 0.33 |
| 71 | Roadside Attract. | 56,300 (14,080) | 4 | 0.06 | |
| Two Days, One Night | IFC/Metropole | 45,900 (780) | -51% | 59 | 1.5 |
| Deli Man | Cohen Media | 34,700 (2,310) | 15 | 0.03 | |
| After the Ball | Pacific Northwest | 25,500 (710) | 36 | 0.03 | |
| The Hunting Ground | Weinstein Co. | 24,600 (12,300) | 2 | 0.02 | |
| Tokyo Fiancee | Axia | 5,800 (1,450) | 4 | 0.01 | |
| Autrui | Metropole | 5,600 (1,400) | 4 | 0.01 | |
| Everly | Weinstein Co. | 4,800 (250) | 19 | 0.01 | |
| The Salvation | IFC | 4,200 (2,100) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| Futuro Beach | Strand | 3,600 (3,600) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 1 – February 26, 2015) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| Warner Bros. (8) | 439.7 | 25.90% | |||
| Universal (8) | 250.8 | 14.80% | |||
| Paramount (7) | 235.1 | 13.80% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (9) | 224.8 | 13.20% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (6) | 132.1 | 7.80% | |||
| Buena Vista (6) | 106.2 | 6.20% | |||
| Sony (5) | 94.6 | 5.60% | |||
| Relativity (4) | 44.9 | 2.60% | |||
| Lionsgate (4) | 34.6 | 2.00% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (2) | 31.6 | 1.90% | |||
| Sony Classics (7) | 24.3 | 1.40% | |||
| CBS (1) | 12.9 | 0.75% | |||
| Focus (3) | 12.7 | 0.75% | |||
| Other * (67) | 55.7 | 3.30% | |||
| 1700 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.5% | |||||
