By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
A stranded, adorable alien found Home at the top of weekend moviegoing, with an estimated debut of $53.6 million. The session’s other national bow, gay-panic comedy Get Hard, proved canny counterprogramming, brunching to $34.6 million. A national expansion for critically lauded-horror fable It Follows grossed an OK $3.6 million to rank fifth overall.
Exclusive bows included a potent debut for Noah Baumbach’s Brooklyn-centric cross-generation comedy While We’re Young, with $224,000 from just four artisanal cafes.
In the niches, Telugu Jil had a fair start of $171,000 while newcomer distrib Park Side’s American indie A Girl Like Her failed to find favor with $118,000 tally at 175 venues. Also soft was the years-delayed release of Bradley Cooper-Jennifer Lawrence period drama Serena that grossed $104,000 from 60 screens.
Session revenues expanded to more than $150 million for an 18% uptick from seven days prior and a 9% improvement from 2014. Twelve months back, the launch of Noah floated $43.7 million followed by Divergent at $25.6 million.
As as Friday figures rolled in it was clear that the family targeted Home would prevail over Get Hard by a significant degree and finish with more than a $50 million gross.
Studio exit polling identified Home’s opening crowd as 60% female, and unsurprisingly heavily comprised of family filmgoers with 57% of viewers aged 25-years and younger. The DreamWorks Animation entry opened a week earlier in nine foreign climes with 46 new territories coming on this weekend, adding an estimated $24 million to the pic’s pantry.
Comic star power appeared to have propelled Get Hard to deliver on-target results. Critical response ranged from withering to loudly expressed discomfort, but the intended audience wasn’t expecting a politically correct outing. The picture skewed 54% male with 61% of the audience aged 25-years and older.
On the alternative side, Bleecker Street Films’ debut release, the sentimental Al Pacino rock fantasy Danny Collins expanded to 29 sites and continued strong per-screens that bode well for its national release next week.
| Weekend (estimates) March 27 – 29, 2015 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| Home | Fox | 53.6 (14,450) | NEW | 3708 | 53.6 |
| Get Hard | WB | 34.6 (10,900) | NEW | 3175 | 34.6 |
| Insurgent | Lionsgate | 21.9 (5,660) | -58% | 3875 | 86.2 |
| Cinderella | BV | 17.3 (4,530) | -51% | 3815 | 149.8 |
| It Follows | Weinstein | 3.6 (2,950) | 940% | 1218 | 4.3 |
| Kingsman: The Secret Service | Fox | 3.0 (1,690) | -35% | 1785 | 119.4 |
| Run All Night | WB | 2.2 (920) | -57% | 2377 | 23.8 |
| The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | Searchlight | 2.2 (1,450) | -57% | 1498 | 28.1 |
| The Gunman | Open Road | 2.0 (700) | -61% | 2816 | 8.7 |
| Do You Believe? | Pure Flix | 2.0 (1,460) | -45% | 1356 | 6.9 |
| Focus | WB | 1.3 (1,060) | -59% | 1260 | 51.9 |
| McFarland, USA | BV | 1.1 (990) | -49% | 1126 | 40.6 |
| American Sniper | WB | .89 (920) | -45% | 970 | 345.4 |
| Chappie | Sony | .77 (770) | -71% | 1002 | 30.1 |
| SpongBob: Sponge Out of Water | Par | .59 (440) | -75% | 1354 | 160.2 |
| Fifty Shades of Grey | Uni | .55 (1,000) | -59% | 554 | 165 |
| The Lazarus Effect | Relativity/D Film | .46 (690) | -64% | 672 | 24.9 |
| The Duff | CBS | .39 (610) | -68% | 651 | 33.2 |
| Still Alice | Sony Classics | .36 (890) | -24% | 401 | 17.9 |
| Wild Tales | Sony Classics | .29 (2,520) | 10% | 116 | 1.6 |
| What We Do in the Shadows | Paladin/VSC | .27 (1,790) | -14% | 151 | 2.4 |
| Paddington | Weinstein | .27 (600) | -37% | 454 | 74.7 |
| The Imitation Game | Weinstein/Elevation | .25 (890) | -34% | 277 | 90.5 |
| While We’re Young | A24 | .22 (56,020) | NEW | 4 | 0.22 |
| Danny Collins | Bleecker Street | .22 (7,520) | 201% | 29 | 0.32 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $147.60 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 9% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | 18% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| 71 | Roadside Attract. | .19 (1,590) | -19% | 121 | 1 |
| Jil | Great India | .17 (2,550) | 67 | 0.17 | |
| Gett: The Trial of Vivian Anselam | Music Box/EyeSteel | .12 (1,580) | -14% | 75 | 0.75 |
| A Girl Like Her | Park Side | .12 (680) | 175 | 0.12 | |
| Serena | Magnolia | .10 (1,730) | 60 | 0.1 | |
| Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter | Amplify | 88,200 (2,940) | 158% | 30 | 0.14 |
| The Wrecking Crew | Magnolia | 81,500 (1,630) | -17% | 50 | 0.31 |
| Mr. Turner | Sony Classics | 69,800 (980) | -22% | 71 | 4 |
| That Thing Called Tadhana | ABS | 55,600 (1,680) | 33 | 0.06 | |
| The Salt of the Earth | Sony Classics | 42,700 (10,670) | 4 | 0.04 | |
| Red Army | Sony Classics | 41,600 (590) | -45% | 71 | 0.58 |
| Boychoir | Mongrel | 29,800 (3,730) | 8 | 0.03 | |
| White God | Magnolia | 22,100 (4,420) | 5 | 0.02 | |
| Ride the Thunder | Koster | 21,800 (21,800) | 1 | 0.02 | |
| How to Fight in Six Inch Heels | Wave | 19,200 (3,200) | 6 | 0.02 | |
| Man from Reno | Gravitas | 14,700 (3,670) | 4 | 0.01 | |
| 100 Days of Love | Tricolor | 13,900 (820) | 17 | 0.01 | |
| The Riot Club | IFC | 13,300 (2,660) | 5 | 0.01 | |
| Marinoni: The Fire in the Frame | Tekno Hut | 9,200 (2,300) | 4 | 0.01 | |
| The Barber | Arc Entertainment | 4,200 (380) | 11 | 0.01 | |
| Nightlife | Film Arcade | 3,550 (360) | 10 | 0.01 | |
| Kidnapping of Michel Houellebe | Kino | 3,300 (3,300) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Welcome to New York | IFC | 540 (540) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 1 – March 26, 2015) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| Warner Bros. (10) | 539.8 | 23.30% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (10) | 280.2 | 12.10% | |||
| Universal (8) | 280.1 | 12.10% | |||
| Paramount (7) | 273.1 | 11.80% | |||
| Buena Vista (7) | 267.1 | 11.50% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (8) | 143.6 | 6.20% | |||
| Sony (6) | 126.2 | 5.50% | |||
| Lionsgate (6) | 103.3 | 4.50% | |||
| Relativity (5) | 70.1 | 3.00% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (3) | 61.9 | 2.70% | |||
| Sony Classics (8) | 36.7 | 1.60% | |||
| CBS (1) | 32.8 | 1.40% | |||
| Focus (4) | 14.4 | 0.65% | |||
| Open Road (3) | 12.7 | 0.55% | |||
| Other * (96) | 71.4 | 3.10% | |||
| 2313.4 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | |||||
