By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Without a lot of competition, Furious 7 held on to top spot among movie goers with an estimated $60.5 million. The sole incoming national bow was the Nicholas Sparks weepie The Longest Ride, with an OK $13.3 million that ranked third overall.
The temporary lull in the release schedule provided a rare opportunity for alternative fare to get a toehold prior to the onslaught of summer blockbusters. Woman in Gold, Danny Collins and While We’re Young all seized the opportunity to add a significant number of playdates with the last title maintaining the greatest stamina of the trio.
Among exclusive launches both Dior and I and Olivier Assayas’ English-language Clouds of Sils Maria got off to strong starts. However, A.I. yarn Ex Machina machined an eye-popping $247,000 from a mere four labs.
In the niches there was an aggressive bow for the Telugu Son of Satyamurthy with a Wedneday bow that provided about $450,000 pre-weekend and added $849,000 for the current frame. Also potent was the Filipino You’re My Boss that grossed $446,000. Conversely, the inspirational Freetown failed to ignite with a $153,000 box office from 122 screens.
Overall revenues for the session approached $137 million for a sizeable 40% drop from seven days prior. It was a less precipitous 3% decline from 2014 when the second weekend of Captain America: The Winter Soldier edged out newcomer Rio 2 with respective tallies of $41.3 million and $39,3 million.
Furious 7 added openings in China and Russia this weekend that generated box office records in the former with a $70 million launch. The second weekend international tally of just shy of $200 million gives the current edition of the turbo-charged franchise an $800 million cume in less than two weeks of release.
The latest adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel The Longest Ride generated expected returns. While its target audience is decidedly female and younger there were hopes for a stronger male response based on its macho milieu. It was not to be as studio exit polls identified the audience as 73% female with 54% aged 25-years and younger. It played best in the heartland and historically it’s a film type with higher than average multiples based on opening gross.
| Weekend (estimates) April 10 – 12, 2015 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| Furious 7 | Uni | 60.5 (15,050) | -59% | 4022 | 252.5 |
| Home | Fox | 19.1 (5,160) | -29% | 3703 | 129.7 |
| The Longest Ride | Fox | 13.3 (3,960) | NEW | 3366 | 13.3 |
| Get Hard | WB | 8.5 (2,720) | -35% | 3132 | 71.1 |
| Cinderella | BV | 7.2 (2,390) | -29% | 3025 | 180.8 |
| Insurgent | Lionsgate | 6.9 (2,210) | -32% | 3118 | 114.9 |
| Woman in Gold | Weinstein Co. | 5.7 (3,810) | 174% | 1504 | 9.2 |
| It Follows | Weinstein Co. | 2.6 (1,590) | 3% | 1633 | 12.4 |
| Danny Collins | Bleecker Street | 1.5 (2,050) | 337% | 739 | 2.4 |
| Kingsman: The Secret Service | Fox | 1.3 (1,290) | -28% | 1013 | 124.5 |
| While We’re Young | A24 | 1.3 (5,410) | 175% | 246 | 2.3 |
| Do You Believe? | Pure Flix | .91 (870) | -41% | 1042 | 11.5 |
| Son of Satyamurthy | Classics | .85 (5,270) | NEW | 161 | 1.4 |
| The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | Fox Searchlight | .63 (850) | -42% | 741 | 31.5 |
| American Sniper | WB | .61 (990) | -3% | 616 | 347.2 |
| McFarland, USA | BV | .46 (880) | -26% | 518 | 42.6 |
| You’re My Boss | ABS | .45 (7,960) | NEW | 56 | 0.45 |
| Focus | WB | .29 (690) | -35% | 424 | 53.3 |
| Run All Night | WB | .28 (670) | -55% | 422 | 25.9 |
| Ex Machina | A24 | .25 (61,750) | NEW | 4 | 0.25 |
| SpongBob: Sponge Out of Water | Par | .24 (770) | -7% | 308 | 161.3 |
| Chappie | Sony | .21 (740) | -12% | 280 | 31.1 |
| Fifty Shades of Grey | Uni | .18 (630) | -27% | 284 | 165.8 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $130.90 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -3% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -40% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Detective Byomkesh Bakshi | Yash Raj | .16 (2,050) | -52% | 79 | 0.58 |
| La Passion d’Augustine | Seville | .16 (3,070) | 25% | 53 | 1.2 |
| Freetown | Purdie | .15 (1,260) | NEW | 121 | 0.22 |
| What We Do in the Shadows | Paladin/VSC | .15 (1,250) | -23% | 119 | 3.2 |
| Wild Tales | Sony Classics | .17 (1,490) | -24% | 113 | 2.2 |
| Still Alice | Sony Classics | .10 (570) | -42% | 174 | 18.4 |
| Let’s Get Married | China Lion | 93,700 (2,530) | -48% | 37 | 0.36 |
| The Salt of the Earth | Sony Classics | 83,200 (3,080) | 25% | 27 | 0.26 |
| Clouds of Sils Maria | IFC | 86,100 (28,700) | 3 | 0.09 | |
| Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter | Amplify | 56,800 (1,210) | -44% | 54 | 0.4 |
| Dior and I | Orchard | 44,600 (22,300) | 2 | 0.04 | |
| Desert Dancer | Relativity | 42,500 (1,850) | 23 | 0.04 | |
| Broken Horses | Reliance | 25,300 (530) | 48 | 0.03 | |
| T.S. Spivet | eOne | 22,400 (2,240) | 10 | 0.02 | |
| Lost River | WB | 20,100 (6,700) | 3 | 0.02 | |
| Kill Me Three Times | Magnolia | 16,400 (1,020) | 16 | 0.02 | |
| About Ely | Cinema Guild | 13,300 (13,300) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Black Souls | Vitagraph | 6,200 (3,100) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| The Sisterhood of Night | FreeStyle | 5,300 (530) | 10 | 0.01 | |
| Rebels of the Neon God | Big World | 4,600 (2,300) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 1 – April 9, 2015) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| Warner Bros. (11) | 611.6 | 21.60% | * | ||
| Universal (9) | 473.8 | 16.70% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (11) | 398.4 | 14.10% | |||
| Buena Vista (7) | 311.4 | 11.00% | |||
| Paramount (7) | 274.7 | 9.70% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (9) | 157.3 | 5.60% | |||
| Lionsgate (6) | 147.1 | 5.20% | |||
| Sony (6) | 127.9 | 4.50% | |||
| Relativity (5) | 70.9 | 2.50% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (3) | 67.1 | 2.40% | |||
| Sony Classics (9) | 39.1 | 1.40% | |||
| CBS (1) | 33.6 | 1.20% | |||
| Open Road (3) | 15.9 | 0.50% | |||
| Focus (4) | 14.5 | 0.50% | |||
| Other * (111) | 88.7 | 3.10% | |||
| 2832 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | |||||
| Top Limited Releases (January 1 – April 9, 2015) | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
| Whiplash * | Sony Classics | 7,521,265 | |||
| Inherent Vice * | WB | 7,025,247 | |||
| Foxcatcher * | Sony Classics | 5,399,596 | |||
| A La Mala | Lionsgate | 3,661,925 | |||
| Spare Parts | Lionsgate | 3,645,983 | |||
| Woman in Gold | Weinstein Co. | 3,450,898 | |||
| Mr. Turner * | Sony Classics | 3,417,559 | |||
| What We Do in the Shadows | Paladin/VSC | 3,058,137 | |||
| Four Blood Moons | Fathom | 2,851,880 | |||
| The Interview | Sony | 2,577,980 | |||
| 2015 Oscar Short Films | Magnolia | 2,412,593 | |||
| Ode to My Father | CJ | 2,221,256 | |||
| Wild Tales | Sony Classics | 2,042,219 | |||
| Cake | FreeStyle/D Film | 1,963,608 | |||
| P.K. * | UTV | 1,946,505 | |||
| * does not include 2014 box office | |||||
