By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
The chase wasn’t on and Avengers: Age of Ultron easily took session viewing honors with an estimated $78.3 million. Although it had a clear field the sole wide release Hot Pursuit sputtered to $13.2 million in second spot. It was nonetheless a bonanza when put alongside the $437,000 bow for Jack Black homecoming comedy The D Train that bowed in 1009 locations.
Exclusive bows provided a string of encouraging, but not quite boffo results including the biopic Saint Laurent with $35,200 and the adaptation of the bestseller The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared grossing $32,400. Other exclusives included docs I Am Big Bird and The Seven Five and the epic restoration of The Apu Trilogy.
Activity was frantic for niche releases including a solid $823,000 launch for the Hindi Piku. There was also a good result for the Chinese import The Left Ear at 14 sites and $141,000 for the French comedy La Famille Belier in Québec on 36 screens. However, the other newcomers could only muster tepid returns including $238,000 for the apartment hunting 5 Flights Up, $231,000 for the not too inspirational Noble and $138,000 for Arnie’s dwindling army in the zombie tale Maggie.
The frame also saw significant expansions for the classic Far From the Madding Crowd and the offbeat black comedy Welcome to Me with the former strong and the latter flagging.
Revenues for the session topped $130 million, which translated into a 45% backslide from last weekend and a more modest 4% decline from 2014. Twelve months back the debut of Neighbors led with $49 million with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 trailing with $35.5 million.
Tracking for the comedy Hot Pursuit suggested an opening in the range of $18 million to $20 million that was not to be. A distaff take on Midnight Run, the jaunt was largely met with withering reviews from major critics that saw scant chemistry between headliners Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara. Studio exit demos identified a not unsurprising 62% female tilt but a higher than expected older crowd of 82% of folk aged 25-years and older.
Even with Furious and Ultron carving up the global scene, it still doesn’t quite feel summery at the box office. Next weekend promises a close race between new installments for Mad Max and Pitch Perfect.
| Weekend (estimates) May 8 – 10, 2015 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| Avengers: Age of Ultron | BV | 78.3 (18,320) | -59% | 4276 | 314 |
| Hot Pursuit | WB | 13.2 (4,400) | NEW | 3003 | 13.2 |
| The Age of Adaline | Lionsgate | 5.5 (1,800) | -11% | 3070 | 31.5 |
| Furious 7 | Uni | 5.3 (1,750) | -21% | 3004 | 338.4 |
| Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 | Sony | 5.2 (1,620) | -12% | 3201 | 58.1 |
| Ex Machina | A24/Mongrel | 3.4 (1,710) | 50% | 2004 | 15.7 |
| Home | Fox | 2.9 (1,170) | -16% | 2495 | 162 |
| Woman in Gold | Weinstein Co. | !.6 (1,510) | 1% | 1080 | 26.9 |
| Cinderella | BV | 1.5 (1,490) | -44% | 1034 | 196.1 |
| Unfriended | Uni | 1.4 ((820) | -36% | 1701 | 30.9 |
| The Longest Ride | Fox | 1.3 (880) | -24% | 1464 | 35.2 |
| Monkey Kingdom | BV | 1.2 (820) | -4% | 1431 | 14.3 |
| Get Hard | WB | 1.1 (1,120) | -10% | 955 | 87.8 |
| Piku | Yash Raj | .82 (6,970) | NEW | 118 | 0.82 |
| Far From the Madding Crowd | Searchlight | .76 (7,670) | 360% | 99 | 1 |
| Insurgent | Lionsgate | .73 (870) | -20% | 843 | 127.6 |
| Little Boy | Open Road | .57 (740) | -35% | 775 | 5.2 |
| The Water Diviner | WB/eOne | .52 (1,350) | -22% | 385 | 3.2 |
| The D Train | IFC | .44 (430) | NEW | 1009 | 0.44 |
| While We’re Young | A24/Elevation | .24 (940) | -45% | 258 | 6.9 |
| 5 Flights Up | Focus | .24 (2,740) | NEW | 87 | 0.24 |
| Noble | Aspiration | .23 (1,320) | NEW | 175 | 0.23 |
| Kingsman: The Secret Service | Fox | .23 (800) | 18% | 289 | 127.1 |
| Welcome to Me | Alchemy | .19 (1,410) | 436% | 133 | 0 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $125.30 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -4% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -45% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| La Famille Belier | Seville | .14 (3,920) | 36 | 0.14 | |
| Maggie | Roadside Attractions | .14 (1,750) | 79 | 0.14 | |
| Danny Collins | Bleecker/Elevation | .12 (740) | -44% | 166 | 5.3 |
| The Left Ear | Media Asia | .11 (8,060) | 14 | 0.11 | |
| Dior and I | Orchard | 94,300 (990) | -39% | 95 | 0.67 |
| Iris | Magnolia | 85,600 (2,590) | 49% | 33 | 0.19 |
| The Salt of the Earth | Sony Classics | 83,700 (1,050) | -3% | 80 | 0.83 |
| Wild Tales | Sony Classics | 48,900 (1,110) | -21% | 44 | 2.7 |
| Saint Laurent | Sony Classics | 35,200 (8,800) | 4 | 0.04 | |
| The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed … | Music Box | 32,400 (4,050) | 8 | 0.03 | |
| Sister Code | GVN | 25,800 (650) | 40 | 0.03 | |
| The Seven Five | IFC | 15,900 (7,950) | 2 | 0.02 | |
| The Apu Trilogy (reissue) | Janus | 14,700 (14,700) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| I Am Big Bird | TriBeCa | 9,300 (9,300) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Playing It Cool | Vertical | 5,700 (440) | 12 | 0.01 | |
| Heaven Adores You | Eagle Rock | 3,400 (1,130) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 1 – May 7, 2015) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| Universal (10) | 645.3 | 18.10% | |||
| Warner Bros. (12) | 643.1 | 18.00% | |||
| Buena Vista (9) | 582.6 | 16.30% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (12) | 485.1 | 13.60% | |||
| Paramount (7) | 276.1 | 7.70% | |||
| Lionsgate (8) | 193.1 | 5.40% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (10) | 184.3 | 5.10% | |||
| Sony (7) | 181.6 | 5.10% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (5) | 73.6 | 2.10% | |||
| Relativity (6) | 71.6 | 2.00% | |||
| Sony Classics (10) | 40.9 | 1.10% | |||
| CBS (1) | 33.9 | 0.95% | |||
| A24 (3) | 23.5 | 0.65% | |||
| Open Road (4) | 20.8 | 0.60% | |||
| Other * (142) | 119.1 | 3.30% | |||
| 3574.6 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.45% | |||||
| Top Limited Releases (January 1 – May 7, 2015) | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
| Whiplash * | Sony Classics | 7,543,077 | |||
| Inherent Vice * | WB | 7,025,247 | |||
| While We’re Young | A24/Elevation | 6,641,696 | |||
| Foxcather * | Sony Classics | 5,399,596 | |||
| Danny Collins | Bleecker Street/Elevation | 5,229,700 | |||
| True Story | Fox Searchlight | 4,502,202 | |||
| A La Mala | Lionsgate | 3,661,925 | |||
| Spare Parts | Lionsgate | 3,645,983 | |||
| What We Do in the Shadows | Paladin/VSC | 3,581,073 | |||
| Mr. Turner * | Sony Classics | 3,513,146 | |||
| Four Blood Moons | Fathom | 2,851,880 | |||
| The Water Diviner | WB/eOne | 2,674,600 | |||
| Wild Tales | Sony Classics | 2,652,452 | |||
| The Interview | Sony | 2,577,980 | |||
| 2015 Oscar Short Films | Magnolia | 2,412,593 | |||
| * does not include 2014 box office | |||||
