By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
They may be pint-sized in every other aspect but Minions are box office gold with a domestic debut estimated at $115.1 million. That left poor seconds for two other national newcomers. The horror entry The Gallows was left hanging with a $9.8 million bow and the sci-fi drama Self/Less had to cope with the latter at $5.4 million.
Best of the exclusive newbies was the American indie Tangerine with $61,200 from five screens. Following last weekend’s bow, biomusical Amy effectively added 344 playdates and posted a potent $1.8 million weekend.
In the niches, Telugu epic Baahubali, part one of the most expensive Indian film ever made, took a record-breaking $3.4 million in the U.S. as well as a record opening day in India of $8 million. That didn’t deter the Punjabi Hero from posting a decent $82,400 from 22 venues. Also strong were the Filipino The Breakup List with a $312,000 debut and the Chinese Forever Young (based on the U.S. rom-com Only You) with $72,300 from 14 engagements. In Québec, native Ego Trip failed to swell heads with $95,200 from 55 sites.
The frame generated roughly $215 million that ballooned box office by 60% from the prior weekend and was 44% improved from 2014. Twelve months back the launch of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes led with $72.6 million.
Domestic box office crossed $6 billion on Saturday; about 13 days earlier than in 2014. The year to date is roughly 7% ahead of last year’s pace and 4% faster than 2013.
Pundits calculated that the Despicable Me sidekicks might do as much as $100 million as headliners. That proved to be a little low as Minions bowed to the biggest opening day ever for an animated feature, but is likely to fall short of Shrek the Third’s $121.6 million first weekend. The audience tilted 59% female and was 55% aged 25-years and younger with 60% of viewers pegged as families. It appears to be working marginally better with the youngest demographic than Inside Out.
Minions‘ international roll out began two weeks ago and had amassed a sizeable $177 million from 26 territories. The current weekend saw the addition of 30 nations with record-breaking bows for an animated feature in France, Russia, Mexico and Thailand. The estimated overseas weekend is $124 million.
Low-budget chiller The Gallows was expected to open with a $12-$14 million tally but proved to be a lesser evil to the “yellow” peril. It swung 52% female with 53% of viewers aged 25-years old and younger.
Self/Less, reportedly an update of John Frankenheimer’s much-admired 1966 sci-fi thriller Seconds, was pretty much on target with low hanging tracking. Exit demos were unavailable.
Baahubali, marketed as the most expensive film in Indian cinema history, nonetheless proved to be a gamble that paid off handsomely. It’s all the more remarkable as (dubbed versions notwithstanding) it was produced outside the dominant Hindi sector of the industry. A second part to the epic will open in a year.
Weekend (estimates) July 10 – 12, 2015 | |||||
Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
Minions | Uni | 115.1 (26,770) | NEW | 4301 | 115.1 |
Jurassic World | Uni | 18.1 (5,250) | -38% | 3441 | 590.6 |
Inside Out | BV | 17.2 (4,730) | -42% | 3644 | 283.8 |
Terminator Genysis | Par | 13.6 (4,590) | -50% | 3783 | 68.6 |
The Gallows | WB | 9.8 (3,620) | NEW | 2720 | 9.8 |
Magic Mike XXL | WB | 9.6 (2,850) | -25% | 3376 | 48.3 |
Ted 2 | Uni | 5.5 (2,550) | -51% | 2171 | 71.5 |
Self/Less | Focus | 5.4 (2,280) | NEW | 2353 | 5.4 |
Baahubali | Blue Sky | 3.4 (14,310) | NEW | 239 | 4.9 |
Spy | Fox | 3.1 (1,110) | -40% | 1457 | 103.5 |
Max | WB | 3.4 (1,650) | -48% | 2088 | 33.7 |
Amy | A24/Mongrel | 1.8 (5,230) | 724% | 350 | 2.2 |
San Andreas | WB | 1.2 (1,620) | -57% | 756 | 150 |
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl | Fox Searchlight | .66 (1.160) | -47% | 570 | 5.5 |
Dope | Open Road/Sony | .63 (1,660) | -44% | 380 | 15.5 |
Mad Max: Fury Road | WB | .61 (1,800) | -40% | 338 | 150.3 |
Avengers: Age of Ultron | BV | .44 (1,310) | -50% | 338 | 455.2 |
Love and Mercy | Roadside Attract/eOne | .43 (1,450) | -42% | 296 | 11.3 |
I’ll See You in My Dreams | Bleecker Street | .34 (1,610) | -37% | 212 | 6.4 |
Pitch Perfect 2 | Uni | .34 (1,190) | -40% | 284 | 183.1 |
The Breakup List | ABS | .31 (4,950) | NEW | 63 | 0.31 |
Home | Fox | .21 (910) | -27% | 233 | 175.9 |
Testament of Youth | Sony Classics | .18 (1,950) | 8% | 91 | 1.2 |
Tomorrowland | BV | .17 (900) | -55% | 192 | 91.5 |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $209.10 | ||||
% Change (Last Year) | 44% | ||||
% Change (Last Week) | 60% | ||||
Also debuting/expanding | |||||
Infinitely Polar Bear | Sony Classics | .16 (2,150) | -13% | 76 | 0.6 |
Cartel Land | Orchard | .11 (4,300) | 790% | 25 | 0.13 |
Ego Trip | Seville | 95,200 (1,730) | 55 | 0.16 | |
The Overnight | Orchard | 98,200 (690) | -70% | 143 | 0.91 |
Faith of Our Fathers | IDP | 89,600 (590) | -80% | 154 | 0.89 |
The Wolfpack | Magnolia | 83,900 (1,250) | -38% | 67 | 0.97 |
Hero: Naam Yaad Rakhi | Punjabi | 82,400 (3,750) | 22 | 0.08 | |
Forever Young | China Lion | 72,300 (5,160) | 14 | 0.07 | |
A Little Chaos | Focus | 48,100 (860) | -59% | 56 | 0.5 |
Tangerine | Magnolia | 61,200 (12,240) | 5 | 0.06 | |
Jimmy’s Hall | Sony Classics | 39,700 (3,610) | 100% | 11 | 0.07 |
Nowitzki: The Perfect Shot | Magnolia | 20,300 (5,070) | 4 | 0.02 | |
What We Did on Our Holiday | Film Arcade | 16,600 (1,350) | 12 | 0.02 | |
Strangerland | Alchemy | 15,700 (710) | 22 | 0.02 | |
Do I Sound Gay? | IFC | 10,300 (10,300) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Tap World | Vitagraph | 10,200 (3,400) | 3 | 0.01 | |
10,000 km | Broad Green | 9,400 (1,380) | 7 | 0.01 | |
Boulevard | Starz | 7,100 (3,550) | 2 | 0.01 | |
Domestic Market Share (January 1 – July 9, 2015) | |||||
Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
Universal (13) | 1490.2 | 25.30% | |||
Buena Vista (11) | 1170.1 | 19.80% | |||
Warner Bros. (19) | 1084.8 | 18.40% | |||
20th Century Fox (14) | 654.3 | 11.10% | |||
Paramount (8) | 332.3 | 5.60% | |||
Sony (8) | 220.1 | 3.70% | |||
Lionsgate (8) | 213.2 | 3.60% | |||
Weinstein Co. (12) | 193.1 | 3.30% | |||
Fox Searchlight (6) | 90.8 | 1.50% | |||
Relativity (6) | 71.7 | 1.20% | |||
Focus (7) | 67.6 | 1.10% | |||
Sony Classics (13) | 43.9 | 0.75% | |||
Open Road (5) | 37.5 | 0.65% | |||
A24 (5) | 36.7 | 0.60% | |||
CBS (1) | 34.1 | 0.60% | |||
Other * (200) | 161.6 | 2.80% | |||
5902 | 100% | ||||
* none greater than 0.4% | |||||
Top Global Grossers (January 1 – July 9, 2015) | |||||
Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
Furious 7 | Uni | 1,514,002,197 | |||
Jurrasic World | Uni | 1,426,827,712 | |||
Avengers: Age of Ultron | BV | 1,382,785,927 | |||
Fifty Shades of Grey | Uni | 569,872,143 | |||
American Sniper | WB | 549,569,608 | |||
Cinderella | BV | 541,312,278 | |||
San Andreas | WB | 460,951,287 | |||
Kingsman: The Secret Service | Fox | 405,741,564 | |||
Inside Out | BV | 393,508,998 | |||
Home | Fox; DmWks | 381,626,543 | |||
Mad Max: Fury Road | WB | 364,202,046 | |||
Taken 3 | Fox; Europa | 328,171,749 | |||
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies * | WB | 324,095,379 | |||
SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water | Par | 314,647,753 | |||
Big Hero 6 * | BV | 307,976,246 | |||
Insurgent | Lionsgate | 292,611,041 | |||
Pitch Perfect 2 | Uni | 279,481,846 | |||
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb * | Fox | 227,154,859 | |||
Spy | Fox | 213,343,664 | |||
Tomorrowland | BV | 205,348,997 | |||
Jupiter Ascending | WB | 184,240,533 | |||
Minions | Uni | 177,549,975 | |||
The Imitation Game * | Weinstein; CAA | 177,547,088 | |||
Paddington * | Weinstein; Studio Canal | 165,403,291 | |||
From Vegas to Macau | Mega-vision | 165,381,086 | |||
* does not inlude 2014 box office | |||||
Putting the Minions trailer on Jurassic World had the kind of slingshot effect marketers dream about