The Weekend Report

The battle of the tiny bots wound up with Ant-Man ahead of incoming Pixels with respective box office of $24.7 million and $23.9 million. The session saw two other national debuts with limited punch. Rocky Southpaw slotted in fifth spot with $16 million and young adult adaptation Paper Towns was right behind at $12.4 million.

In limited wide release, The Vatican Tapes exorcised $809,000. In the niches, record-setting streak of Baahubali continued, adding 50 dubbed Hindi prints and a weekend tally of $670,000 that pushed its cume to $8.3 million. Current Chinese chart topper Pancake Man had a potent debut of $267,000 from 13 creperies.

Exclusive newcomers were dull with only French import Samba dancing to an encouraging $23,700 from two halls. And Mr. Holmes doubled its complement of theaters and maintained a solid hold with $2.8 million.

Revenues for the frame generated roughly $150 million and a 24% decline from last weekend. It was also a slight 3% slip from 2014 when the launch of Lucy and Hercules topper the charts with respective bows of $43.9 million and $29.8 million.

While hardly a breakout, mixed media comedy-adventure Pixels wound up grossing what recent tracking surveys indicated and internal hopes of something closer to $30 million (and commensurate bragging rights) had to be tamped down. The opening weekend audience was 54% male with 62% of viewers aged 25-years and young that bodes well for its chances with the family crowd. Pixels opened in South Korea a week back to an OK $3.3 million and added major territories including Mexico, Russia and Spain this week for an estimated $20 million tally.

Positioned as an award contender, Southpaw was critically assessed as having a glass jaw. Tracking assessments set a $15 million ceiling that it wound up exceeding but a big question mark remains hovering over round two. Described as too violent to break out, there was at least initial hope in its 50/50 gender breakdown in opening days with another 50/50 split decision with over/under those aged 25-years old.

From the same author as last year’s hugely successful The Fault in Our Stars, Paper Towns was positioned to make lightning strike twice. Tracking revealed a different scenario with slightly less interest than Southpaw. Studio exit demos that identified a crowd comprised 71% female with 78% aged 25-years and younger suggest that it hit the mark with its core audience … and not much with other viewership.

Paper Towns got a two-week head start in a handful of international markets that generated about $8 million. This weekend saw the addition of 34 territories and an additional $8 million to its larder.

With the effective expansion of Mr. Holmes, the summer alternative scene has largely been dominated by Roadside Attractions that also positioned Love & Mercy for the hot months. The other major summer story has been not only the number of unusually high grossing imports from India, but the potency of Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Punjabi pictures in the marketplace simultaneously.

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