By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
It was Straight Outta Compton and right to the top of weekend viewing with a potent estimated $56 million debut. The transition of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to the big screen disappointed with a $13.5 million start.
Exclusive newcomers were chockablock with encouraging prospects, including nonfiction Himalayan conquest Meru posting $91,400 from seven screens and Amerindie Mistress America waving the flag with $93,600 from four engagements.
In the niches, Indian imports included strong bows for Brothers: Blood Against Blood with $343,000 and Rangi Taranga posting the best ever launch of a Kannada-language picture of $187,000. The Chinese Go Away Mr. Tumor had an OK gross of $45,200 at 15 venues.
Session revenues nudged up to $145 million, resulting in a 7% boost from seven days prior and was dead even with the comparable 2015 period. A year back, the second weekend of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles led with a $28.5 million tally and newcomers Let’s Be Cops, The Expendables 3 and The Giver had respective B.O. of $17.8 million, $15.9 million and $12.3 million.
Straight Outta Compton‘s saga of 80s Hip Hop pioneers NWA was serious, urban and premiering off the cusp of the season’s most competitive period. Early on, skeptical pundits were predicting the modestly budgeted film would have a strong $25 million start.
Early previews and tracking bumped the number up to $35 million and it kept climbing to as high as $47 million days before opening. Studio exit demos identified the audience as 52% female with 51% of the audience aged 30-years and younger. The other good news was that African Americans composed 46% of viewers with Hispanics buying 21% of tickets and Caucasians composing 23% of the total.
On a related note, Universal’s domestic box office exceeded $2 billion on Friday, only the second time that has occurred in a calendar year. The current annual champ is Warner Bros. with a 2009 cume of $2.1 billion. Universal will not only top that number but top it on an adjusted basis.
Meanwhile The Man from U.N.C.L.E., the little-remembered 1960s TV spy skein, found Napoleon So-Low. Anticipation wasn’t high for the adaptation with tracking suggesting a slightly better bow of between $15 million and $17 million. Exit demos revealed a 52% female audience with 86% aged 25-years and older. It could well be the season’s biggest misfire.
| Weekend (estimates) August 14 – 16, 2015 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| Straight Outta Compton | Uni | 56.0 (20,330) | NEW | 2757 | 56 |
| Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation | Par | 17.1 (4,630) | -40% | 3700 | 138.3 |
| The Man from U.N.C.L.E. | WB | 13.5 (3,710) | NEW | 3638 | 13.5 |
| Fantastic Four | Fox | 8.1 (2,020) | -69% | 4004 | 42 |
| The Gift | STX/D Films | 6.5 (2,590) | -45% | 2503 | 23.6 |
| Ant-Man | BV | 5.5 (2,390) | -30% | 2306 | 157.6 |
| Vacation | WB | 5.3 (1,720) | -41% | 3088 | 46.8 |
| Minions | Uni | 5.1 (1,950) | -31% | 2640 | 312.9 |
| Ricki and the Flash | Sony | 4.5 (2,200) | -31% | 2064 | 14.6 |
| Trainwreck | Uni | 3.8 (1,910) | -38% | 1998 | 97.9 |
| Pixels | Sony | 3.9 (1,560) | -38% | 2176 | 64.5 |
| Shaun the Sheep | Lionsgate/Elevation | 2.8 (1,200) | -30% | 2360 | 11.1 |
| Southpaw | Weinstein Co. | 2.4 (1,410) | -48% | 1727 | 45.6 |
| Inside Out | BV | 2.0 (1,990) | -25% | 1019 | 339.3 |
| Jurassic World | Uni | 1.2 (1,680) | -36% | 738 | 638 |
| Mr. Holmes | Roadside | .84 (1,420) | -34% | 589 | 14.3 |
| Paper Towns | Fox | .61 (1,010) | -59% | 599 | 30.4 |
| Irrational Man | Sony Classics | .41 (970) | -51% | 425 | 3.1 |
| The End of the Tour | A24 | .38 (2,890) | 57% | 133 | 0.92 |
| Srimanthudu | Classics | .37 (3,300) | -76% | 113 | 2.7 |
| San Andreas | WB | .35 (1,310) | -26% | 266 | 153.5 |
| Brothers: Blood Against Blood | Fox Intl | .34 (2,090) | NEW | 164 | 0.34 |
| Le Mirage | Seville | .31 (4,320) | -15% | 72 | 1.4 |
| Assassination | Well Go | .28 (10,140) | -1% | 28 | 0.8 |
| Max | WB | .26 (860) | 101% | 304 | 41.2 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $138.65 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 0% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | 7% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Phoenix | IFC/Films We Like | .20 (6,220) | 55% | 32 | 0.65 |
| Rangi Taranga | Joystyx | .19 (5,840) | 32 | 0.19 | |
| Amy | A24/Mongrel | .19 (1,430) | -31% | 131 | 7.3 |
| The Best of Enemies | Magnolia | .12 (2,570) | 48% | 47 | 0.34 |
| The Diary of a Teenage Girl | Sony Classics | .11 (4,960) | 109% | 22 | 0.19 |
| Mistress America | Fox Searchlight | 93,600 (23,400) | 4 | 0.09 | |
| Meru | Music Box | 91,400 (13,060) | 7 | 0.09 | |
| Vasuvum Saravananum Onna Padichavanga | Prime Media | 77,900 (1,470) | 53 | 0.08 | |
| Once I Was a Beehive | Purdie | 65,300 (3,440) | 19 | 0.07 | |
| Cop Car | Focus | 49,700 (830) | 90% | 60 | 0.08 |
| Go Away Mr. Tumor | China Lion | 45,200 (3,010) | 15 | 0.05 | |
| The Stanford Prison Experiment | IFC | 45,100 (1,250) | -46% | 36 | 0.53 |
| Vaalu | ATMUS | 33,400 (1,080) | 31 | 0.03 | |
| Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet | Gkids | 30,700 (3,070) | 12% | 10 | 0.07 |
| People Places Things | Film Arcade | 30,300 (1,680) | 18 | 0.03 | |
| Walt Before Mickey | Voltage | 15,900 (3,300) | 3 | 0.02 | |
| Turbo Kid | Epic | 15,700 (1,940) | 8 | 0.02 | |
| Tom at the Farm | Amplify | 13,600 (800) | 17 | 0.01 | |
| Marshland | Outsider | 11,200 (1,400) | 8 | 0.01 | |
| Fort Tilden | Orion | 8,500 (940) | 9 | 0.01 | |
| Ten Thousand Saints | Screen Media | 7,900 (880) | 9 | 0.01 | |
| Paulette | Cinema Guild | 7,800 (7,800) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Air | Vertical | 6,100 (440) | 14 | 0.01 | |
| Rosenwald | Ciesla | 4,900 (4,900) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 1 – August 13, 2015) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| Universal (16) | 1977.4 | 27.50% | |||
| Buena Vista (12) | 1397.3 | 19.50% | |||
| Warner Bros. (21) | 1194.5 | 16.60% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (16) | 728.9 | 10.10% | |||
| Paramount (10) | 487.1 | 6.80% | |||
| Sony (9) | 292.2 | 4.10% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (14) | 236.7 | 3.30% | |||
| Lionsgate (10) | 222.6 | 3.10% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (6) | 92.9 | 1.30% | |||
| Focus (8) | 79.4 | 1.10% | |||
| Relativity (6) | 71.7 | 1.00% | |||
| Sony Classics (17) | 48.7 | 0.70% | |||
| A24 (7) | 43.5 | 0.60% | |||
| Open Road (5) | 39.3 | 0.50% | |||
| CBS (1) | 34.1 | 0.50% | |||
| Other * (233) | 237.2 | 3.30% | |||
| 7183.5 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.35% | |||||
