By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Star Wars: The Force Awakens didn’t blink as it opened to an estimated $239.4 million and corralled roughly 78% of weekend revenues. The frame’s other two national newcomers followed in the distance with Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip grossing $14.2 million and the raucous Sisters right behind with $13.4 million.
Also entering the fray was the acclaimed Oscar foreign-language short-listed Son of Saul on three screens for a $36,800 tally. The season’s other Oscar contenders experienced screen loss with the exception of The Danish Girl and Youth which both expanded to good results.
A pair of Indian imports cracked the top 10. Dilwale entered with a potent $1.9 million while Bajirao Mastani closely followed with $1.6 million. Also solid were the Chinese entries Mojin: The Lost Legend and Surprise – Journey to the West with respective openings of $228,000 and $134,000.
Session revenues ballooned to about $305 million and 303% uptick from seven days prior. It was 126% improved from 2014 when The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies led with $54.7 million and freshmen Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Annie debuted respectively with $17.1 million and $15.9 million.
The anticipation for Star Wars: Episode VII was palpable with advance ticket sales in excess of $100 million setting records and the likely prospect of a debut littered with new box office benchmarks. Its Friday opening (including Thursday box office) of $120 million and weekend gross of $239.4 million set records for biggest single day and weekend debut besting prior levels held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 of $91.1 million and Jurassic World’s $208 million launch earlier this year.
The film opened day-and-date in most international territories with the notable exception of China (January 9) to an estimated $280 million that ranked third all-time behind Jurassic World and the Harry Potter finale. The UK was the top territory with $49 million where it is now the record holder for best opener. It set the same record in first tier nations including Germany, Australia and Russia… and not to forget it also received positive reviews from top critics.
Studio exit demos identified the domestic audience as 58% male and 63% aged 25-years and older. Additional 20% were families. It also scored high on 3D with 47% taking that option and 19% buying large format (including Imax) tickets. Unquestionably more records will tumble in subsequent weeks.
On the counterprogramming side, both Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip and Sisters opened to tracking estimates in the low to mid-teens. Alvin skewed slightly female at 52% with 54% of the audience aged 25-years and younger. Its family audience component was not unsurprisingly 70%. Sisters befittingly had a 79% female crowd with 58% aged 30-years and younger.
Holdovers generally experienced drops of 50% to 60% and lost hundreds and hundreds of engagements.
Weekend (estimates) December 18 – 20, 2015 | |||||
Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
Star Wars: The Force Awakens | BV | 239.4 (57,920) | NEW | 4134 | 239.4 |
Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Road Chip | Fox | 14.2 (3,890) | NEW | 3653 | 14.2 |
Sisters | Uni | 13.4 (4,560) | NEW | 2962 | 13.4 |
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 | Lionsgate | 5.6 (2,120) | -51% | 2653 | 254.4 |
Creed | WB | 5.0 (2,060) | -51% | 2433 | 87.8 |
The Good Dinosaur | BV | 4.2 (1,530) | -59% | 2755 | 96.5 |
Krampus | Uni | 3.8 (1,590) | -55% | 2371 | 34.8 |
In the Heart of the Sea | WB | 3.4 (1,100) | -69% | 3103 | 18.6 |
Dilwale | UTV | 1.9 (7,020) | NEW | 268 | 2 |
Bajirao Mastani | Eros | 1.6 (5,460) | NEW | 304 | 1.6 |
Spotlight | Open Road/eOne | 1,4 (1,730) | -43% | 825 | 22.8 |
Spectre | Sony | 1.3 (1,090) | -67% | 1225 | 193.8 |
Brooklyn | Fox Searchlight/Mongrel | 1.2 (1,920) | -40% | 614 | 16.5 |
The Night Before | Sony | 1.1 (900) | -73% | 1235 | 41.4 |
The Danish Girl | Focus | .54 (6,680) | 106% | 81 | 1.3 |
The Peanuts Movie | Fox | .53 (690) | -80% | 771 | 126.3 |
The Martian | Fox | .45 (910) | -69% | 493 | 223.9 |
Trumbo | Bleecker Street | .39 (1,420) | -54% | 273 | 6.3 |
The Big Short | Par | .35 (44,120) | -50% | 8 | 1.3 |
Love the Coopers | CBS/eOne | .29 (490) | -79% | 593 | 25.5 |
Youth | Fox Searchlight | .25 (4,030) | 130% | 61 | 0.52 |
Mojin: The Lost Legend | Well Go | .23 (11,400) | NEW | 20 | 0.23 |
Carol | Weinstein Co. | .22 (13,940) | -34% | 16 | 1.6 |
Bridge of Spies | BV | .22 (870) | -63% | 258 | 69.9 |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $298.60 | ||||
% Change (Last Year) | 126% | ||||
% Change (Last Week) | 303% | ||||
Also debuting/expanding | |||||
Room | A24 | .15 (890) | -42% | 171 | 4.5 |
Surprise – Journey to the West | Media Asia | .13 (5,360) | 25 | 0.13 | |
Macbeth | Weinstein Co. | .13 (1,380) | -48% | 97 | 0.65 |
Legend | Uni/Elevation | .13 (1,490) | -61% | 85 | 1.7 |
Chi-Raq | Roadside Attractions | .11 (1,520) | -81% | 74 | 2.4 |
Thanga Magan | Wunderbar | 94,800 (1,930) | 49 | 0.09 | |
Son of Saul | Sony Classics | 36,800 (12,270) | 3 | 0.04 | |
Hitchcock/Truffaut | Cohen Media | 26,200 (1,190) | -47% | 22 | 0.16 |
Loafer | iDream | 19,800 (660) | 30 | 0.02 | |
The Himalayas | CJ | 10,500 (3,500) | 3 | 0.01 | |
Extraction | Lionsgate | 8,300 (640) | 13 | 0.01 | |
He Never Died | Vertical | 6,400 (640) | 10 | 0.01 | |
Domestic Market Share (January 1 – December 17, 2015) * | |||||
Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
Universal (24) | 2387.1 | 23.40% | |||
Buena Vista (15) | 1666.1 | 16.30% | |||
Warner Bros. (30) | 1556.3 | 15.20% | |||
20th Century Fox (21) | 1213.6 | 11.90% | |||
Sony (18) | 939.5 | 9.20% | |||
Paramount (13) | 587.9 | 5.70% | |||
Lionsgate (20) | 580.3 | 5.70% | |||
Weinstein Co. (19) | 286.7 | 2.80% | |||
Focus (13) | 119.9 | 1.20% | |||
Fox Searchlight (10) | 113.2 | 1.10% | |||
Relativity/Europa (7) | 86 | 0.85% | |||
Open Road (7) | 62.6 | 0.60% | |||
Sony Classics (21) | 62.5 | 0.60% | |||
STX (2) | 58.9 | 0.60% | |||
CBS (2) | 57.3 | 0.55% | |||
A24 (9) | 50.4 | 0.50% | |||
Other * (377) | 388.2 | 3.80% | |||
10216.5 | 100% | ||||
* none greater than 0.4% | |||||
Top Domestic Grossers (Jan. 1 – Dec. 17, 2015) * | |||||
Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
Jurrasic World | Uni | 652,308,704 | |||
Avengers: Age of Ultron | BV | 459,029,868 | |||
Inside Out | BV | 356,461,711 | |||
Furious 7 | Uni | 353,125,507 | |||
American Sniper * | WB | 348,797,073 | |||
Minions | Uni | 336,045,770 | |||
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 | Lionsgate | 248,788,774 | |||
The Martian | Fox | 223,429,423 | |||
Cinderella | BV | 201,151,353 | |||
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation | Par | 195,257,225 | |||
Spectre | Sony | 192,476,132 | |||
Pitch Perfect 2 | Uni | 184,446,466 | |||
Ant-Man | BV | 180,202,163 | |||
Home | Fox | 177,397,510 | |||
Hotel Transylvania 2 | Sony | 167,604,319 | |||
Fifty Shades of Grey | Uni | 166,248,790 | |||
SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water | Par | 163,553,869 | |||
Straight Outta Compton | Uni | 161,246,861 | |||
San Andreas | WB | 155,190,832 | |||
Mad Max: Fury Road | WB | 153,636,354 | |||
* does not include 2014 box office |