By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Star Wars: The Force Awakens dominated holiday moviegoing with a second weekend estimated at $154.6 million. A quartet of Christmas Day releases favored comedy Daddy’s Home, ranking second with $38.7 million. Also strong was bio-ish Joy at $17.3 million while hardhitting Concussion and action remake Point Break got lost in the crush of holiday options with respective bows of $10.9 million and $9.9 million.
The 70mm exclusive 100-screen launch of The Hateful Eight arrived with both barrels blazing and a $4.5 million bounty.
In the niches, Telugu Bhale Manhi Roju bowed with an OK $80,300, andFilipino Beautie and the Beastie grossed $126,000. More potent was the Chinese Mr. Six with $282,000 from 30 engagements.
Exclusives pushing to get in under the wire for award consideration included a strong showing for marital challenge 45 Years of $60,800 from three engagements and a near-capacity $466,000 return for the immersive The Revenant at four ravines.
Session revenues topped $300 million and flickered downward 4% from last weekend’s Awakening. It was an eye-popping 45% jump from 2014 when the second weekend of The Hobbit finale grossed $40.9 million and newcomers Into the Woods and Unbroken followed with $31 million and $30.6 million respectively.
Noel accounting for taste as the silliness of Daddy’s Home (and the solid hold of Sisters) provided cheap laughs. Studio exit polls identified the crowd as 52% male and 61% aged 25 and older.
The offbeat Joy and The Big Short went wide, mitigating challenging material with appealing casts. Joy’s audience was 66% female with 77% aged 25-and-older while Short skewed 52% male and was 86% aged 25-and-older.
Concussion, the season’s sober-sided offering, was not a first choice for filmgoers. But award consideration should provide good ground movement through the holiday and award season. Will Smith’s past popularity contributed to a 50/50 audience gender split and a crowd that was 62% aged 25-years and older.
Point Break, based on Kathryn Bigelow’s 1991 camp favorite, opened three weeks ago in Asia where it’s grossed almost $50 million, including about $38 million in China. Domestically, the surf is rougher, attracting a 56% male crowd with 67% of viewers aged 25-years and older.
Christmas weekend also brought the news of the death of iconic cinematography-filmmaker and family friend Haskell Wexler. His passing leaves a void that will not be filled.
| Weekend (estimates) December 25 – 27, 2015 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| Star Wars: The Force Awakens | BV | 154.6 (37.400) | -38% | 4134 | 545.7 |
| Daddy’s Home | Par | 38.7 (11,840) | NEW | 3271 | 38.7 |
| Joy | Fox | 17.3 (5,800) | NEW | 2986 | 17.3 |
| Sisters | Uni | 13.9 (4,680) | 0% | 2962 | 37.1 |
| Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Road Chip | Fox | 12.6 (3,470) | -12% | 3705 | 39.3 |
| Concussion | Sony | 10.9 (3,830) | NEW | 2841 | 10.9 |
| The Big Short | Par | 10.4 (6,590) | 2662% | 1585 | 15.9 |
| Point Break | WB | 9.9 (3,410) | NEW | 2910 | 9.9 |
| The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 | Lionsgate | 5.2 (2,890) | -8% | 1813 | 264.6 |
| Creed | WB | 4.5 (2,990) | -9% | 1518 | 96.3 |
| The Hateful Eight | Weinstein Co. | 4.5 (44,490) | NEW | 100 | 4.5 |
| The Good Dinosaur | BV | 3.6 (1,700) | -17% | 2134 | 105.2 |
| Krampus | Uni | 2.2 (1,930) | -46% | 1152 | 40.5 |
| The Danish Girl | Focus | 1.5 (3,390) | 172% | 440 | 3.2 |
| Bajirao Mastani | Eros | 1.5 (6,140) | -15% | 243 | 4.4 |
| Carol | Weinstein Co. | 1.1 (5,980) | 363% | 179 | 2.8 |
| Spotlight | Open Road/eOne | 1.1 ((2,210) | -26% | 480 | 24.8 |
| Brooklyn | FxSearch/Mongrel | 1.0 (3,400) | -17% | 288 | 18.3 |
| In the Heart of the Sea | WB | 1.0 (1,430) | -72% | 685 | 22.3 |
| Dilwale | UTV | .94 (3,550) | -51% | 265 | 3.9 |
| Spectre | Sony | .88 (2,360) | -39% | 372 | 196.3 |
| The Martian | Fox | .48 (1,718) | 6% | 279 | 224.8 |
| The Revenant | Fox | .47 (116,520) | NEW | 4 | 0.47 |
| The Peanuts Movie | Fox | .46 (1,290) | -14% | 359 | 127.6 |
| Youth | Fox Searchlight | .34 (2,300) | 42% | 149 | 1 |
| Mr. Six | China Lion | .28 (9,400) | NEW | 30 | 0.37 |
| Mojin: The Lost Legend | Well Go | .22 (9,250) | -8% | 24 | 0.88 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $297.80 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 45% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -4% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Trumbo | Bleecker Street | .17 (1,460) | -59% | 116 | 6.7 |
| Beauty and the Beastie | ABS | .13 (3,080) | 41 | 0.13 | |
| Bhale Manchi Roju | 70mm Ent. | 80,300 (3,210) | 25 | 0.08 | |
| Room | A24 | 66,800 (760) | -63% | 88 | 4.7 |
| 45 Years | IFC | 60,800 (20,270) | 3 | 0.06 | |
| The Himalayas | CJ | 47,200 (19,070) | 240% | 3 | 0.08 |
| Surprise – Journey to the West | Media Asia | 44,500 (3,420) | -68% | 13 | 0.28 |
| Macbeth | Weinstein Co. | 41,700 (1,390) | -69% | 30 | 0.78 |
| Son of Saul | Sony Classics | 32,400 (8,100) | -15% | 4 | 0.1 |
| Soukyam | Isha | 6,700 (200) | 33 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 1 – December 20, 2015) * | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| Universal (25) | 2405.3 | 23.00% | |||
| Buena Vista (15) | 1861.7 | 17.80% | |||
| Warner Bros. (30) | 1565 | 14.90% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (22) | 1229 | 11.70% | |||
| Sony (18) | 942.5 | 9.00% | |||
| Paramount (13) | 588.3 | 5.60% | |||
| Lionsgate (20) | 586.1 | 5.60% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (19) | 287.1 | 2.70% | |||
| Focus (13) | 120.5 | 1.20% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (10) | 114.5 | 1.10% | |||
| Relativity/Europa (7) | 86 | 0.80% | |||
| Open Road (7) | 64.1 | 0.60% | |||
| Sony Classics (21) | 62.5 | 0.60% | |||
| STX (2) | 59.1 | 0.55% | |||
| CBS (2) | 57.6 | 0.55% | |||
| A24 (9) | 50.6 | 0.50% | |||
| Other * (382) | 394.1 | 3.80% | |||
| 10474 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | |||||
| Top Limited Releases (Jan. 1 – Dec. 20, 2015) * | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
| Spotlight | Open Road/eOne | 22,803,219 | |||
| Mr. Holmes | Roadside Attractions | 17,737,636 | |||
| Brooklyn | Searchlight/Mongrel | 16,495,006 | |||
| Love & Mercy | Roadside Attract/eOne | 12,556,192 | |||
| Baahubali | Blue Sky | 9,329,136 | |||
| Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos | Lionsgate | 9,080,818 | |||
| Amy | A24/Mongrel | 8,406,687 | |||
| Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F | FUNimation | 8,369,893 | |||
| Bajrangi Bhaijaan | Eros | 8,185,833 | |||
| While We’re Young | A24/Elevation | 7,590,951 | |||
| Whiplash * | Sony Classics | 7,543,077 | |||
| I’ll See You in My Dreams | Bleecker St/Elevation | 7,449,681 | |||
| Inherent Vice * | WB | 7,025,247 | |||
| Me and Earl and the Dying Girl | Fox Searchlight | 6,758,416 | |||
| Trumbo | Bleecker St/eOne | 6,270,123 | |||
| Danny Collins | Bleecker Street/Elevation | 5,649,253 | |||
| Foxcatcher * | Sony Classics | 5,399,596 | |||
| 90 Minutes in Heaven | IDP | 4,842,699 | |||
| True Story | Fox Searchlight | 4,719,695 | |||
| Suffragette | Focus | 4,612,137 | |||
| * does not include 2014 box office | |||||
