The Weekend Report

Deadpool would not be Trumped as it glided to its third weekend at the top of the charts with an estimated $31.7 million. Three national releases bowed Oscar weekend, with Gods of Egypt commanding second spot with $13.7 million. The other two weren’t as vibrant with Olympic oddity Eddie the Eagle grossing $6.2 million and the dirty-cops-and-robbers Triple 9 scamming $5.9 million.

In the niches, Indian imports barely registered a pulse and in Québec, the adaptation of the 19th century lumberjack deal-with-the-devil legend Chasse-Galerie: La Legende grossed a disappointing $121,000 from 49 canoes. Incoming releases in exclusive engagements were dull. Still, there was a bright spot for tonight’s nominees with Spotlight, Room, The Big Short and even The Revenant experiencing last-minute upturns.

Session revenues topped $110 million for a 22% slide from seven days earlier. It was a slight 6% improvement from 2015 when the opening of Focus led with $18.7 million and Kingsman was took second with $11.9 million.

In the Clash of the Titans mold, Gods of Egypt didn’t elicit wild interest with tracking suggesting a debut in the range of $13-15 million. It arrived on the low end, to withering critical response. Exit polling identified the crowd as 53% male with 70% of the audience aged 25-years and older.

The saga of Eddie Edwards, the British ski jumper who became a media sensation at the 1988 Winter Olympics (the same year as the Jamaican bobsled team) is the core of Eddie the Eagle. Despite the character demonstrating more pluck than skill, the Rockyesque film is remote for non-Brits or the new generation of filmgoers. Shamelessly sentimental, those that took the bait were equally divided by gender and 75% aged 25-years and older.

Expectations were also limited for Triple 9, which bowed a week earlier in the UK to OK results of $1.2 million. Exit demos weren’t available at deadline but it’s fair to guess it skewed male and attracted an older crowd.

With Oscars hours away the most interesting takeaway won’t be known until tomorrow: did controversy do anything positive for viewership? Ratings generally spike or sink based on the box office potency of the key contenders and this year’s sole very popular short-lister is The Revenant. The rest of the top-enders grossed comparably to last year’s Birdman and a lot better than The Hurt Locker.

But it’s still true that Oscar wins in major categories are the gift that keeps on giving in ancillary revenue. And for prizes in the foreign-language and documentary feature arenas it often means an important bump in territories the film would not otherwise have gotten theatrical exposure.

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