By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
It was one for the books – record books – as Suicide Squad bowed to a muscle-flexing estimated $134.7 million. The session’s other freshman national release – Nine Lives – confirmed that cute cat videos are best seen on You Tube with a less than purrrr-fect $6.4 million gross.
Best of the exclusive bows was the coming of age Little Men (a non-Alcott) that opened to $28,300 from two engagements. Alternative expanders Indignation and Don’t Think Twice both did well.
In the niches, the only Indian import to show a pulse (albeit faint) was Telugu Manamantha with a $118,000 at 81 venues. Filipino rom-com How to Be Yours had OK box office of $192,000 on 61 screens and South Korea’s Operation Chromite had a promising start of $28,100 at a single screen.
Revenues for the frame generated more than $230 million for a buoyant 22% bounce from last weekend. It was a significant 75% expansion from 2015 when the second weekend of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’s $28.5 million trounced newcomers Fantastic Four and The Gift that bowed respectively to $25.7 million and $11.8 million.
DC Comics spin on The Dirty Dozen (supervillains recruited to fight crime) Suicide Squad had the earmarks of the sort of antihero appeal Deadpool demonstrated earlier this year. An aggressive marketing campaign and star-power casting offset a fractious production history that both drew fans and elicited withering critical response. The latter element (and tepid word-of-mouth) put a crimp on tracking that suggested a $140-$150 million launch.
Still, it set an August opening record that easily shattered the $94.3 million benchmark set by Guardians of the Galaxy. The domestic audience was 54% male with 54% aged 25-years. The core 18-34 year demo accounted for 48% of the total crowd.
On the international front, Suicide Squad opened in 57 foreign markets to roughly $130 million, which also set an August overseas record. Its top-grossing market was the UK with almost $14 million and it proved effective counterprogramming in Brazil, where it lit an $11 million-plus flame. The only major territories yet to open are Germany, Japan and Italy.
In light of the DC tsunami, expectations for Nine Lives were less than revivifying. Still predictions of a $7-$8 million meow-ful proved to be overconfident.
| Weekend (estimates) August 5 – 7, 2016 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| Suicide Squad | WB | 134.7 (31,660) | NEW | 4255 | 134.7 |
| Jason Bourne | Uni | 22.7 (5,610) | -62% | 4039 | 103.4 |
| Bad Moms | STX/eOne | 14.2 (4,410) | -41% | 3215 | 51 |
| The Secret Life of Pets | Uni | 11.5 (3,380) | -39% | 3417 | 319.6 |
| Star Trek Beyond | Par | 10.3 (3,150) | -59% | 3263 | 128 |
| Nine Lives | EuropaCorp | 6.4 (2,840) | NEW | 2264 | 6.4 |
| Lights Out | WB | 6.1 (2,360) | -44% | 2581 | 54.8 |
| Ghostbusters | Sony | 4.8 (1,900) | -52% | 2545 | 116.7 |
| Nerve | Lionsgate | 4.8 (1,900) | -49% | 2538 | 26.8 |
| Ice Age: Collision Course | Fox | 4.3 (1,560) | -61% | 2738 | 53.5 |
| Finding Dory | BV | 1.9 (1,710) | -56% | 1122 | 473.8 |
| Café Society | Lionsgate | 1.7 (2,650) | -28% | 631 | 6.8 |
| Hilary’s America: Secret History of the Democratic Party | D’Souza Media | .89 (1,330) | -64% | 672 | 11.1 |
| The Legend of Tarzan | WB | .75 (1,160) | -69% | 648 | 124 |
| Captain Fantastic | Bleecker Street | .56 (1,540) | -47% | 363 | 3.6 |
| Indignation | Roadside Att | .45 (8,250) | 387% | 55 | 0.59 |
| Don’t Think Twice | Film Arcade | .38 (6,720) | 147% | 57 | 0.69 |
| Central Intelligence | WB | .37 (1,633) | -59% | 226 | 126.1 |
| Hunt for the Wilderpeople | Orchard | .34 (1,950) | -6% | 176 | 3.5 |
| Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie | Fox Searchlight | .34 (1,490) | -59% | 226 | 4.2 |
| The BFG | BV | .29 (1,240) | -37% | 234 | 52.8 |
| Pelli Chupulu | Freeze Frame | .28 (6,710) | -2% | 42 | 0.77 |
| Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates | Fox | .27 (900) | -82% | 297 | 45.1 |
| The Jungle Book | BV | .23 (1,140) | -26% | 200 | 362.7 |
| Bambukat | Nadar | .22 (6,160) | -43% | 36 | 0.9 |
| Train to Busan | Well Go | .20 (5,530) | -13% | 36 | 1.1 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $225.60 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 75% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | 22% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| How to Be Yours | ABS | .19 (3,150) | 61 | 0.19 | |
| Manamantha | Vaaraahi Intl | .18 (1,450) | 81 | 0.18 | |
| Gleason | Open Road | .11 (1,540) | 16% | 69 | 0.24 |
| The Innocents | Music Box | 63,700 (1,330) | -15% | 48 | 0.85 |
| Equity | Sony Classics | 56,800 (14,200) | -31% | 4 | 0.17 |
| Srirastu Subhamatu | Classics | 39,200 (570) | 69 | 0.04 | |
| Little Men | Magnolia | 28,300 (14.150) | 2 | 0.03 | |
| Operaton Chromite | CJ | 28,100 (28,100) | 1 | 0.03 | |
| The Tenth Man | Kino | 13,600 (3,400) | 4 | 0.01 | |
| Elevator to the Gallows (reissue) | Rialto | 13,300 (13,300) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| The Brooklyn Banker | TriCoast | 10,400 (950) | 11 | 0.01 | |
| Five Nights in Maine | FilmRise | 10,100 (840) | 12 | 0.01 | |
| Front Cover | Strand | 7,500 (7500) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Citizen Soldier | Broad Green | 7,300 (1,820) | 4 | 0.01 | |
| Mon Ami Dino | L’Atelier | 7,100 (710) | 10 | 0.01 | |
| L’Homme a la hauter | Soda | 6,500 (930) | 7 | 0.01 | |
| The Remains | Vertical | 5,300 (290) | 18 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 1 – August 4, 2016) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| Buena Vista (10) | 2038.1 | 28.70% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (14) | 1123.5 | 15.80% | |||
| Warner Bros. (17) | 995.5 | 14.00% | |||
| Universal (14) | 912.9 | 12.80% | |||
| Paramount (10) | 515.9 | 7.20% | |||
| Sony (16) | 491.8 | 6.90% | |||
| Lionsgate (15) | 298.3 | 4.20% | |||
| Fous (8) | 134.5 | 1.90% | |||
| STX (5) | 96.1 | 1.30% | |||
| Open Road (5) | 69.5 | 1.00% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (8) | 54.9 | 0.80% | |||
| A24 (7) | 48.6 | 0.70% | |||
| Roadside Attractions (8) | 34.8 | 0.50% | |||
| Other * (236) | 298.8 | 4.20% | |||
| 7113.2 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | |||||
| Top Limited Releases (January 1 – August 4, 2016) | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
| Eye in the Sky | Bleecker/eOne | 18,704,595 | |||
| Hello, My Name is Doris | Roadside Attractions | 14,444,999 | |||
| Love & Friendship | Roadside Attractions | 13,848,959 | |||
| Hillary’s America | D’Souza Media | 10,190,946 | |||
| The Lady in the Van | Sony Classics | 10,021,175 | |||
| The Lobster | A24/Mongrel | 9,050,034 | |||
| Carol * | Weinstein Co. | 8,910,357 | |||
| The Danish Girl * | Focus | 6,607,578 | |||
| Sultan | Yash Raj | 6,151,928 | |||
| Café Society | Lionsgate | 5,089,811 | |||
| Kabali | CineGalaxy | 4,614,858 | |||
| A Beautiful Planet | Imax | 4,577,233 | |||
| 45 Years * | IFC/Mongrel | 4,563,579 | |||
| The Meddler | Sony Classics | 4,257,381 | |||
| A Hologram for the King | Roadside Attract/eOne | 4,212,494 | |||
| The Man Who Knew Infinity | IFC/Mongrel | 4,134,869 | |||
| Swiss Army Man | A24/D Films | 4,121,261 | |||
| Where to Invade Next | Drafthouse/Mongrel | 3,827,261 | |||
| Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie | Fox Searchlight | 3,819,078 | |||
| Midnight Special | WB | 3,712,282 | |||
| * does not include 2015 box office | |||||
