By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
With scant competition in the marketplace it was an easy second weekend topper for Don’t Breathe that grossed out an estimated $15.8 million for the three-day portion (all box office reflects three-day period) of the Labor Day fete. Retro tearjerker The Light Between Oceans charted sixth with $4.8 million and desperately-in-need-of-treatment sci-fi thriller Morgan eked only $1.9 million.
Traditionally a last chance opportunity to bury mistakes and move on, the frame unloaded Kickboxer: Vengeance and Yoga Hosers, which barely registered a pulse. Sexually explicit American indie drama White Girl posted encouraging results of $29,900 from three engagements.
Critics split sharply on the post-First World War drama The Light Between Oceans that proved to be a difficult sell to the general public,and estimated a $6-$7 million opening. It’s a likely early casualty for awards consideration. The opening weekend audience was 66% female with 91% of the audience aged 25-years and older. Prospects for Morgan were even more dire as it had the hallmarks of a title being dumped into a marketplace when scrutiny would be fleeting. Crystal gazing of a $4-$5 million gross proved overly optimistic.
In the niches, Spanish-language comedy No Manches Frida had a potent bow of $3.6 million at 362 locations. Indian imports saw upbeat results of $770,000 for the Telugu Janathan Garage and poor returns of $133,000 for the Hindi Naam Hai Akira. In Québec, local crime drama Nitro Rush was slow with a $154,000 tally.
Revenues nudged to about $100 million and ebbed back 15% from the prior weekend. As grim as that was it was a 12% improvement from 2015 when the second weekend of War Room led with $9.5 million with the launch of A Walk in the Woods close behind with $8.2 million.
| Weekend (estimates) September 2 – 4, 2016 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
| Don’t Breathe | Sony | 15.8 (5,170) | -40% | 3051 | 51.2 |
| Suicide Squad | WB | 10.1 (3,070) | -18% | 3292 | 297.5 |
| Pete’s Dragon | BV | 6.4 (1,950) | -14% | 3272 | 64.1 |
| Kubo and the Two Strings | Focus | 6.4 (2,150) | -18% | 2985 | 34.3 |
| Sausage Party | Sony | 5.3 (1,910) | -30% | 2766 | 88.4 |
| The Light Between Oceans | BV | 4.8 (3,210) | NEW | 1500 | 4.8 |
| Bad Moms | STX/eOne | 4.8 (2,070) | -14% | 2306 | 102.6 |
| War Dogs | WB | 4.7 (1,660) | -33% | 2848 | 35.2 |
| Hell or High Water | CBS/VVS | 4.5 (3,450) | 26% | 1303 | 14.6 |
| Mechanic: Resurrection | Lionsgate/VVS | 4.2 (1,860) | -44% | 2258 | 14.3 |
| Jason Bourne | Uni | 4.0 (2,120) | -22% | 1876 | 155.2 |
| No Manches Frida | Lionsgate | 3.6 (10,030) | NEW | 362 | 3.6 |
| The Secret Life of Pets | Uni | 3.5 (1,700) | -9% | 2069 | 358.5 |
| Star Trek Beyond | Par | 2.5 (2,050) | 9% | 1202 | 154.3 |
| Ben-Hur | Par | 2.2 (1,010) | -52% | 2167 | 23.7 |
| Florence Foster Jenkins | Par/eOne | 2.2 (1,630) | -26% | 1341 | 23.6 |
| Finding Dory | BV | 1.9 (930) | 205% | 2075 | 481.8 |
| Morgan | Fox | 1.9 (950) | NEW | 2020 | 1.9 |
| Southside With You | Roadside | 1.4 (1,760) | -50% | 813 | 5.1 |
| Hands of Stone | Weinstein | 1.3 (1,570) | -28% | 810 | 3.7 |
| Ghostbusters | Sony | 1.1 (990) | 95% | 1091 | 126.3 |
| Janatha Garage | Ficus | .77 (4,710) | 164 | 1.5 | |
| Ice Age: Collision Course | Fox | .73 (1,050) | 43% | 692 | 62.6 |
| Nerve | Lionsgate | .66 (870) | 29% | 761 | 37.6 |
| Lights Out | WB | .54 (1,210) | -19% | 446 | 66.2 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $95.30 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 12% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -15% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Don’t Think Twice | Film Arcade | .46 (2,790) | 5% | 165 | 3 |
| Café Society | Lionsgate/Mongrel | .28 (1,460) | -18% | 190 | 10.4 |
| Equity | Sony Classics | .20 (920) | -38% | 221 | 1.3 |
| Nitro Rush | Seville | .15 (2,150) | 71 | 0.21 | |
| Captain Fantastic | Bleecker Street/eOne | .14 (1,280) | -31% | 112 | 5.3 |
| Indignation | Roadside | .13 (1,150) | -47% | 116 | 3.1 |
| Naam Hai Akira | Fox Intl | .13 (1,870) | 71 | 0.13 | |
| Hunt for the Wilderpeople | Orchard | .12 (1,430) | -1% | 85 | 4.6 |
| A Tale of Love and Darkness | Focus | .12 (4,580) | 3% | 66 | 0.33 |
| The Hollars | Sony Classics | .10 (4,270) | 157% | 23 | 0.15 |
| The 9th Life of Louis Drax | Lionsgate | 73,300 (430) | 171 | 0.07 | |
| White Girl | FilmRise | 29,900 (9,970) | 3 | 0.03 | |
| Yoga Hosers | Invincible | 28,800 (360) | 81 | 0.03 | |
| Pretham | Central | 18,200 (1,120) | 16 | 0.02 | |
| Kickboxer: Vengeance | RLJ Ent | 13,800 (150) | 91 | 0.01 | |
| Dekalog (reissue) | Janus | 12,500 (3,120) | 4 | 0.01 | |
| Darra | Guraya | 11,300 (940) | 12 | 0.01 | |
| Pepo Pal Senado | K Torce | 10,400 (1,490) | 7 | 0.01 | |
| The Girl King | Wolfe | 8,200 (1,370) | 6 | 0.01 | |
| Skiptrace | Saban | 7,600 (690) | 11 | 0.01 | |
| Seasons in Quincy | Icarus | 5,100 (5,100) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Summer of 8 | FilmBuff | 3,800 (630) | 6 | 0.01 | |
| Max Rose | Paladin | 3,300 (3,300) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Tunnel | Well Go | .17 (4,640) | 36 | 0.17 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 1 – September 1, 2016) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| Buena Vista (11) | 2108.2 | 26.20% | |||
| Warner Bros. (18) | 1315.1 | 16.40% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (14) | 1138.1 | 14.20% | |||
| Universal (14) | 1030.8 | 12.80% | |||
| Sony (19) | 624.4 | 7.80% | |||
| Paramount (12) | 591.6 | 7.40% | |||
| Lionsgate (17) | 327.4 | 4.10% | |||
| Focus (10) | 162.6 | 2.00% | |||
| STX (5) | 150.2 | 1.90% | |||
| Open Road (5) | 69.9 | 0.90% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (9) | 57.3 | 0.70% | |||
| A24 (7) | 48.7 | 0.60% | |||
| Roadside Attractions (9) | 41.4 | 0.50% | |||
| Other * (265) | 365.9 | 4.50% | |||
| 8031.6 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | |||||
| Top Limited Releases (January 1 – September 1, 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 | 13,990,172 | |||
| Hillary’s America | D’Souza Media | 12,507,181 | |||
| Café Society | Lionsgate/Mongrel | 10,164,571 | |||
| The Lady in the Van | Sony Classics | 10,021,175 | |||
| The Lobster | A24/Mongrel | 9,138,872 | |||
| Carol * | Weinstein Co. | 8,910,357 | |||
| The Danish Girl * | Focus | 6,607,578 | |||
| Sultan | Yash Raj | 6,197,181 | |||
| A Beautiful Planet | Imax | 5,721,777 | |||
| Captain Fantastic | Bleecker Street/eOne | 5,120,041 | |||
| Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie | Fox Searchlight | 4,678,295 | |||
| Kabali | CineGalaxy | 4,677,244 | |||
| 45 Years | IFC/Mongrel | 4,563,579 | |||
| Hunt for the Wilderpeople | Orchard | 4,456,821 | |||
| The Meddler | Sony Classics | 4,267,218 | |||
| A Hologram for the King | Roadside Attract/eOne | 4,212,494 | |||
| Swiss Army Man | A24/D Films | 4,184,161 | |||
| The Man Who Knew Infinity | IFC/Mongrel | 4,143,182 | |||
| * does not include 2015 box office | |||||
