By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
There’s no Accountant for taste as the Ben Affleck thriller topped weekend viewing with a debut estimated at $24.5 million. The Kevin Hart concert film What Now? appeared to have a razor-thin lead to take second spot ahead of The Girl on the Train with a $12 million tally. And gamer adaptation Max Steel was lost in the ether with a dismal $2.1 million launch.
In limited wide release, indie drama Priceless wound up with a $690,000 sticker price from 303 locations while the special engagement IMAX Harry Potter marathon garnered $1.2 million from 330 premium screens. Shin Godzilla stomped to $490,000 following prior weekday screenings that generated about $1 million.
The wave of new exclusive entries saw a few titles rise, including Brazil’s not-Oscar-submitted Aquarius with $27,900 at three venues; Christine grossing $14,900 from two cites and the indie omnibus Certain Women bubbling with $58,400 from five engagements.
In the niches, new Indian imports largely foundered while Mexican comedy La Leyenda del Chupacabras grossed $290,000 from 165 playdates. That nation’s Oscar foreign-language submission Desierto had a strong bow of $450,000 at 73 screens. In Québec, local youth drama 1:54 was off to a good start with $203,000, while French hit comedy Radin! didn’t translate in the province with a modest $56,600 gross from 26 theaters.
Revenues for the session crept toward $100 million and edged back 6% from the prior weekend. They were additionally 21% behind 2015 when the debut of Goosebumps led with a $23.6 million box office and freshmen The Bridge of Spies and Crimson Tide opened respectively with $15.4 million and $13.1 million. Domestic box office will surpass $9 billion on Tuesday.
The Ben Affleck-starring thriller The Accountant was tracking well ahead of the pack with estimates pegged in the mid-$20 million arena that arrived on target. It proved to be somewhat surprisingly a 58% male audience according to studio exit polling. The crowd was 86% aged 25-years and older (also higher than expected) with 30% in the 18-34 year old corridor. The Accountant also dipped into the international arena with launches in 10 markets that grossed an estimated $2.8 million. Its top market was Taiwan with roughly $750,000.
Kevin Hart is arguably the hardest working man in showbiz with his concert showcase What Next? marking his fourth film release in 2016 with no let up in sight. He’s worked diligently for stardom and his latest attracted a 51% female audience and his non-core African American base grew to 57%. Roughly 54% of viewers were 25-years and older.
The fractious production history of Max Steel wound up delaying its release for close to a year as positioning for a suitable opening date grew tortuous. It’s likely there was no optimal marketplace entry and it will quickly skitter to ancillaries.
Weekend (estimates) October 14 -16, 2016 | |||||
Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
The Accountant | WB | 24.5 (7,350) | NEW | 3332 | 24.5 |
Kevin Hart: What Now? | Uni | 12.0 (4,660) | NEW | 2567 | 12 |
The Girl on the Train | Uni | 12.0 (3,690) | -51% | 3241 | 46.6 |
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children | Fox | 8.9 (2,330) | -41% | 3835 | 65.9 |
Deepwater Horizon | Lionsgate/ Elevation | 6.4 (1,870) | -44% | 3403 | 49.4 |
Storks | WB | 5.6 (1,820) | -33% | 3066 | 59.1 |
The Magnificent Seven | Sony | 5.2 (1,610) | -43% | 3210 | 84.8 |
Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life | CBS | 4.2 (1,500) | -38% | 2822 | 13.7 |
Sully | WB | 2.9 (1,320) | -42% | 2211 | 118.3 |
The Birth of a Nation | Fox Searhlight | 2.7 (1,290) | -61% | 2105 | 12.2 |
Max Steel | Open Road | 2.1 (1,050) | NEW | 2034 | 2.1 |
Masterminds | Relativity/eOne | 1.7 (830) | -59% | 2027 | 16.2 |
Harry Potter (Imax Marathon) | Imax | 1.1 (3,390) | NEW | 330 | 1.1 |
Queen of Katwe | BV | .85 (800) | -48% | 1062 | 7 |
Suicide Squad | WB | .71 (1,130) | -37% | 630 | 323.7 |
Priceless | Roadside Attract | .69 (2,280) | NEW | 303 | 0.69 |
Don’t Breathe | Sony | .66 (1,080) | -52% | 612 | 88.2 |
Shin Godzilla | FunImation | .49 (1,600) | 305 | 2 | |
Desierto | STX | .45 (6,140) | NEW | 73 | 0.45 |
Denial | Bleecker Street | .40 (1,160) | 82% | 96 | 0.84 |
Bridget Jones’s Baby | Uni | .34 (870) | -59% | 390 | 23.6 |
Finding Dory | BV | .30 (1,570) | -9% | 189 | 485.2 |
La Leyenda del Chupacabras | Pantelion | .29 (1,780) | NEW | 165 | 0.29 |
Snowden | Open Road/ Elevation | .28 (820) | -62% | 343 | 20.9 |
The Secret Life of Pets | Uni | ..26 (930) | -25% | 276 | 365.8 |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $92.70 | ||||
% Change (Last Year) | -21% | ||||
% Change (Last Week) | -6% | ||||
Also debuting/expanding | |||||
1:54 | Seville | .20 (3,380) | 60 | 0.2 | |
A Man Called Ove | Music Box | .20 (2,620) | 100% | 76 | 0.43 |
The Dressmaker | Broad Green | .17 (1,180) | -27% | 146 | 1.3 |
Operation Mekong | Well Go | .15 (5,480) | -9% | 27 | 0.58 |
American Honey | A24 | .14 (1,020) | 76% | 135 | 0.36 |
Certain Women | IFC | 58,400 (11,680) | 5 | 0.06 | |
Lock | V.P. Films | 56,600 (1,720) | 33 | 0.06 | |
Radin! | A-Z Films | 55,900 (2,150) | 26 | 0.06 | |
Neer Dose | Sudhi | 29,200 (1,010) | 29 | 0.03 | |
Aquarius | Vitagraph | 27,900 (9,300) | 3 | 0.03 | |
Miss Hokusai | Gkids | 24,300 (12,150) | 2 | 0.02 | |
Christine | Orchard | 14,900 (7,450) | 2 | 0.02 | |
Tower | Kino | 6,600 (1,650) | 4 | 0.01 | |
Little Sister | Forager | 6,200 (2,070) | 3 | 0.01 | |
I Am Nojoom | Film Movement | 5,100 (850) | 6 | 0.01 | |
Shadow World | Wide House | 4,700 (940) | 5 | 0.01 | |
The River Thief | FreeStyle | 4,600 (660) | 7 | 0.01 | |
Maya Angelou and Still I Rise | Arc Entertainment | 4,400 (1,100) | 4 | 0.01 | |
Coming Through the Rye | Eammon | 4,100 (4,100) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Domestic Market Share (January 1 – October 13, 2016) | |||||
Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
Buena Vista (13) | 2150.6 | 24.20% | |||
Warner Bros. (21) | 1536.9 | 17.30% | |||
20th Century Fox (18) | 1203.6 | 13.50% | |||
Universal (16) | 1110.1 | 12.50% | |||
Sony (21) | 803.2 | 9.00% | |||
Paramount (12) | 609.1 | 6.80% | |||
Lionsgate (23) | 419.7 | 4.70% | |||
Focus (11) | 182.4 | 2.10% | |||
STX (5) | 163.2 | 1.80% | |||
Open Road (6) | 87.6 | 1.00% | |||
Weinstein Co. (9) | 59.6 | 0.70% | |||
A24 (9) | 49.1 | 0.60% | |||
Roadside Attractions (9) | 44.4 | 0.50% | |||
Other * (318) | 466.5 | 5.30% | |||
8886 | 100.00% | ||||
* none greater than 0.4% |