By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
The Lego Batman Movie and Fifty Shades Darker once again topped weekend releases. The films were estimated at $34 million and $20.9 million for the three-day portion. All figures reflect the three-day portion. The weekend chart will be updated tomorrow.
A trio of new national releases failed to catch fire with the Chinese epic The Great Wall fairing best with good results of $18 million. The comedy Fist Fight bowed to a disappointing $12 million while thriller A Cure for Wellness debuted with a moribund $4.3 million.
Among international day-and-ate releases, the best of the Indian imports was Telugu Ghazi , opening with an OK $371,000. The Mexican comedy Everybody Loves Somebody was off to a solid start of $893,000 following its debut last weekend south of the border with $1.6 million. Filipino rom-com My Exs and Whys had an excellent start of $434,000. Exclusive launches were on the dullish side save for South Korea’s Fabricated City that bowed with $18,200 at two sites.
Revenues for the three days are estimated at about $150 million for a 22% slide from last weekend. It was a steeper 39% drop from 2016 when the debut of Deadpool revived the dead presidents with a $132.4 million launch.
Bridging the gap between the world’s two largest movie going nations has proven a daunting task. The Great Wall may have nudged the divide ever so slightly. The period epic fronted by Matt Damon bowed in China two months ago and has rolled out through most major markets to a potent box office of $225 million. Domestic prospects were considered tepid with high end prospects of $18 million for its opening three-days.
The film skewed 59% male with 63% of the audience aged 25-years and older. The core 18-34 year old corridor accounted for 50% of overall viewers.
The yarn of two teachers coming to blows in Fist Fight was expected to be the top grosser among new titles with an opening in the $18 million to $20 million range. It also had a male skew of 54% with 61% of viewers aged 25-years and older. Exit demos weren’t available for A Cure for Wellness. While tracking was modest at $6-$7 million the film came up short by any measure.
Oscar countdown is a week and hours away with box office favoring La La Land – a key but far from consistent factor. While the so-called post-awards domestic bump has largely evaporated for more than a decade, also-rans continue to experience sharp reversals. A possible exception this year is I Am Not Your Negro with a momentum spurred on by the Academy spotlight but also gaining ground from upscale and urban sectors of the audience.
| Weekend (estimates) February 17 – 19, 2017 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| The Lego Batman Movie | WB | 34.0 (8,320) | -36% | 4088 | 98.6 |
| Fifty Shades Darker | Uni | 20.9 (5,640) | -55% | 3714 | 89.6 |
| The Great Wall | Uni | 18.0 (5,420) | NEW | 3325 | 18 |
| John Wick: Chapter 2 | Lionsgate | 16.2 (5,210) | -47% | 3113 | 58.4 |
| Fist Fight | WB | 12.0 (3,760) | NEW | 3185 | 12 |
| Hidden Figures | Fox | 7.1 (3,190) | -12% | 2217 | 142.6 |
| Split | Uni | 7.0 (2,870) | -26% | 2445 | 123.6 |
| A Dog’s Purpose | Uni | 5.5 (2,310) | -24% | 2400 | 50.6 |
| La La Land | Lionsgate | 4.6 (2,880) | -8% | 1587 | 133.6 |
| A Cure for Wellness | Fox | 4.3 (1,580) | NEW | 2704 | 4.3 |
| Lion | Weinstein Co. | 4.2 (2,710) | 6% | 1542 | 36.4 |
| Rings | Par | 2.3 (1,460) | -60% | 1560 | 25.7 |
| Moana | BV | 1.1 (2,520) | 45% | 424 | 244.5 |
| I Am Not Your Negro | Magnolia | .91 (3,650) | 11% | 250 | 3.1 |
| Everybody Loves Somebody | Lionsgate | .89 (2,680) | NEW | 333 | 0.89 |
| Manchester By the Sea | Roadside Attract/ Mongrel | .81 (1,430) | 15% | 568 | 46.3 |
| Rogue One | BV | .75 (1,720) | -50% | 435 | 528.6 |
| Sing | Uni | .71 (1,260) | -58% | 561 | 266.6 |
| Fences | Par | ,69 (1,230) | -5% | 560 | 55 |
| Moonlight | A24/Elevation | .61 (1,350) | 16% | 455 | 21.2 |
| 2017 Oscar Shorts | Magnlia | .53 (2,410) | -23% | 221 | 1.6 |
| My Ex and Whys | ABS | .43 (6,380) | NEW | 68 | 0.43 |
| xXx: Return of Xander Cage | Par | .41 (940) | -73% | 435 | 44.3 |
| The Founder | Weinstein/ Elevation | .41 (1,620) | -44% | 253 | 11.9 |
| Ghazi | Great India | .37 (3,990) | NEW | 93 | 0.42 |
| Jolly LLB 2 | Fox Intl | .34 (2,040) | -56% | 166 | 1.4 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $143.10 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -39% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -22% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| A Uniied Kingdom | Fox Searchlight | .27 (6,060) | 307% | 45 | 0.36 |
| The Salesman | Cohen/Elevation | .23 (2,490) | -4% | 94 | 1 |
| Toni Erdmann | Sony Classics | .20 (1,990) | 70% | 102 | 0.94 |
| Paterson | Bleecker Street | .15 (2,360) | -14% | 64 | 1.5 |
| Jackie | Fox Searchlight | .14 (1,110) | -25% | 130 | 13.5 |
| 20th Century Women | A24 | .13 (1,100) | -35% | 115 | 5.3 |
| Duckweed | China Lion | 94,600 (3,150) | -41% | 30 | 0.33 |
| Kedi | Oscilloscope | 75,400 (10,770) | 88% | 7 | 0.14 |
| The Red Turtle | Sony Classics/ A-Z | 63,100 (1,750) | -8% | 36 | 0.43 |
| Julieta | Sony Classics | 54,700 (1,760) | -40% | 31 | 1.3 |
| Cook Up a Storm | Media Asia | 28,600 (1,910) | 15 | 0.03 | |
| Fanny’s Journey | Menemsha | 19,800 (3,960) | 5 | 0.02 | |
| Fabricated City | CJ | 18,200 (9,100) | 2 | 0.02 | |
| Irada | Big Pictures | 13,400 (500) | 27 | 0.01 | |
| You’re Killing Me Susana | La Banda | 11,200 (2,800) | 4 | 0.01 | |
| Running Shaadi | Big Pictures | 11,100 (210) | 53 | 0.01 | |
| From Nowhere | FilmRise | 6,700 (3,350) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| XX | Magnolia | 5,100 (1,280) | 4 | 0.01 | |
| American Fable | IFC | 3,300 (1,650) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 2 – February 16, 2017) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| Universal (7) | 331.3 | 25.20% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (7) | 177.3 | 13.50% | |||
| Lionsgate (6) | 141.1 | 10.70% | |||
| Paramount (9) | 140.7 | 10.70% | |||
| Buena Vista (3) | 138.9 | 10.60% | |||
| Sony (5) | 93.9 | 7.10% | |||
| Warner Bros. (8) | 90.6 | 6.90% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (3) | 42.5 | 3.20% | |||
| CBS (1) | 30.5 | 2.30% | |||
| STX (3) | 28.5 | 2.20% | |||
| Open Road (1) | 20.3 | 1.50% | |||
| Roadside Attractions (1) | 15.2 | 1.20% | |||
| A24 (2) | 12 | 0.90% | |||
| Focus (4) | 7 | 0.50% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (1) | 6.4 | 0.50% | |||
| Other * (46) | 39 | 3.00% | |||
| 1315.2 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | |||||
