By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
War for the Planet of the Apes led weekend moviegoing with an estimated $56.3 million debut. The frame’s other national opener, horror tale Wish Upon barely registered with $5.5 million. But the national expansion of The Big Sick emerged as an effective counterprogrammer with a $7.6 million diagnosis.
Exclusive freshmen saw a couple of encouraging starts. Period drama Lady Macbeth grossed $63,800 from five castles, while the singular Alejandro Jodorowsky turned autobiography on its ear with Endless Poetry for $26,500 from two readings. Among international day-and-dates, Hindi Jagga Jasoos had an OK launch of $508,000 but a handful of other entries hardly made a commercial dent. In Québec, the sequel to the 2009 action comedy De Pere en flic had a potent $1 million launch.
Revenues were around $165 million and dropped 21% from last weekend. It was a slim 2% improvement from 2016 when the second weekend of The Secret Life of Pets outwagged the Ghostbusters reboot with a $50.8 million to the other’s $46 million debut.
The finale to the latest arc of the resilient Planet of the Apes may have suffered from fans’ refusal to embrace the prospect that the story could ever have a definitive conclusion. Tracking suggested a debut as high as $65 million. When Thursday previews rolled in, that number was cut back to the high 50s. And despite positive reviews and social media response it joins the list of “recognized” titles of summer 2017 that weren’t breakout successes.
War opened day-and-date in 61 international markets to an estimated $46 million. Its top grossing territory was the UK with $9.5 million followed by Russia grossing $5 million and India adding $2.5 million to the mix. It still has China, Germany, South Korea, Mexico and Japan to open.
On the domestic front the film’s audience was 57% male with 63% aged 25 and above.
While franchise movies are dominant this summer the unexpected commercial strength of The Big Sick attests to the hunger for alternative fare in the marketplace. One can also cite Baby Driver as a mainstream film that’s pound-for-pound as potent as any of the season’s would-be behemoths. And when you throw The Hero, Paris Can Wait and Beatriz for Dinner into the mix, you can conclude there’s a mature audience anxious to get into the multiplex.
| Weekend (estimates) July 14 – 16, 2017) | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| War for the Planet of the Apes | Fox | 56.3 (14,010) | NEW | 4022 | 56.3 |
| Spider-Man: Homecoming | Sony | 45.2 (10,400) | -61% | 4348 | 208.3 |
| Despicable Me 3 | Uni | 18.9 (4,550) | -44% | 4155 | 188 |
| Baby Driver | Sony | 8.7 (2,870) | -33% | 3043 | 73.1 |
| The Big Sick | Lionsgate/Elevation | 7.6 (2,940) | 113% | 2597 | 16.1 |
| Wonder Woman | WB | 6.8 (2,470) | -31% | 2744 | 380.6 |
| Wish Upon | Broad Green | 5.5 (2,430) | NEW | 2250 | 5.5 |
| Cars 3 | BV | 3.0 (1,480) | -44% | 2049 | 139.9 |
| Transformers: The Last Knight | Par | 2.8 (1,190) | -56% | 2323 | 124.9 |
| The House | WB | 1.8 (1,090) | -63% | 1633 | 23.1 |
| 47 Meters Down | Entertainment/VVS | 1.1 (1,090) | -58% | 1032 | 41.1 |
| De Pere en Flic 2 | Seville | 1.0 (12,270) | NEW | 81 | 1 |
| The Beguiled | Focus | .94 (1,290) | -55% | 726 | 9.4 |
| Jagga Jasoos | UTV | .51 (2,430) | NEW | 209 | 0.51 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | BV | .50 (1,260) | -41% | 399 | 386.6 |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales | BV | .49 (1,090) | -59% | 448 | 170 |
| Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie | Fox | .33 (1,200) | 0% | 277 | 71.2 |
| The Mummy | Uni | .32 (800) | -73% | 401 | 78.9 |
| The Hero | Orchard | .32 (1,020) | -46% | 315 | 3.4 |
| The Little Hours | Gunpowder & Sky | .30 (2,890) | 57% | 105 | 0.67 |
| Maudie | Mongrel/Sony Classics | .24 (2,460) | 34% | 99 | 3.1 |
| Beatriz at Dinner | Roadside Attractions | .23 (1,110) | -56% | 205 | 6.5 |
| Paris Can Wait | Sony Classics | .15 (840) | -2% | 177 | 5.3 |
| A Ghost Story | A24 | .14 (7,150) | 37% | 20 | 0.28 |
| Bon Cop Bad Cop 2 | Seville | .14 (3,090) | 42% | 45 | 5.1 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $161.15 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 2% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -21% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Shamanthakamani | Freeze Frame | .12 (1,360) | 89 | 0.12 | |
| The Exception | A24 | 65,100 (1,480) | 0% | 44 | 0.61 |
| Lady Macbeth | Roadside Attractions | 63,800 (12,760) | 5 | 0.06 | |
| Channa Mereya | Zee Studios | 57,200 (2,040) | 28 | 0.06 | |
| Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyun | Kalasangham | 55,600 (2,310) | 24 | 0.06 | |
| Endless Poetry | ABKCO | 26,500 (13,250) | 2 | 0.03 | |
| Blind | Vertical | 10,900 (780) | 14 | 0.01 | |
| False Confessions | Big World | 7,100 (3,550) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| Footnotes | Monument | 5,700 (5,700) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Bronx Gothic | Grasshopper | 5,400 (5,400) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| L’Important c;est d’aimer (reissue) | Rialto | 5,200 (5,200) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Swallows and Amazons | Orion | 3,700 (460) | 8 | 0.01 | |
| Birthright: A War Story | Abramorama | 3,500 (3,500) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 2 – July 13, 2017) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| Buena Vista (8) | 1359.3 | 22.20% | |||
| Universal (11) | 1116.1 | 18.20% | |||
| Warner Bros. (16) | 946.6 | 15.50% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (18) | 840.5 | 13.70% | |||
| Lionsgate (14) | 453.9 | 7.40% | |||
| Sony (11) | 423.6 | 6.90% | |||
| Paramount (12) | 375.2 | 6.10% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (4) | 63.1 | 1.00% | |||
| Focus (11) | 56.8 | 0.95% | |||
| STX (5) | 50.6 | 0.85% | |||
| Entertainment (2) | 43.2 | 0.70% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (6) | 42.4 | 0.70% | |||
| Open Road (5) | 41.4 | 0.70% | |||
| A24 (7) | 36.6 | 0.60% | |||
| CBS (3) | 32.9 | 0.55% | |||
| Roadside Attractions (6) | 27.1 | 0.45% | |||
| Other * (184) | 214.3 | 3.50% | |||
| 6123.6 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | |||||
| Top Domestic Grossers (January 2 – July 13, 2017) | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
| Beauty and the Beast | BV | 504,014,165 | |||
| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | BV | 386,062,390 | |||
| Wonder Woman | WB | 373,801,078 | |||
| Logan | Fox | 226,277,068 | |||
| The Fate of the Furious | Uni | 225,764,765 | |||
| The Lego Batman Movie | WB | 175,969,510 | |||
| Get Out | Uni | 175,589,248 | |||
| The Boss Baby | Fox | 174,064,472 | |||
| Despicable Me 3 | Uni | 169,042,150 | |||
| Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales | BV | 169,550,886 | |||
| Kong: Skull Island | WB | 168,493,657 | |||
| Hidden Figures * | Fox | 167,038,898 | |||
| Spider-Man: Homecoming | Sony | 163,070,314 | |||
| Split | Uni | 138,280,171 | |||
| Cars 3 | BV | 136,864,500 | |||
| Transformers: The Last Knight | Par | 122,108,619 | |||
| La La Land * | Lionsgate | 116,956,426 | |||
| Fifty Shades Darker | Uni | 114,534,596 | |||
| Rogue One * | BV | 107,679,504 | |||
| Sing * | Uni | 103,856,913 | |||
| * does not include 2016 box office | |||||
