By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
Four-Day Weekend Estimates
The Hitman’s Bodyguard stayed at the top of moviegoing for a third weekend with an estimated $13.4 million during the four-day span of the Labor Day holiday. Revenues for the session inched toward $100 million for a record low, at the very least since the start of the twenty-first century.
Summer 2017 started promisingly in May, but sputtered as the season went on, then collapsed in August. The final number for the frame is estimated to be $3.84 billion; another record low. This is a 14% decline from 2016.
The top distributor during the period was Warner Bros. with a cumulative of $792 million, which translated into a 20.6% market share. The company had ranked second a year ago, and its seasonal revenues declined 33%. While most major distributors experienced box office declines, Sony, Fox and Lionsgate bucked the trend, in part due to weak showings a year earlier.
Commentators have focused on weak product, especially in the past month, as a reason for the downturn and viewed the situation as an anomaly. But what if it’s a trend?
There was a similar rush to judgment back at the start of the twenty-first century when the core audience shifted abruptly from being under 25. Most releases today rely on audiences between 24 and 35. All indications are that rather than younger viewers coming to replace current regular moviegoers, the folk with the strongest film habit are consistent and, obviously, aging.
The existential question facing the industry is: will the next generation of moviegoers be imbued with the habit that’s fueled the most popular form of entertainment outside the home since the 1920s? There’s scant indication that the studios and major players are addressing the issue in organized, meaningful fashion.
A senior studio executive recently expressed awareness, saying, “We have to make more popular movies.” Apart from the obviousness, the response sidesteps the trend toward viewing films on alternate platforms that don’t provide the full experience of seeing a motion picture with strangers in a darkened auditorium. What’s the incentive for a filmmaker to create an entertainment for the big screen if most viewers wind up seeing it on diminished screens?
The gravity of the situation demands an industry initiative equivalent to the Manhattan Project. Future filmgoers have to experience the movies in a suitable environment at a young age and there ought to be school programs financed by the motion picture business that educate students about the art, craft and fun of this unique, extraordinary experience.
Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume | |
The Hitman’s Bodyguard | Lionsgate/VVS | 13.4 (3,970) | 3% | 3370 | 58.1 | 13.4 |
Annabelle: Creation | WB | 9.3 (2,770) | -2% | 3358 | 91 | 9.3 |
Wind River | Weinstein/VVS | 8.0 (3,090) | 35% | 2602 | 20.5 | 8 |
Leap! | Weinstein Co. | 6.6 (2,430) | 3% | 2705 | 13.1 | 6.6 |
Dunkirk | WB | 5.7 (2,070) | 11% | 2752 | 180.3 | 5.7 |
Logan Lucky | Bleecker/eOne | 5.6 (1,880) | 4% | 2975 | 22.1 | 5.6 |
Spider-Man: Homecoming | Sony | 4.8 (2,340) | 29% | 2036 | 325.2 | 4.8 |
The Emoji Movie | Sony | 3.4 (1,600) | -3% | 2108 | 81.3 | 3.4 |
Despicable Me 3 | Uni | 3.3 (1,540) | 40% | 2132 | 258.9 | 3.3 |
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature | Open Road/eOne | 2.9 (1,090) | -9% | 2651 | 26.7 | 2.9 |
Girls Trip | Uni | 2.8 (1,740) | -2% | 1607 | 112.1 | 2.8 |
Wonder Woman | WB | 2.5 (1,370) | 19% | 1808 | 409.5 | 2.5 |
Cars 3 | BV | 2.4 (970) | 936% | 2445 | 151.5 | 2.4 |
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (reissue) | Sony | 2.3 (2,520) | 901 | 2.3 | 2.3 | |
Birth of the Dragon | High Top | 2.2 (1,360) | -36% | 1633 | 5.9 | 2.2 |
Kidnap | Aviron/eOne | 2.0 (1,200) | 5% | 1689 | 29.8 | 2 |
The Dark Tower | Sony | 2.0 (1,090) | -8% | 1820 | 47.8 | 2 |
The Big Sick | Lionsgate/Elevation | 1.9 (1,460) | 97% | 1270 | 41.4 | 1.9 |
Baby Driver | Sony | 1.9 (1,270) | 21% | 1463 | 105.9 | 1.9 |
The Glass Castle | Lionsgate | 1.8 (1,340) | 2% | 1360 | 15.2 | 1.8 |
All Saints | Sony | 1.6 (1,860) | -20% | 846 | 2.19 | 1.6 |
Hazlo Como Hombre | Lionsgate | 1.5 (3,900) | NEW | 382 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
Tulip Fever | Weinstein Co. | 1.4 (1,840) | NEW | 765 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
War for the Planet of the Apes | Fox | 1.4 (1,370) | 22% | 1041 | 144.7 | 1.4 |
Marvel’s Inhumans | Imax | 1.4 (3,610) | NEW | 393 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
Atomic Blonde | Focus | 1.1 (1,490) | 4% | 741 | 50.6 | 1.1 |
Ingrid Goes West | Neon | .75 (1,200) | -23% | 625 | 2.5 | 0.75 |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $93.95 | |||||
% Change (Last Year) | -24% | |||||
% Change (Last Week) | 15% | |||||
Also debuting/expanding | ||||||
Good Time | A24 | .41 (640) | -43% | 635 | 1.7 | |
Arjun Reddy | Nirvana | .36 (2,930) | -62% | 124 | 1.6 | |
Baadshaho | Grand Showbiz | .34 (2,710) | 126 | 0.34 | ||
Shubh Mangal Savdhan | Eros | .32 (4,040) | 80 | 0.32 | ||
Patti Cake$ | Fox Searchlight | .32 (1,090) | 146% | 295 | 0.61 | |
The Trip to Spain | eOne/IFC | .31 (2,160) | 77% | 143 | 0.8 | |
Detroit | Annapurna/eOne | .25 (750) | -20% | 331 | 16.6 | |
Menashe | A24 | .24 (1,930) | 24% | 126 | 1.3 | |
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 3D (reissue) | Distrib Films | .22 (770) | -67% | 288 | 0.97 | |
I Do … Until I Don’t | Film Arcade | .20 (1,230) | 165 | 0.2 | ||
De Pere en Flic 2 | Seville | .19 (3,160) | 74% | 61 | 5.5 | |
Punjab Nahi Jaungi | B4U | .15 (4,080) | 36 | 0.15 | ||
A Taxi Driver | Well Go | .14 (4,580) | -18% | 31 | 1.4 | |
Viceroy’s House | IFC | .14 (4,150) | 34 | 0.14 | ||
Valley of Bones | Smith Global | .13 (450) | 299 | 0.13 | ||
Unlocked | Lionsgate | 27,100 (1,590) | 17 | 0.03 | ||
Puriyatha Puthir | ATMUS | 18,100 (480) | 38 | 0.02 | ||
Dolores | PBS | 16,600 (16,600) | 1 | 0.02 | ||
Goon: Last of the Enforcers | Momentum | 15,700 (560) | 28 | 0.02 | ||
Get Big | Pelican | 11,800 (1,690) | 7 | 0.01 | ||
The Teacher | Film Movement | 11,500 (5,750) | 2 | 0.01 | ||
The Layover | Vertical | 10,600 (410) | 26 | 0.01 | ||
The Vault | FilmRise | 5,400 (490) | 11 | 0.01 | ||
Domestic Market Share (January 2 – August 31, 2017) | ||||||
Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | ||||
Buena Vista (8) | 1377.5 | 18.40% | ||||
Universal (12) | 1313.6 | 17.60% | ||||
Warner Bros. (18) | 1240.9 | 16.60% | ||||
20th Century Fox (19) | 983.1 | 13.20% | ||||
Sony (15) | 747.8 | 10.00% | ||||
Lionsgate (16) | 536.1 | 7.20% | ||||
Paramount (13) | 387.3 | 5.20% | ||||
Focus (13) | 112.2 | 1.50% | ||||
STX (6) | 85.3 | 1.10% | ||||
Weinstein Co. (6) | 81.5 | 1.10% | ||||
Open Road (6) | 62.8 | 0.80% | ||||
Entertainment (2) | 46.9 | 0.65% | ||||
Fox Searchlight (8) | 43.9 | 0.65% | ||||
A24 (9) | 40.6 | 0.50% | ||||
Bleecker Street (5) | 38.5 | 0.50% | ||||
Other * (246) | 373 | 5.00% | ||||
7471 | 100% | |||||
* none greater than 0.4% | ||||||
Top Global Grossers (January 2 – August 31, 2017) | ||||||
Title | Distributor | Box Office | ||||
Beauty and the Beast | BV | 1,272,169,904 | ||||
The Fate of the Furious | Uni | 1,235,919,777 | ||||
Despicable Me 3 | Uni | 981,174,223 | ||||
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | BV | 862,197,379 | ||||
Wolf Warrior II | Bona Intl; Well Go | 847,054,156 | ||||
Wonder Woman | WB | 810,304,764 | ||||
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales | BV | 791,987,399 | ||||
Spider-Man: Homecoming | Sony | 739,534,389 | ||||
Logan | Fox | 618,314,994 | ||||
Kong: Skull Island | WB | 564,663,975 | ||||
Transformers: The Last Knight | Par | 602,982,988 | ||||
The Boss Baby | Fox; DmWks | 498,798,575 | ||||
Dunkirk | WB | 415,147,209 | ||||
The Mummy | Uni | 408,756,500 | ||||
La La Land * | Lionsgate | 384,729,036 | ||||
Fifty Shades Darker | Uni | 380,816,746 | ||||
Sing * | Uni | 369,492,462 | ||||
War for the Planet of the Apes | Fox | 359,577,122 | ||||
xXx: Return of Xander Cage | Par | 344,515,124 | ||||
The Great Wall | Uni; China Film | 334,181,954 | ||||
Cars 3 | BV | 330,463,610 | ||||
The Lego Batman Movie | WB | 314,542,428 | ||||
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter | Sony; Constantin | 313,832,890 | ||||
Split | Uni | 278,051,216 | ||||
Kung Fu Yoga | Well Go; Golden Network | 274,332,509 | ||||
* does not include 2016 box office |