By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report, June 3, 2012
Fairest of Them All
Snow White and the Huntsman eschewed Grumpy and Sleepy and embraced Happy with an estimated $56.3 million debut that easily led weekend movie going. It was the only wide national session though the inspirational For Greater Glory on Mexico’s 1920s Cristeros War posted a passable $1.8 million bow at 757 locations.
Also incoming in niche play was Bollywood’s Rowdy Rathore with an uninspired $341,000 at 121 venues and Piranha 3DD biting into $178,000 at 86 aquariums. Joining the season’s early casualties was the dance competition Battlefield America that grossed $111,000 at 190 stumbles and the foibles of High School flunked out at 200 auditoriums with a $76,500 tally. Among the freshman exclusives only the animated A Cat in Paris showed any signs of life with a $36,000 box office from six screens.
Overall box office for the frame fell just short of $145 million for a slight 7% ebb from the immediate prior weekend. It was a sharper 11% decline from 2011 when the opening of X-Men: First Class led the field with $55.1 million and the second weekend of Hangover 2 took the bridesmaid’s position with $31.4 million.
The re-imagined Snow White (2012’s second following Mirror Mirror) opted for a grittier take on the venerable fairy tale. The anxiety on whether audiences would accept this perspective both domestically and in international climes was frankly palpable.
Tracking was strong; translating into opening predictions in the $40 million to $45 million range. But with recent high profile entries including Battleship and Men in Black 3 underperforming, skepticism reigned on the parade of dwarves, mirrors and poisoned fruit. So, the domestic result plus the roughly $40 million brought in from opening in 45 additional territories went a long way to settle jangled nerves.
Domestic weekend exit polls identified a slight 53% female skew with 52% of the audience aged 30 years and older. Hopefully the Kristen Stewart-Chris Hemsworth crowd will discover the picture in the coming weeks.
The session’s counter-programming for adults continued somewhat cautiously with the likes of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Bernie and Moonrise Kingdom all adding playdates and maintaining momentum. Still it’s much too early to predict whether alternative movies will show comparable strength to 2011’s record-breaking pace.
| Weekend (estimates) June 1 – 3, 2012 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| Snow White and the Huntsman | Uni | 56.3 (14,930) | NEW | 3773 | 56.3 |
| Men in Black III | Sony | 28.8 (6,790) | -47% | 4248 | 111.8 |
| The Avengers | BV | 20.3 (5,530) | -45% | 3670 | 552.7 |
| Battleship | Uni | 4.8 (1,520) | -57% | 3144 | 55.1 |
| The Dictator | Par | 4.6 (1,750) | -50% | 2649 | 50.7 |
| The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | Fox Searchlight | 4.5 (3,490) | -29% | 1294 | 25.4 |
| What to Expect When You’re Expecting | Lions Gate | 4.4 (1,520) | -38% | 2907 | 30.7 |
| Dark Shadows | WB | 3.8 (1,250) | -50% | 3002 | 70.7 |
| Chernobyl Diaries | WB | 3.0 (1,240) | -62% | 2433 | 14.4 |
| For Greater Glory | Arc Entertainment | 1.8 (2,390) | NEW | 757 | 1.8 |
| The Hunger Games | Lions Gate | 1.5 (1,390) | -34% | 1099 | 398.3 |
| Bernie | Millennium | .91 (3,010) | 5% | 302 | 3.6 |
| Moonrise Kingdom | Focus | .86 (53,750) | 64% | 16 | 1.7 |
| Crooked Arrows | Branded Pictures | .72 (2,210) | 425% | 325 | 1.2 |
| Pirates! Band of Misfits | Sony | .66 (1,130) | -39% | 585 | 28.6 |
| Think Like a Man | Sony | .65 (1,280) | -56% | 509 | 89.7 |
| Intouchables | Alliance/Weinstein | .38 (4,340) | 89% | 88 | 2.8 |
| Mirror Mirror | Relativity | .37 (1,040) | -24% | 357 | 62.9 |
| 21 Jump Street | Sony | .35 (1,130) | -46% | 313 | 137.1 |
| Rowdy Rathore | UTV | .34 (2,820) | NEW | 121 | 0.34 |
| Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax | Uni | .34 (1,080) | -28% | 315 | 211.5 |
| The Lucky One | WB | .32 (790) | -44% | 404 | 59 |
| The Three Stooges | Fox | .24 (850) | -25% | 285 | 42.7 |
| To the Arctic | WB | .22 (4,440) | 2% | 50 | 2.8 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $137.60 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -11% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -7% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Hysterical | Sony Classics | .19 (2,880) | 36% | 65 | 0.47 |
| Piranha 3DD | Weinstein Co. | .18 (2,072) | 86 | 0.18 | |
| Battlefield America | Cinedigm | .11 (590) | 190 | 0.11 | |
| Where Do We Go Now? | Sony Classics | 79,600 (2,150) | 37% | 37 | 0.24 |
| High School | Anchor Bay | 76,500 (380) | 200 | 0.08 | |
| Darling Companion | Sony Classics | 61,700 (1,010) | -5% | 61 | 0.62 |
| Hardflip | Rocky Mtn. | 55,800 (2,540) | 22 | 0.06 | |
| A Cat in Paris | Gkids | 36,900 (6,150) | 6 | 0.04 | |
| Adhinayakudu | Blue Sky | 28,100 (1,220) | 23 | 0.03 | |
| As One | CJ Entertainment | 8,500 (1,700) | 5 | 0.01 | |
| Hide Away | MMC | 15,400 (3,080) | 5 | 0.02 | |
| Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – May 31, 2012) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share | |||
| Buena Vista (9) | 751.5 | 17.20% | |||
| Sony (13) | 634.7 | 14.60% | |||
| Universal (9) | 578.9 | 13.30% | |||
| Lions Gate (9) | 550.9 | 12.60% | |||
| Warner Bros. (16) | 525.1 | 12.10% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (9) | 344.3 | 7.90% | |||
| Paramount (12) | 335.9 | 7.70% | |||
| Relativity (5) | 168.1 | 3.90% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (7) | 81.3 | 1.90% | |||
| Open Road (3) | 72.2 | 1.70% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (5) | 67.3 | 1.50% | |||
| CBS (2) | 63.4 | 1.40% | |||
| Summit (4) | 47.1 | 1.10% | |||
| Focus (4) | 22.9 | 0.50% | |||
| Sony Classics (13) | 20.9 | 0.50% | |||
| Other * (140) | 93.6 | 2.20% | |||
| 4358.1 | 100.00% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.04% | |||||
| Top Limited Releases (Jan. 1 – May 31, 2012) * | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross | |||
| Salmon Fishing in the Yemen | CBS | 8,976,224 | |||
| Friends with Kids | Roadside Attractions | 7,242,870 | |||
| A Separation | Sony Classics | 7,083,064 | |||
| Casa de mi Padre | Lions Gate | 5,950,292 | |||
| October Baby | IDP | 5,339,331 | |||
| Jeff, Who Lives at Home | Par | 4,301,276 | |||
| A Dangerous Method * | Sony Class/eOne | 4,215,019 | |||
| The Raid: Redemption | Sony Class/Alliance | 4,086,607 | |||
| Pina * | IFC/Metropole | 4,062,507 | |||
| Born to Be Wild * | WB | 4,019,956 | |||
| Goon | Alliance/Magnolia | 3,969,697 | |||
| Monsieur Lazhar * | Seville/Music Box | 3,591,551 | |||
| Bully | Weinstein Co. | 3,366,976 | |||
| Albert Nobbs | Roadside/eOne | 3,037,148 | |||
| Bernie | Millennium | 2,713,400 | |||
| To the Arctic | WB | 2,564,521 | |||
| Girl in Progress | Lions Gate | 2,479,452 | |||
| Intouchables | Alliance/Weinstein Co. | 2,428,887 | |||
| Hubble 3D * | Imax | 2,406,371 | |||
| Jiro Dreams of Sushi | Magnolia/eOne | 2,304,885 | |||
| * does not include 2011 box office |
How bad is MiB III’s doing? Not only would its opening weekend have been beaten by AVENGER’S third, but would have also been felled by SNOW WHITE’S first.
Meanwhile, AVENGERS has arrived at what will undoubtedly be its final position on both the domestic and worldwide all time charts, third highest for both.
@Roy Batty – You’re right about that, part of me looks at “MIB 3’s” opening weekend and says it underperformed a little, and another part of me looks at “The Avengers” making that much money in it’s 3rd weekend as incredible. And it does indeed appears like “The Avengers” has settled into it’s final position on the domestic and global box office rankings respectully. It might be seetled into the no.3 spot, but there is still plenty of more millions for this fantastic film to make, trust me on that.