By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Despicable Me 2 set a new box-office record with an estimated $83.1 million opening weekend. That left the frame’s other major debut The Lone Ranger, on the distant horizon with $29.4 million. And it was stand-up business of $9.9 million for Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain in his concert performance.
Among the limited/exclusive freshmen The Way, Way Back passed on the water chute to an excellent $558,000 launch at 19 vacation spots.
In the niches, Hindi Lootera nabbed $309,000 at 99 venues and Tamil masala Singam 2 was off to a solid start of $241,000 from 58 screens. Also impressive was Four Sisters and a Wedding from the evolving Philippine circuit, which generated $519,000 from 41 sites.
Overall, there was much to celebrate and flag wave from the holiday period that should provide about $240 million to industry coffers. That translated into a 21% boost from last weekend and a 17% upward lift from 2012. A year back, the chart-topper was the $62 million intro of The Amazing Spider-Man with Ted in the second slot with $32.2 million.
There was little doubt that Despicable Me 2 would lead the weekend as it continued to build momentum prior to the 4th of July. It grossed close to $60 million in the two days prior to the weekend, and its five-day $142.6 million tally set a new record for an animated film. The film unquestionably got a boost from its prior outing. DM2 drew a crowd that was 55% families with a ditto 55% of viewers aged 25-years and younger per studio exit demos. It also skewed 60% female.
The mad Minions got a head start last weekend in seven foreign climes and went wider this weekend internationally to gross an estimated $88 million and a foreign cume of $150 million.
The tom-toms weren’t nearly as positive for The Lone Ranger that entered the weekend fray with $19.5 million in its saddle bags. It didn’t help that the critical reception was generally withering, though few invoked an earlier, 1980 big screen transfer that was also a commercial misfire. A studio spokesman (obviously disappointed) said the film simply never tapped a younger audience with exit demos that identified 68% of the audience as 25 and up. It was also 57% male.
Internationally the masked avenger opened day-and-date in 24 international territories including Russia, Italy and Korea and grossed an estimated $24 million. Hi no Silver!
There was a positive surprise for Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain especially in light of the long absence of a comedy performance film in the marketplace. Even recent musical performance efforts have been relegated to one-shot events so expectations were set low in the $5 million to $7 million range.
The saga of session vocalists, 20 Feet from Stardom, has been steadily expanding to good results with the current weekend backing up a propulsive $500,000.
Weekend (estimates) July 5 – 7, 2013 | |||||
Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
Despicable Me | Uni |
83.1 (20,780) |
3997 |
NEW |
142.6 |
The Lone Ranger | BV |
29.4 (10,130) |
2904 |
NEW |
48.9 |
The Heat | Fox |
25.1 (7,880) |
-36% |
3184 |
86.5 |
Monsters University | BV |
19.6 (5,250) |
-57% |
3739 |
216.2 |
World War Z | Par |
18.2 (5,490) |
-39% |
3316 |
158.7 |
White House Down | Sony |
13.4 (4,150) |
-46% |
3222 |
50.4 |
Man of Steel | WB |
11.4 (3,920) |
-45% |
2905 |
271.2 |
Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain | Lionsgate |
9.9 (11,280) |
876 |
17.2 |
|
This is the End | Sony |
5.8 (2,770) |
-33% |
2104 |
85.6 |
Now You See Me | Lionsgate |
2.8 (1,750) |
-50% |
1606 |
110.5 |
Star Trek Into Darkness | Par |
1.3 (2,540) |
-39% |
507 |
223 |
Fast & Furious 6 | Uni |
1.0 (1,640) |
-59% |
617 |
235.4 |
The Way, Way Back | Searchlight |
.56 (29,370) |
NEW |
19 |
1.1 |
Four Sisters and a Wedding | ABS |
.52 (12,660) |
NEW |
41 |
0.52 |
Epic | Fox |
.51 (1,180) |
-38% |
428 |
104 |
Iron Man 3 | BV |
.51 (1,720) |
-63% |
294 |
406.4 |
20 Feet from Stardom | Weinstein Co. |
.50 (5,920) |
117% |
85 |
0.63 |
Before Midnight | Sony Classics |
.49 (2,310) |
-22% |
214 |
6.6 |
The Internship | Fox |
.44 (1,160) |
-59% |
379 |
42.7 |
Much Ado About Nothing | Roadside Attractions |
.41 (2,430) |
-28% |
170 |
2.9 |
After Earth | Sony |
.37 (1,360) |
13% |
270 |
58.8 |
The Croods | Fox |
.34 (1,270) |
-27% |
269 |
185.1 |
The Hangover Part III | WB |
.34 (1,220) |
-3% |
277 |
111.2 |
The Purge | Uni |
.32 (1,260) |
-74% |
256 |
63.5 |
Lootera | Eros |
.31 (3,120) |
NEW |
99 |
0.38 |
The Bling Ring | A24/eOne |
.29 (1,810) |
-66% |
159 |
5.1 |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) |
$224.10 |
||||
% Change (Last Year) |
17% |
||||
% Change (Last Week) |
21% |
||||
Also debuting/expanding | |||||
Unfinished Song | Weinstein Co. |
.24 (3,470) |
163% |
70 |
0.44 |
Singam 2 | ATMUS |
.24 (4,160) |
58 |
0.29 |
|
The Attack | Cohen Media |
.20 (3,800) |
47% |
53 |
0.48 |
The East | Searchlight |
.17 (1,650) |
-34% |
102 |
1.9 |
Fill the Void | Sony Classics |
.15 (2,570) |
-17% |
59 |
1.2 |
I’m So Excited | Sony Classics |
.14 (8,890) |
46% |
16 |
0.3 |
Frances Ha | IFC |
.14 (1,990) |
19% |
69 |
3.7 |
The Kings of Summer | CBS Films |
.10 (1,910) |
15% |
51 |
1.1 |
A Hijacking | Magnolia |
62,400 (3,470) |
37% |
18 |
0.2 |
Stuck in Love | Millennium |
35,700 (1,700) |
21 |
0.04 |
|
Museum Hours | Cinema Guild |
34,300 (11,430) |
17% |
3 |
0.09 |
Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me | Magnolia |
15,200 (7,600) |
2 |
0.02 |
|
Just Like a Woman | Cohen Media |
6,100 (510) |
12 |
0.01 |
|
The Look of Love | IFC |
4,600 (1,530) |
3 |
0.01 |
|
Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – June 30, 2013) | |||||
Distributor (releases) | Box Office (millions) | Market Share | |||
Buena Vista (8) |
886.9 |
16.70% |
|||
Warner Bros. (14) |
863.7 |
16.20% |
|||
Universal (9) |
739.8 |
13.90% |
|||
Paramount (12) |
640.9 |
12.00% |
|||
20th Century Fox (10) |
537.5 |
10.10% |
|||
Lionsgate (16) |
375.3 |
7.10% |
|||
Sony (9) |
370.3 |
7.00% |
|||
Weinstein Co. (13) |
327.3 |
6.10% |
|||
FilmDistrict (5) |
119.9 |
2.20% |
|||
Relativity (3) |
105.9 |
2.00% |
|||
Open Road (4) |
93.9 |
1.80% |
|||
Focus (6) |
53.6 |
1.00% |
|||
Sony Classics (12) |
26.9 |
0.50% |
|||
Roadside Attractions (3) |
26.1 |
0.50% |
|||
Other * (185) |
154.7 |
2.90% |
|||
5322.7 |
100% |
||||
* none greater than 0.45% | |||||
Top Limited Releases (Jan. 1 – June 30, 2013) * | |||||
Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
Mud | Roadside Attractions |
20,495,326 |
|||
The Impossible * | Lionsgate |
18,499,801 |
|||
Quartet | Weinstein Co. |
18,390,117 |
|||
Amour * | Sony Classics |
6,503,477 |
|||
Before Midnight | Sony Classics |
6,098,024 |
|||
The Company You Keep | Sony Classics/eOne |
5,088,421 |
|||
The Bling Ring | A24/eOne |
4,797,116 |
|||
Hyde Park on Hudson * | Focus |
4,486,248 |
|||
Hubble 3D * | Imax |
3,504,562 |
|||
Frances Ha | IFC |
3,437,268 |
|||
Emperor | Roadside Attractions |
3,346,265 |
|||
Stand Up Guys | Lionsgate |
3,310,031 |
|||
Top Gun 3D (reissue) | Par |
3,103,003 |
|||
Filly Brown | Lionsgate |
2,864,583 |
|||
Home Run | IDP |
2,861,020 |
|||
The Gatekeepers | Sony Classics |
2,415,727 |
|||
The Sapphires | Weinstein Co. |
2,393,082 |
|||
To the Arctic * | WB |
2,378,898 |
|||
No | Sony Classics |
2,343,664 |
|||
Trance | Searchlight |
2,322,593 |
|||
* does not include 2012 box office | |||||
My girlfriend and I thought World War Z was pretty good!