By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Audiences proved game for Ouija and placed it at the top of the charts with an estimated $20.1 million. That left the session’s other incoming wide release, the actioner John Wick, with the consolation prize of $14.2 million.
In regional release the inspirational high school football yarn 23 Blast failed to score with a $347,000 tally from 617 scrimmages. Another flood of incoming exclusives provided a few encouraging (and better) results including Swedish Oscar submission Force Majeure that entered with $23,400 from two screens. The American indie comedy Laggies also opened well with $81,700 at six sites and the Edward Snowden affair provided Citizenfour with an excellent $117,000 box office from five engagements.
The Diwali festival saw the bow of several high profile Indian imports. The Hindi Happy New Year opened to a solid if unspectacular $1.8 million while the Tamil Kaththi is setting records internationally with the U.S. providing $343,000 to the trove. And the Telugu Karthikeya grossed $143,000. On the Filipino circuit The Trial was also off to a good start of $191,000.
Weekend revenues pushed close to $120 million and an 11% decline from seven days back. It was still 11% improved from 2013 when the $32 million opening of Bad Grandpa usurped Gravity’s three week run at the top.
On the heels of The Purge: Anarchy, Ouija arrived just in time for Halloween and proved that one can adapt an oh so venerable bored game. Industry tracking had tapped the teen horror tale to take the crown with estimates in the $20 million to $22 million range. Still it initially looked like a tight race with John Wick having comparably strong Thursday sneaks and potent Friday matinees.
Studio exit polls showed Ouija with a 61% female audience with 75% of viewers aged 25-years and younger … scary stuff indeed. The film also opened in five secondary foreign climes in Asia and Europe and grossed an OK $1.3 million.
Expectations for John Wick were less than buoyant despite the casting of Keanu Reeves in the title role of a vengeful hit man. It exceeded low ball numbers drawing in a 60% male crowd but failed to bring in a younger crowd based on polling that pegged the audience as 77% aged 25-years and older.
The weekend also featured small platform boosts for Oscar hopefuls Birdman and Whiplash with both films staying on track early in the seasonal admiration race.
Weekend (estimates) October 24 – 26, 2014 | |||||
Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
Ouija | Uni | 20.1 (7,030) | NEW | 2858 | 20.1 |
John Wick | Lionsgate | 14.2 (5,480) | NEW | 2589 | 14.2 |
Fury | Sony | 13.2 (4,160) | -44% | 3173 | 46.2 |
Gone Girl | Fox | 11.1 (3,580) | -37% | 3106 | 124.1 |
The Book of Life | Fox | 9.8 (3,140) | -43% | 3113 | 29.9 |
St. Vincent | Weinstein | 7.8 (3,430) | 1077% | 2282 | 9 |
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible … Day | BV | 7.0 (2,250) | -39% | 3117 | 45.5 |
The Best of Me | Relativity | 4.7 (1,610) | -53% | 2936 | 17.6 |
The Judge | WB | 4.3 (1,660) | -45% | 2610 | 34.4 |
Dracula Untold | Uni | 4.3 (1,810) | -58% | 2364 | 48.2 |
Annabelle | WB | 3.3 (1,320) | -58% | 2505 | 79.5 |
The Equalizer | Sony | 2.7 (1,670) | -49% | 1636 | 93.7 |
The Maze Runner | Fox | 2.2 (1,490) | -50% | 1496 | 94 |
Happy New Year | Yash Raj | 1.8 (7,100) | NEW | 255 | 1.8 |
Addicted | Lionsgate | 1.5 (1,540) | -58% | 956 | 15.3 |
Birdman | Fox Searchlight | 1.4 (28,600) | 237% | 50 | 2.1 |
Dear White People | Roadside Attractions | 1.3 (3,360) | 271% | 384 | 1.7 |
The Boxtrolls | Focus | .87 (790) | -68% | 1107 | 47.6 |
Guardians of the Galaxy | BV | .53 (1,320) | -45% | 402 | 328.6 |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Par | .36 (850) | -32% | 300 | 190.1 |
23 Blast | Ocean Avenue | .35 (560) | NEW | 617 | 0.35 |
Kathhi | MM Media | .34 (3,730) | NEW | 92 | 0.6 |
Left Behind | FreeStyle/eOne | .26 (800) | -72% | 320 | 13.5 |
Whiplash | Sony Classics | .24 (5,300) | 23% | 46 | 0.72 |
Meet the Mormons | Purdie | .22 (1,720) | -61% | 129 | 5.2 |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $112.10 | ||||
% Change (Last Year) | 14% | ||||
% Change (Last Week) | -11% | ||||
Also debuting/expanding | |||||
The Trial | ABS | .19 (3,670) | 52 | 0.19 | |
Pride | CBS/Remstar | .15 (1,220) | -27% | 124 | 1.1 |
Karthikeya | Movie Arts | .14 (3,760) | 38 | 0.14 | |
My Old Lady | Cohen/D-Film | .14 (1,350) | -37% | 103 | 3.4 |
Mommy | Seville | .13 (2,420) | -33% | 55 | 2.6 |
The Skeleton Twins | Roadside Attractions | .12 (1,200) | -55% | 102 | 4.9 |
Citizenfour | Weinstein Co, | .12 (23,460) | 5 | 0.12 | |
Laggies | A24 | 81,700 (13,620) | 6 | 0.08 | |
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya | Gkids | 64,800 (3,240) | 18% | 20 | 0.14 |
Listen Up Philip | TriBeCa | 57,500 (2,610) | 147% | 22 | 0.09 |
Force Majeur | Magnolia | 23,400 (11,700) | 2 | 0.02 | |
1,000 Times Good Night | Film Movement | 21,200 (920) | 23 | 0.02 | |
Pelican Dreams | Shadow | 7,700 (3,850) | 2 | 0.01 | |
Exists | Film Arcade | 7,400 (620) | 12 | 0.01 | |
Pooja | Vendhar | 7,100 (420) | 17 | 0.01 | |
White Bird in a Blizzard | Magnolia | 6,200 (1,550) | 4 | 0.01 | |
Revenge of the Green Dragon | A24 | 5,300 (2,650) | 2 | 0.01 | |
Low Down | Oscilloscope | 4,300 (4,300) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Love Project | Seville | 3,000 (600) | 5 | 0.01 | |
The Heart Machine | Film Buff | 2,100 (2,100) | 1 | 0.01 | |
Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – Oct. 23, 2014) | |||||
Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
20th Century Fox (17) | 1493.1 | 17.80% | |||
Buena Vista (15) | 1315.9 | 15.70% | |||
Warner Bros. (22) | 1283.8 | 15.30% | |||
Sony (21) | 1126.9 | 13.50% | |||
Universal (17) | 897.4 | 10.70% | |||
Paramount (13) | 831.8 | 9.90% | |||
Lionsgate (20) | 378.7 | 4.50% | |||
Weinstein Co. (23) | 160.9 | 1.90% | |||
Relativity (10) | 151.1 | 1.80% | |||
Open Road (7) | 120.6 | 1.40% | |||
Fox Searchlight (9) | 104.2 | 1.20% | |||
FreeStyle (9) | 100.5 | 1.20% | |||
Focus (10) | 92.3 | 1.10% | |||
eOne/Seville (26) | 52.1 | 0.60% | |||
Other * (290) | 266.4 | 3.30% | |||
8375.7 | 100% | ||||
* none greater than 0.4% | |||||
Top Global Grossers * (Jan. 1 – Oct. 23, 2014) | |||||
Title | Distributor | Box Office | |||
Transformers: Age of Extinction | Par | 1,083,765,020 | |||
Maleficent | BV | 757,191,367 | |||
X-Men: Days of Future Past | Fox | 746,224,744 | |||
Guardians of the Galaxy | BV | 740,207,192 | |||
Frozen * | BV | 724,322,158 | |||
Captain America: The Winter Soldier | BV | 713,778,940 | |||
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | Sony | 709,012,447 | |||
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Fox | 707,186,596 | |||
How to Train Your Dragon 2 | Fox | 616,700,299 | |||
Godzilla | WB; Toho | 523,345,942 | |||
Rio 2 | Fox | 498,670,793 | |||
The Lego Movie | WB | 472,173,863 | |||
Lucy | Uni; Europa | 414,332,197 | |||
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Par | 382,094,732 | |||
Edge of Tomorrow | WB | 368,667,083 | |||
Noah | Par | 362,164,780 | |||
The Wolf of Wall Street * | Par; Red Granite | 350,418,304 | |||
300: Rise of an Empire | WB | 331,624,640 | |||
22 Jump Street | Sony | 328,715,034 | |||
The Fault in Our Stars | Fox | 304,021,005 | |||
Divergent | Lionsgate | 289,044,408 | |||
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug * | WB | 277,256,540 | |||
Neighbors | Uni | 270,048,602 | |||
The Maze Runner | Fox | 260,223,044 | |||
Mr. Peabody & Sherman | Fox: Dmwks | 253,379,783 | |||
* does not include 2013 box office |