By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Crippling snow knocked out large parts of the nation’s Northeast Saturday, allowing The Revenant to dredge into first place with an estimated $16.8 million. The session featured three new national releases with Dirty Grandpa the marginal leader in fourth position with $11.6 million. Right behind were chiller The Boy with $11 million and the post-apocalyptic The 5th Wave grossing $10.4 million.
Exclusive freshmen largely fizzled while Oscar contenders Brooklyn, Room and The Danish Girl received major expansions with the former receiving the best commercial traction of alternative fare in the race.
In the niches, two Hindi films bowed, with Airlift rising to $813,000 while Kyaa Kool Hai Hum 3 foundered with $24,200. Also strong was Hong Kong import Ip Man 3 with an initial punch of $79,000 following a $25 million box office since its local debut in December.
Session revenues generated close to $120 million for a 30% tumble from last weekend. It was also 26% below 2015 when the second wide weekend of American Sniper led with $64 million followed by the $14.9 million debut of The Boy Next Door. Epic inclement weather in the Northeast was estimated as having a 10-15% overall bite in biz by distribution and exhibition execs.
Though tracking pundits had marked Dirty Grandpa as weakest commercially among new releases, the public clearly opted for its outré comic perspective. Reviewers were less kind, and coming weeks will confirm or deny its humor chops. Studio exit demos identified its audience as evenly split among the sexes with 66% aged 25-years and older.
Largely bankrolled with Chinese lucre ,The Boy had OK results with an audience that tilted 62% female with an impressive under-25 crowd that swelled to 75%. Exit demos were unavailable at press time for The 5th Wave that opened a week earlier in 27 foreign climes and grossed roughly $10 million.
With Oscar just over a month away, The Revenant appears to be the only contender with significant box office traction. The rest of the field of major nominees (snow notwithstanding) is holding steady at the box office with little indication of the spotlight drawing a crossover audience.
| Weekend (estimates) January 22 – 24, 2016 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % chng | Theaters | Cume |
| The Revenant | Fox | 16.8 (4,530) | -47% | 3711 | 120 |
| Star Wars: The Force Awakens | BV | 14.4 (4,270) | -45% | 3365 | 879.4 |
| Ride Along 2 | Uni | 12.9 (4,050) | -63% | 3192 | 59.1 |
| Dirty Grandpa | Lionsgate | 11.6 (3,970) | NEW | 2912 | 11.6 |
| The Boy | STX | 11.0 (4,130) | NEW | 2671 | 11 |
| The 5th Wave | Sony | 10.4 (3,590) | NEW | 2908 | 10.4 |
| 13 Hours: Secret Soldiers of Benghazi | Par | 9.6 (3,300) | -41% | 2917 | 33.4 |
| Daddy’s Home | Par | 5.2 (1,880) | -45% | 2789 | 138.7 |
| Norm of the North | Lionsgate | 4.0 (1,670) | -41% | 2411 | 14.2 |
| The Big Short | Par | 3.5 (2,580) | -34% | 1351 | 56.7 |
| Sisters | Uni | 1.9 (1,170) | -59% | 1602 | 84.9 |
| Brooklyn | Fox Searchlight/Mongrel | 1.8 (1,830) | -2% | 962 | 27.6 |
| The Forest | Focus | 1.7 (860) | -71% | 2010 | 25 |
| The Hateful Eight | Weinstein Co. | 1.5 (1,150) | -59% | 1277 | 51.1 |
| Spotlight | Open Road/eOne | 1.3 (1,300) | -19% | 1030 | 33 |
| Joy | Fox | 1.2 (1,230) | -59% | 966 | 54.3 |
| Room | 424/Elevation | 1.2 (1,320) | 64% | 884 | 7.7 |
| Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Road Chip | Fox | 1.1 (890) | -63% | 1204 | 82.5 |
| Airlift | B4U | .81 (6,720) | NEW | 121 | 0.81 |
| Ip Man 3 | Well Go | .79 (7,640) | NEW | 103 | 0.79 |
| Carol | Weinstein Co. | .65 (940) | -55% | 692 | 10.6 |
| The Danish Girl | Focus | .53 (670) | -25% | 794 | 9.7 |
| The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 | Lionsgate | .52 (1,010) | -54% | 516 | 280.3 |
| Creed | WB | .49 (880) | -56% | 558 | 108.3 |
| The Good Dinosaur | BV | .42 (1,020) | -59% | 411 | 119.9 |
| Anomalisa | Par | .38 (2,670) | 25% | 143 | 1.4 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $114.90 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -26% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -30% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| 45 Years | IFC | .19 (4,770) | 98% | 40 | 0.71 |
| The Lady in the Van | Sony Classics | .18 (5,930) | 189% | 30 | 0.32 |
| Son of Saul | Sony Classics | 94,900 (2,790) | -22% | 34 | 0.5 |
| Trumbo | Bleecker Street | 84,100 (620) | -2% | 136 | 7.5 |
| Youth | Fox Searchlight | 74,700 (980) | -50% | 76 | 2.4 |
| Detective Chinatown | China Lion | 67,500 (1,930) | -76% | 35 | 0.43 |
| Caged No More | FreeStyle | 63,300 (600) | 106 | 0.06 | |
| Mustang | Cohen Media | 54,700 (1,010) | -54% | 54 | 0.44 |
| Kyaa Kool Hai Hum 3 | B4U | 24,200 (730) | 33 | 0.02 | |
| Monster Hunt | FilmRise | 21,500 (540) | 40 | 0.02 | |
| Aferim! | Big World | 13,100 (2,620) | 5 | 0.01 | |
| Endorphine | Seville | 9,900 (1,650) | 6 | 0.01 | |
| Exposed | Lionsgate | 7,200 (510) | 14 | 0.01 | |
| Jeruzalem | Epic | 5,800 (5,800) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Mojave | A24 | 3,100 (150) | 21 | 0.01 | |
| Synchromicity | Magnolia | 2,400 (800) | 3 | 0.01 | |
| Bleak Street | Leisure Time | 1,300 (1,300) | 1 | 0.01 |
