MCN Weekend Archive for July, 2016
The Weekend Report
Jason Bourne easily led the field with an estimated $60 million debut. Also strong among national debs was the raucous comedy Bad Moms that slotted third with $23.3 million while the social media thriller Nerve opened to a more modest $8.9 million.
Read the full article »Friday Box Office Estimates
The Jason Bourne Friday opening is very Bourne-like, right between the top-grossing #3 in the series ($24.7m) and the 2nd best #2 ($18.4). The audience is there… the question is how hungry America and the world is for handcrafted action filmmaking and strong silent types. Meanwhile, STX delivers its first major studio-level opening with Bad Moms grossing $2.4 million less on Friday than the nascent distributor’s best 3-day launch to date. Not doing as well is Nerve, which opened on Wednesday and hopes to crack $15m for the 5-day, unlikely to beat Bad Grandpa‘s $35.6m as Lionsgate’s top domestic grosser of the year to date.
Read the full article »The Weekend Report
It was another Kirk at the can as Star Trek Beyond steered the latest Enterprise to an estimated $59.4 million. Two other new national releases duked it out for positions four and five with the slightest edge for the horror entry Lights Out with $21.2 million. The animated franchise Ice Age: Collision Course was right behind at $20.8 million.
Read the full article »Friday Box Office Estimates
In the weekend of familiar franchise entries, the headline will read “Sky Still Falling,” though Star Trek: Beyond could become modestly profitable because through international, and Ice Age: Collision Course will be a significant moneymaker, the last Ice 2012) pulling in $716m from international alone. Another nearly certain cash machine is Lights Out, a James Wan special for WB that was cheap enough to produce that even with marketing and the customary large horror drop-offs, domestic theatrical can put the film in profit. Strong launch of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie by Searchlight at $2100 per screen on 313 as well as for Don’t Think Twice, Mike Birbiglia’s follow-up to Sleepwalk with Me.
Read the full article »The Weekend Report
The Secret Life of Pets remained top dog with an estimated $50.5 million weekend gross. Nonetheless, it had stiff competition from the incoming distaff reboot of Ghostbusters that arrived alive with $46 million. The session’s other national newcomer The Infiltrator on the hunt for drug kingpin Pablo Escobar snuck into the top 10 with $5.2 million.
Read the full article »Friday Box Office Estimates
Ghostbusters gets off to a decent start, but is in danger of coming in second for the weekend to the second weekend of The Secret Life of Pets, which could have a big Saturday bump. Cracking $10k per screen on the exclusive release side, Woody Allen’s Cafe Society, rightwing polemic Hillary’s America, and gay-coming-of-age Closet Monster.
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Everybody Wants Some!!, Allegiant, Belladonna, Van Gogh, Mecanix, Green Room, With Child, Dark Horse and more
That so many of us recognize ourselves in Linklater’s characters and depictions of the coming-of-age process – mostly told from a young white male point of view — speaks to the commonality of experience in a nation homogenized by stimuli provided by the mass media. The stoners and slackers in Austin, circa May 1976, were then and still are interchangeable with those in Madison or Spokane, while Mason’s boyhood journey resonated with anyone who grew up outside major cities at a time when divorce was commonplace and adults couldn’t be counted upon to serve as role models.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVD: Everybody Wants Some!!
Youth is wasted on the young. Maybe. But it definitely wasn‘t squandered on Richard Linklater, that wondrously humane American filmmaker (Austin, Texas-raised auteur of the “Before” Trilogy and Boyhood), who, in his best work, uses his own youth to potently amuse us and brilliantly illuminate the worlds we share.
Read the full article »The Weekend Report
The Secret Life of Pets bow wowed to an estimated $103.1 million to easily take the weekend crown. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates opened fourth to $16.6 million.
Read the full article »Friday Box Office Estimates
This weekend, it’s a shower and a grower… a massive start for Pets and what might be the beginning of a momentum hit in Mike & Dave & Anna & Aubrey. Not a lot more greatness in the Top Ten aside from Dory, although Tarzan looks like he may swing higher and longer than naysayers thought.
Read the full article »The Weekend Report
Finding Dory was top choice movie for the third weekend during the holiday frame with an estimated $41.8 million (all figures reflect 3-day box office). Three national newcomers followed: The Legend of Tarzan with $37.7 million, The Purge: Election Year grossing $30.8 and The BFG bowing to $19.2 million. The good news was the trio outperformed expectations. The bad newss? Expectations were low.
Read the full article »Friday Box Office Estimates
Early results are in for The Purge: Election Year, though expect it to land in second, maybe even third. Finding Dory will once again float to the top of the bowl, while newcomers The Legend of Tarzan could wind up in the #2 slot (or #3) depending on what audience actually showed up for this swing. The BFG is looking at a $30m+ 4-day, but that is still disappointing versus expectations of a big-budget Spielberg movie. Disney will look for international to make the film profitable. In other news, ID4-2 gets slaughtered on its second Friday, off a stomach-twisting 72%, though this film too could be pushed into black ink by international… as long as crap word-of-mouth doesn’t catch up everywhere outside the US.
Read the full article »
