The Weekend Report Archive for April, 2015
The Weekend Report
It was a four-peat as Furious 7 shifted down a gear and still finished ahead of the pack with an estimated $18.2 million. The sessions only wide national release was the saga of eternal love The Age of Adaline that opened third with $13.3 million. Two other films opened in limited wide to fair results. World War II-set Little Boy bowed to $2.7 million while Russell Crowe’s World War I saga The Water Diviner grossed $1.2 million. Considerably better was the national expansion of Ex Machina that held strong with $5.3 million at 1255 locations.
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The Furious 7 news wasn’t the domestic gross or a third weekend on top of the charts, but breaking the worldwide $1 billion ceiling. Chasing the bad drivers was Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, which got the same crap reviews as the original, but still drew almost $24 million in domestic ticket sales, about a quarter off the original, but still a solid family opening. Underperforming on the surface, but doing just fine, thanks, was Unfriended, a horror cheapie opening to 15 and making a profit by getting over $25 million total domestically, P&A costs outstripping production. Less happy openers were Disney’s Monkey Kingdom, back-to-back Oscar-winning Fox Searchlight’s True Story, and Child 44. On the limited tip, Ex Machina does a sensational $20k+ per screen on 39, which is much more impressive than, say, $100k per on two. Also strong by per-screen are the expansion on Dior & I and the premiere of Oscilloscope’s Felix & Meira.
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Without a lot of competition Furious 7 held on to top spot among movie goers with an estimated $60.5 million. The sole incoming national bow was the Nicholas Sparks’ weepie The Longest Ride with an OK $13.3 million that ranked third overall. The temporary lull in the release schedule provided a rare opportunity for alternative fare to get a toe-hold prior to the onslaught of summer blockbusters. Woman in Gold, Danny Collins and While We’re Young all seized the opportunity to add a significant number of playdates with the last title boasting the greatest stamina of the trio.
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Huge opening. Nothing but happiness for this number should exist at Universal. Will hit profitability at $400m easily (including other revenue streams). The only question comes from what is now clearly a huge Friday front-load on this domestic opening. None of the films opening to above this number have grossed less than $336 million domestically. Will Furious 7 rev up to that challenge?
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