MCN Originals Archive for April, 2018

The Weekend Report

Avengers: Infinity War arrived to a jaw-dropping, record-breaking estimated $247.6 million. Among its most significant box office achievements were likely the biggest domestic debut and it holds the crown as the largest global opening with a $630 million gross. In North America, 82% of all movie ticket sales went to the Marvel crew.

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Friday Box Office Estimates

Avengers lands. Disney slots it just ahead of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, well off of the opening of The Force Awakens. But why split ten-million-dollar hairs? And Disney gets a further burst out of Black Panther. A Quiet Place holds against the storm, closing in on $150 million domestic. On the exclusive front, Orthodox drama Disobedience draws a strong $40,000-plus per screen on five. Also likely cracking $10k is Claire Denis’ Let The Sunshine In.

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The DVD Wrapup: Hostiles, Moon Child, Violent Life, Backstabbing, Strings, Grease at 40, Joe, Ringo and more

It’s difficult to argue that Hostiles was snubbed by the Academy, but outstanding performances by Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike deserved more consideration than they got, as did cinematographer Masanobu “Masa” Takayanagi

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The Weekend Report

A Quiet Place returned to the top of weekend viewing with an estimated $21.9 million. Two national releases vied for third and fourth. Fantasy-comedy I Feel Pretty grossing $16 million gave a slight edge over the $14.8 million Broken Lizard hijinks in Super Troopers 2. In limited wide release, the thriller Traffik bowed to $3.9 million.

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Friday Box Office Estimates

Super Troopers 2 did what every sequel wants to do, opening higher than the original (albeit sixteen years later). It was also an unexpected slow-roll kind of modern sequel… it’s not on Netflix. Meanwhile, A Quiet Place continues to hold like a champ. I Feel Pretty isn’t… frustrating in many ways, but its pitch was as unsophisticated as Trainwreck‘s was surprising. And Bharat Ane Nenu cracks the Top 10 in a great weekend for the independent sector, a week ahead of the Avengers 3 tsunami.

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DVD Wrapup: Commuter, Oscar, A Taxi Driver, Humor Me, Prince, Doris Day, Shakespeare Wallah, Pomegranates and more

As high-concept pitches go, “Liam Neeson on a train” is right up there with “snakes on a plane” and “MTV cops.” What else would any screenwriter need to know to fill the blanks?

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The Weekend Report

It was Rampage by a snout as the monkeyshines debuted with an estimated $34.6 million. On its heels was A Quiet Place with $32.7 million. The session’s other wide release was the horror Truth or Dare in third, with $19.1 million. In limited wide political thriller Beirut opened to $1.6 million and animated Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero grossed $1.1 million.

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Friday Box Office Estimates

A perfectly solid Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson opening with Rampage… which apparently isn’t a good movie. But the story of the weekend is the hold for A Quiet Place under 30% for Opening Friday vs second Friday. Historically, there are more than 1,000 second weekend holds of 30% or less, but only 40 that don’t involve a holiday weekend on that second weekend and only 30 that aren’t animated. Truth or Dare is looking like the fifth biggest first film (not a sequel) of a Blumhouse movie. It’s not Split or Get Out, but a strong launch. Grace Jones and The Rider both look to be over $210k per-screen in exclusives.

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The DVD Wrapup: Mohawk, Insidious IV, Proud Mary, Are We Not Cats, Fencer, Man From Earth, Mary Stark, Child in Time and more

I’d like to promote a gritty action adventure picture so small it didn’t even register a blip at Box Office Mojo. If Mohawk had been produced and released in the same general vicinity as Little Big Man, Soldier Blue, Black Robe or The Last of the Mohicans, writer-director Ted Geoghegan (We Are Still Here) might have found a niche among fine revisionist Westerns. As it is, he can be proud of almost universal raves in Metacritic.com and kudos for showing a different side to Uncle Sam’s decades-long campaign to eradicate native Americans from their homes. Make no mistake: Mohawk is a genre film from start to finish. No one holds the high ground for very long.

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The Gronvall Report: An Interview With 1945’s Ferenc Török

“This is a story about the collective paranoia that comes from the characters in the town being afraid of something about the past which they haven’t wanted to face. It operates on different levels for each of them, but they all have secrets, or degrees of guilt about what happened during the war.”

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The Weekend Report

The whispers were deafening as A Quiet Place swooped to the top of the weekend with an estimated $50.1 million debut. There was good news for  the raunchy table-turner Blockers that bowed third with $21.4 million. Two other national freshmen launched with a long-buried political flashback of  Chappaquiddick overperforming with $6.1 million and female sport saga The Miracle Season opening close to expectations with $4.1 million.

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Friday Box Office Estimates

A Quiet Place (greenlit under the previous studio administration) makes more noise than tracking suggested… and don’t be surprised if it beats expectations this Friday opening, playing especially well with women while still playing great for men. It will be Paramount’s biggest opening since 2016’s Star Trek Beyond and the biggest non-franchise opening (though this story may well continue) since 2014’s Interstellar. A solid if unremarkable opening for Blockers, which could be leggy once word-of-mouth clarifies the film’s tone for a wider audience. Lean on Pete should have an over-$10k per-screen while You Were Never Really Here delivers a ball peen hammer to the exclusive competition on three screens that will do nearly $60k per.

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The DVD Wrapup: All the Money in the World, Surge, Sweet Virginia, Basmati Blues and more

Ridley Scott deserves the highest praise for pulling All the Money in the World from the jaws of disaster.

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The Weekend Report

Ready Player One led the Easter parade with an estimated $53.6 million. There was good news for the session’s other national opener, Tyler Perry’s Tyler Perry-free revenge thriller Acrimony, which bowed at $17.1 million. The third new release God’s Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness failed to inspire with a $2.6 million start for a waning franchise.

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MCN Originals

Leonard Klady's Friday Estimates
Friday Screens % Chg Cume
Title Gross Thtr % Chgn Cume
Venom 33 4250 NEW 33
A Star is Born 15.7 3686 NEW 15.7
Smallfoot 3.5 4131 -46% 31.3
Night School 3.5 3019 -63% 37.9
The House Wirh a Clock in its Walls 1.8 3463 -43% 49.5
A Simple Favor 1 2408 -50% 46.6
The Nun 0.75 2264 -52% 111.5
Hell Fest 0.6 2297 -70% 7.4
Crazy Rich Asians 0.6 1466 -51% 167.6
The Predator 0.25 1643 -77% 49.3
Also Debuting
The Hate U Give 0.17 36
Shine 85,600 609
Exes Baggage 75,900 62
NOTA 71,300 138
96 61,600 62
Andhadhun 55,000 54
Afsar 45,400 33
Project Gutenberg 36,000 17
Love Yatri 22,300 41
Hello, Mrs. Money 22,200 37
Studio 54 5,300 1
Loving Pablo 4,200 15
3-Day Estimates Weekend % Chg Cume
No Good Dead 24.4 (11,230) NEW 24.4
Dolphin Tale 2 16.6 (4,540) NEW 16.6
Guardians of the Galaxy 7.9 (2,550) -23% 305.8
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4.8 (1,630) -26% 181.1
The Drop 4.4 (5,480) NEW 4.4
Let's Be Cops 4.3 (1,570) -22% 73
If I Stay 4.0 (1,320) -28% 44.9
The November Man 2.8 (1,030) -36% 22.5
The Giver 2.5 (1,120) -26% 41.2
The Hundred-Foot Journey 2.5 (1,270) -21% 49.4