DC on Heels » Birdman

Weekend Box Office

Mark Heckathorn — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 06:38:25 +0000

American Sniper Takes Out Competition

Warner Bros. Pictures’ American Sniper broke out in a big way over the long MLK Day weekend with a massive $107.21 million in its first four days of wide release. The Clint Eastwood directed Best Picture nominee starring Bradley Cooper had been building up major momentum leading up to its wide release and ultimately exploded out of the gate last weekend to a degree that nobody was expecting. With a three-day gross of $89.27 million, American Sniper easily established new opening weekend records for the Martin Luther King holiday weekend and for the month of January as it outpaced the $41.52 million take of previous record holder, last year’s Ride Along, by an astounding 115 percent. With the addition of a very strong performance in three weeks of platform release, which helped build up buzz for the film, American Sniper grossed $110.64 million through Monday.

Jake McDorman as Biggles and Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle (L to R) in American Sniper. (Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures)

With no potential blockbuster performers arriving in the marketplace over the next two weeks, American Sniper is in position to continue to dominate the box office throughout the rest of January.

It was a tight race for second place between Paddington and The Wedding Ringer last weekend. While The Wedding Ringer placed in second over the three-day frame, Paddington moved into second place over the four-day frame.

Paddington took in respective three-day and four-day grosses of $18.97 million and $25.49 million. The family film from The Weinstein Co. debuted on the high end of expectations.

Sony Pictures’ The Wedding Ringer was off to a respectable start with respective three-day and four-day grosses of $20.65 million and $24.04 million. The modestly budgeted comedy starring Kevin Hart and Josh Gad opened on the low end of pre-release expectations. Potential for The Wedding Ringer was no doubt limited at least somewhat by the breakout performance of American Sniper with adult moviegoers.

On the heels of the previous weekend’s stronger than expected start 20th Century Fox’s Taken 3 was down three spots and a sharp 56.5 percent to land in fourth place with $17.05 million over the four-day weekend. Audience overlap with American Sniper has led to increased front-loading for Taken 3. The third installment of the Liam Neeson led franchise has grossed $65.84 million in 11 days. That places the film a reasonable 25 percent behind the $87.80 million 11-day take of 2012’s Taken 2.Taken 3 grossed $14.72 million over the three-day frame.

Selma rounded out the weekend’s top five with a four-day take of $13.85 million. The Best Picture nominee from Paramount Pictures was up a healthy 22.5 percent over the previous weekend’s three-day performance. The film was helped out this weekend by the Martin Luther King holiday — Monday’s $5.07 million performance represented an 86.5 percent increase over Sunday — and by its Best Picture nomination. Selma has grossed $31.51 million after 11 days of wide release. While Selma is performing softer than was widely anticipated, the film is still having a respectable run thus far with its modest price tag in mind.Selma took in $8.78 million over the three-day frame.

Four-day holiday weekend grosses for other Best Picture nominees included $8.02 million for The Weinstein Co. ‘s The Imitation Game, playing in 1,611 locations; $1.87 million for Fox Searchlight’s Birdman, playing in 471 locations; and $1.18 million for Focus Features’ The Theory of Everything, playing in 509 locations. Respective current total grosses stand at $51.62 million for The Imitation Game, at $28.59 million for Birdman and at $27.49 million for The Theory of Everything.

Meanwhile, Universal Pictures’ Blackhat was dead on arrival last weekend with $4.49 million over the four-day frame. The Michael Mann directed film starring Chris Hemsworth debuted in 11th place and opened well below modest expectations. The decision to open Blackhat against American Sniper and one week after Taken 3 always seemed like a puzzling one and Blackhat simply couldn’t find an audience last weekend due in part to that decision. Long term prospects for Blackhat are bleak. Blackhat grossed $3.90 million over the three-day frame.

This Week Last Week Movie Weekend Gross Cumulative Gross Weeks

1 N/A American Sniper $107.21M $110.64M 4

2 N/A Paddington $25.49M $25.49M 1

3 N/A The Wedding Ringer $24.04M $24.04M 1

4 1 Taken 3 $17.05M $65.84M 2

5 2 Selma $13.85M $31.51M 4

6 3 Into the Woods $8.71M $116.46M 4

7 6 The Imitation Game $8.02M $51.62M 8

8 4 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies $5.98M $245.66M 5

9 7 Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb $5.29M $106.24M 5

10 5 Unbroken $5.02M $109.36M 4

Weekend Box Office

Mark Heckathorn — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 08:09:39 +0000

Dumb and Dumber To Claims First Place

Universal Pictures’ Dumb and Dumber To took in $36.11 million last weekend to claim first place. The long awaited comedy sequel starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels outpaced Big Hero 6 for the period, in what turned out to be a close race for first place. Dumb and Dumber To slightly exceeded expectations, as the film proved to be critic-proof. Pre-release buzz for the film had been relatively soft also, but fans of the original 1994 film came out.

Kathleen Turner (l to r), Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels star in Dumb and Dumber To. (Photo: Universal Pictures)

Big Hero 6 placed in a close second with $34.66 million. The 3D computer animated film from Walt Disney Animation Studios held up well, as it declined 38 percent from the previous weekend’s strong start. Big Hero 6 surpassed the $100 million mark last weekend and has grossed $110.31 million through 10 days. That is in line with pre-release expectations and places Big Hero 6 18 percent ahead of the $93.65 million 10-day take of 2014’s Wreck-It Ralph, which fell 33 percent in its second weekend to gross $33.01 million. Big Hero 6 represents another strong performer for Disney, joining the likes of Wreck-It Ralph, 2010’s Tangled and last year’s Frozen. The film will likely continue to hold up well through the holiday season.

Also holding up well last weekend was Paramount Pictures’ Interstellar. The Christopher Nolan directed sci-fi film was down 40 percent from the previous weekend’s lower than expected debut to place in third with $28.31 million. Last weekend’s hold was especially encouraging given the new competition the film faced for older moviegoers from Dumber and Dumber To. Interstellar is being helped by its continued strong IMAX grosses, from good word of mouth and from its long running time and older-skewing audience. Interstellar is on the verge of reaching the $100 million mark with $96.93 million after 10 days of wide release.

Beyond the Lights opened in fourth place last weekend with $6.20 million. Despite strong reviews and strong pre-release online buzz, the low-budget drama from Relativity opened below expectations.

Twentieth Century Fox’s Gone Girl rounded out the weekend’s top five with $4.56 million. The critically acclaimed David Fincher directed film surpassed the $150 million domestic mark over the weekend. Gone Girl continues to display terrific holding power, as it was down just 27 percent from the previous weekend. The 45-day total for the film stands at $152.64 million.

Upon expanding into wider release, Fox Searchlight’s Birdman claimed 10th place with $2.47 million. That was up a slim 7 percent from the previous weekend and gave the Alejandro González Iñárritu directed awards season hopeful starring Michael Keaton a modest per-location average of $2,884 from 857 locations. After a very strong limited start, Birdman has been unable to maintain momentum as it has expanded into wider release. With that said, the film has still grossed a very respectable $11.597 million to date and will hope to stick around throughout the awards season.

In limited release, neither Open Road’s Rosewater nor Samuel Goldwyn’s Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas lit the box office on fire last weekend. The Jon Stewart directed Rosewater opened with $1.15 million from 371 locations, while the Kirk Cameron led Saving Christmas was slightly softer with $0.99 million from 410 locations.

This Week Last Week Movie Weekend Gross Cumulative Gross Weeks

1 N/A Dumb and Dumber To $36.11M $36.11M 1

2 1 Big Hero 6 $34.66M $110.31M 2

3 2 Interstellar $28.31M $96.93M 2

4 N/A Beyond the Lights $6.20M $6.20M 1

5 3 Gone Girl $4.56M $152.64M 7

6 6 St. Vincent $3.77M $33.00M 6

7 5 Fury $3.76M $75.89M 5

8 4 Ouija $2.97M $48.05M 4

9 7 Nightcrawler $2.92M $24.88M 3

10 N/A Birdman $2.47M $11.60M 5

Weekend Box Office

Mark Heckathorn — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 00:19:44 +0000

Ouija, Nightcrawler Fight for First Place

It was an extremely close race for first place last weekend between Universal Pictures’ Ouija and Open Road Films’ Nightcrawler. Ouija ultimately led the way with $10.74 million, while Nightcrawler followed in second with $10.44 million.

Ouija remained in first at the box office last weekend, barely beating out Nightcrawler. (Photo: Universal Pictures)

With the aid of Halloween, Ouija remained in first place last weekend and was down just 46 percent from the previous weekend. The low-budget PG-13 horror film from Platinum Dunes didn’t hold up all that well during the midweek, but rebounded on Halloween and maintained momentum throughout the rest of the weekend. Ouija has grossed a very solid $34.80 million through 10 days of release.

Nightcrawler trailed Ouija by just $299,380 for the frame. The critically acclaimed crime thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal appeared set to lead the weekend after a close second place finish on Friday, but Friday’s $3.2 million performance ultimately wasn’t affected by Halloween as much as anticipated. Nightcrawler was able to open in line with pre-release expectations, which were boosted a bit by the film’s strong reviews and relatively strong online activity over the past few weeks.

It was a tight race for places three through seven last weekend, as third place and seventh place were separated by just $1.59 million. Holdovers in general held up well last weekend, thanks in part to the limited amount of new competition.

Sony Pictures’ Fury claimed third place with $8.82 million. The David Ayer directed World War II film starring Brad Pitt held up nicely last weekend, as it was down 34 percent from the previous weekend. Fury surpassed the $60 million mark last weekend and has grossed $60.16 million in 17 days. The film continues to perform in line with the lower end of expectations.

Twentieth Century Fox’s Gone Girl placed in fourth with $8.48 million. The critically acclaimed David Fincher directed film starring Ben Affleck held up very well, as it was down just 23 percent from the previous weekend. Last weekend’s hold was especially impressive given the added competition the film faced from Nightcrawler. Gone Girl has grossed a very impressive $136.28 million in 31 days. The film is already the highest grossing film of Fincher’s career and is now just $13.72 million away from reaching the $150 million mark.

The Book of Life rounded out the weekend’s top five with $8.21 million. Twentieth Century Fox’s modestly budgeted computer animated film was down a slim 18 percent from the previous weekend. Like Ouija, The Book of Life received a boost from the holiday weekend, although its boost was on Saturday. The film also likely received an added boost from moviegoers who wanted to catch it before Walt Disney Entertainment’s Big Hero 6 arrives in the marketplace next weekend. The Book of Life surpassed the $40 million mark last weekend and has grossed a solid $40.43 million in 17 days.

John Wick took sixth place with $7.99 million. The Keanu Reeves led action thriller from Lionsgate Entertainment did lose a bit of momentum over the weekend, as it was down 45 percent from the previous weekend. With that said, John Wick is still performing on the high end of expectations with $27.53 million in 10 days.

The Weinstein Co.’s St. Vincent placed in seventh with $7.23 million. The low-budget comedy starring Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy held up especially well last weekend, as it was down just 7 percent from last weekend. St. Vincent was helped out last weekend by strong word of mouth and from expanding into an additional 270 locations. The film has grossed $19.00 million to date and will hope to continue to hold up well going forward.

The weekend’s other two new wide releases were both dead on arrival. Clarius’ Before I Go to Sleep debuted on the very low end of its already low expectations with $1.84 million, while Lionsgate’s Saw 10th Anniversary opened with a very disappointing $650,051. That gave Before I Go to Sleep and Saw 10th Anniversary respective per-location averages of just $953 and $315 for the frame.

On the limited front, Fox Searchlight’s Birdman took in $2.39 million from 231 locations. That gave the critically acclaimed Alejandro G. Iñárritu directed film starring Michael Keaton a healthy, but not exceptional, per-location average of $10,348 for the frame. Birdman has grossed $4.88 million through 17 days of platform release.

This Week Last Week Movie Weekend Gross Cumulative Gross Weeks

1 1 Ouija $10.74M $34.80M 2

2 N/A Nightcrawler $10.44M $10.44M 1

3 3 Fury $8.82M $60.16M 3

4 4 Gone Girl $8.48M $136.28M 5

5 5 The Book of Life $8.21M $40.43M 3

6 2 John Wick $7.99M $27.53M 2

7 6 St. Vincent $7.23M $19.00M 4
8 7 Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day $6.59M $53.73M 4

9 10 The Judge $3.36M $39.51M 4

10 9 Dracula Untold $2.98M $52.90M 4

DC on Heels » Birdman

Weekend Box Office

American Sniper Takes Out Competition

Weekend Box Office

Dumb and Dumber To Claims First Place

Weekend Box Office

Ouija, Nightcrawler Fight for First Place

This Week	Last Week	Movie	Weekend Gross	Cumulative Gross	Weeks
1	N/A	American Sniper	$107.21M	$110.64M	4
2	N/A	Paddington	$25.49M	$25.49M	1
3	N/A	The Wedding Ringer	$24.04M	$24.04M	1
4	1	Taken 3	$17.05M	$65.84M	2
5	2	Selma	$13.85M	$31.51M	4
6	3	Into the Woods	$8.71M	$116.46M	4
7	6	The Imitation Game	$8.02M	$51.62M	8
8	4	The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies	$5.98M	$245.66M	5
9	7	Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb	$5.29M	$106.24M	5
10	5	Unbroken	$5.02M	$109.36M	4