Box Office Update

[Wang Chung]

Marvel magic worked wonders again as the super hero sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier opened to record business while pulverizing the competition in the process. The Disney release debuted to a gigantic $96.2M, according to estimates, setting a new April opening weekend record beating the $86.2M of 2011's Fast Five. Factor out three years of ticket price increases and 3D surcharges and the audience sizes were about the same.

Still, Winter Soldier delivered summer-level grosses in early April proving that the right event films can attract monster business at any time of year. Playing in 3,938 locations, the new Steve Rogers film averaged a stellar $24,429 and was the biggest debut of 2014 by far. The three-day take was an encouraging 48% better than the $65.1M of its 2011 predecessor and 12% higher than the $85.7M of recent Marvel sequel Thor: The Dark World from November. Winter Soldier benefitted from fans liking the first Captain America film and loving The Avengers plus the new chapter had expanded roles from franchise regulars Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson adding to the starpower.

Reviews were very strong and audiences agreed with critics giving it a solid A grade from CinemaScore. Soldier skewed heavily male (64%) and played older as 57% were over 25. 40% of the gross came from 3D formats which was a bit higher than the 38% for the last Cap pic. 346 IMAX screens delivered a whopping $9.6M, or 10% of the gross.

Friday kicked off with $37M including $10.2M from Thursday night shows starting at 8pm. Saturday dipped 7% to $34.6M while Sunday is estimated to fall by 29% to $24.5M. The last Thor - which also started with 8pm Thursday night previews - played a bit differently with Saturday inching up 1% and Sunday dropping by 32%. Reaching $225M domestic is quite possible for the new Captain America.

Overseas results were fantastic as well with Winter Soldier's international cume already surpassing that of its predecessor after less than two weeks of play. The super soldier grossed a towering $107.1M from overseas markets this weekend led by a gargantuan debut in China of $39.2M. That was a new Marvel record in that lucrative territory beating Iron Man 3 and The Avengers. Chris Evans and company traveled to Beijing for a glitzy fan event and press conference to hype up their product there.

The new Captain America has now amassed $207.1M internationally and sits at a hefty $303.3M worldwide with plenty of cash still to come as key markets Japan and Brazil have yet to open. Look for global grosses to eventually surpass $700M on this tentpole which cost roughly $175M to produce.

Last week's leader Noah fell sharply in its second weekend grossing an estimated $17M, down a hefty 61%. Mixed word-of-mouth and competition from a new action tentpole both contributed to the large decline. Paramount's Russell Crowe starrer has now collected $72.3M from North America on its way to a possible $110M domestic final. Overseas love has been stronger as Noah banked an estimated $45.6M this weekend from 45 markets lifting the overseas tally to $106.2M and the global gross to $178.5M. Brazil led the new openers with a huge $8.5M (fourth best debut in history) while Russia leads the holdovers with $26.6M to date.

Down 49% in its third round was the sci-fi flick Divergent with an estimated $13M boosting Lionsgate's cume to $114M. Faith-based hit God's Not Dead expanded again in its third weekend and grossed an estimated $7.7M, off just 12%, for a $32.5M sum for Freestyle.

The Wes Anderson winner The Grand Budapest Hotel continued its red hot roll-out expanding another round and capturing an estimated $6.3M. Off 26%, the Fox Searchlight release has grossed $33.4M and is on its way to topping $55M.

Two kidpics followed with good holds countering the arrival of the gun-heavy super hero tentpole which parents of younger children would avoid. Disney's Muppets Most Wanted dipped 44% to an estimated $6.3M while the DreamWorks toon Mr. Peabody & Sherman fell 42% to an estimated $5.3M while joining the century club. Cumes to date are $42.1M and $102.2M, respectively.

A trio of action titles rounded out the top ten with just under $2M a piece. Arnold Schwarzenegger's insta-flop Sabotage tumbled 64% from its weak debut to an estimated $1.9M and poor $8.8M total for Open Road. Need for Speed fell 57% to an estimated $1.8M and has banked a disappointing $40.8M to date. Liam Neeson's hit Non-Stop spent its sixth round in the top ten with an estimated $1.8M as well, off 55%. Universal's cume is a solid $88.1M.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $157.4M which was up 26% from last year when Evil Dead opened at number one with $25.8M; and up 36% from 2012 when The Hunger Games remained on top for a third weekend with $33.1M.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier $96.2M
Noah $17.0M
Divergent $13.0M
God's Not Dead $7.7M
The Grand Budapest Hotel $6.3M
Muppets Most Wanted $6.3M
Mr. Peabody & Sherman $5.3M
Sabotage $1.9M
Need For Speed $1.8M
Non-Stop $1.8M

Not a bad take for Captain America and Noah. Non-stop still hanging on in the top 10 nice.

 

[Wang Chung]

Angelina Jolie dominated the box office with the fairy tale-inspired epic Maleficent which generated the largest opening of her career with an estimated $70M from 3,948 theaters for a sensational $17,730 average. Disney's PG-rated tale of the villain from Sleeping Beauty used its starpower to attract a wide audience and came close to the $79.1M debut of the studio's Oz: The Great and Powerful from last year. This also marked the first time in nine years that Jolie hit the number one spot with a live-action film. Mr. & Mrs. Smith with future life partner Brad Pitt was her last one from this month in 2005.

Reviews were mixed but audiences came out for the big-screen spectacle and for Jolie and were very satisfied by what they got as the CinemaScore grade was a solid A. Studio research showed that the audience was 60% female. Appeal was broad across all age groups as 51% were over 25. 35% of the business came from 3D formats and IMAX screens accounted for $6.7M, strong for a family film.

The global marketing push resulted in audience excitement around the world leading to a mammoth $100.6M debut from international markets for a $170.6M worldwide start with the whole summer still ahead. Plus China and Japan have yet to open.

Falling from first place was the super hero epic X-Men: Days of Future Past which fell a sharp 64% in its second round to an estimated $32.6M giving Fox $162.1M to date. That was slightly better than the 67% tumble that the franchise's The Last Stand suffered coming off of the same Memorial Day holiday weekend in 2006 for a total of $175.3M at the same point in the run. A domestic future final of about $210M seem likely.

Seth MacFarlane's new raunchy comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West struggled in its opening weekend and landed in third with an estimated $17.1M from 3,158 locations for a mild $5,405 average. That was down a troubling 69% from the $54.4M debut of the Family Guy creator's last hit Ted from June 2012. That film featured MacFarlane in only a voice role, similar to what fans are used to, and packed more starpower with Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis. West, instead, was the funnyman's first attempt at anchoring a film with a live-action role plus co-star Charlize Theron has a weaker box office track record.

Studio research showed that 55% of the audience was male and 72% was over 25. A lackluster B CinemaScore indicates that customers were only somewhat satisfied with what they got so reaching a broader audience will be difficult. West played mainly to the core Family Guy crowd this weekend.

The Warner Bros. tentpole Godzilla followed with an estimated $12.2M thanks to another steep fall of 61% in the third frame. The cume to date is $174.7M. Dropping a reasonable 41% in its second weekend was the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore flop Blended with an estimated $8.4M. With just $29.6M so far, look for a weak $50M final. The raunchy comedy Neighbors declined by 45% to an estimated $7.7M and has banked an impressive $128.6M to date.

In its fifth weekend, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 collected an estimated $3.8M, off 52%, giving Sony $192.7M domestically. The international cume climbed to $497.3M putting the webslinger reboot sequel at $690M worldwide. Down 47% was the baseball drama Million Dollar Arm with an estimated $3.7M and $28.1M overall for Disney. Jon Favreau's indie title Chef expanded again and grossed an estimated $2M putting Open Road at $6.9M. Fox's The Other Woman tumbled 62% to an estimated $1.4M for a total cume of $81.1M.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $158.9M which was even with last year when Fast & Furious 6 stayed at number one with $35.2M; but up 20% from 2012 when Snow White and the Huntsman debuted on top with $56.2M.

Maleficent $70.0M
X-Men: Days of Future Past $32.6M
A Million Ways to Die in the West $17.1M
Godzilla $12.2M
Blended $8.4M
Neighbors $7.7M
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 $3.8M
Million Dollar Arm $3.7M
Chef $2.0M
The Other Woman $1.4M

Not surprised at the numbers but no one I talked to wanted to see Maleficent. I did see X-men and Godzilla in one sitting at my local drive in which went Digital which is sweet. Both of those movies rocked.

 

[Swinny]

Yeah I haven't heard anyone being all that interested in seeing Maleficent and I've barely seen anything about it and what it did see didn't make it look like anything special.

 

[Postman Dave]

Not surprised at the numbers but no one I talked to wanted to see Maleficent. I did see X-men and Godzilla in one sitting at my local drive in which went Digital which is sweet. Both of those movies rocked.

Saw both over the last couple of weekends and I concur.

 

[Postman Dave]

With June out of the way, let's have a look at the half year box office results both sides of the pond:

USA

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - 257.2m
2. The Lego Movie - 257.0m
3. X-Men: Days Of Future Past - 224.5m
4. Maleficent - 205.0m
5. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - 200.3m
6. Godzilla - 197.3m
7. Divergent - 150.6m
8. Neighbours - 147.4m
9. 22 Jump Street - 145.0m
10. Ride Along - 134.2m

UK

1. The Lego Movie - 56.9m
2. X-Men: Days Of Future Past - 43.3m
3. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - 40.4 m
4. The Wolf Of Wall Street - 37.4m
5. 12 Years A Slave - 33.0m
6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - 32.2m
7. Godzilla - 28.7m
8. Neighbours - 26.8m
9. Maleficent - 25.6m
10. Rio 2 - 25.3m

All results from Box Office Mojo.

 

[Wang Chung]

Interesting to see where both our countries differ on the movies they choose to go see. While alot are the same it just in a different order.

 

[Postman Dave]

The biggest difference I believe was with Divergent, no where near as big a hit over here as it was Stateside. Expecting Transformers to shake the top 5 up both sides massively over the next month.

 

[Wang Chung]

The Independence Day holiday session was lacking in box office fireworks as the Autobots tentpole Transformers: Age of Extinction led the marketplace for a second straight time while new releases brought one good debut and a handful of lackluster ones that paying audiences were mostly uninterested in.

The Paramount four-quel tumbled hard in its sophomore session, by 64%, and grossed an estimated $36.4M to boost the cume up to $174.7M. That puts the Michael Bay actioner on track to finish its domestic run in the vicinity of $275M making it the lowest-grossing installment of the series.

But overseas, the picture continues to shine with an estimated $95.8M weekend from 37 markets lifting the international total to a stunning $400.9M. Extinction is running an impressive 21% ahead of the last film Dark of the Moon in the same markets after the same number of days proving again how important foreign markets are for aging franchises. China accounts for more than half of the overseas take with a mind-blowing $212.8M which is 22% higher than the current domestic tally. Worldwide stands at $575.6M with a large number of top territories still to open after the World Cup.

The new Melissa McCarthy comedy Tammy opened far back in second place with an estimated $21.2M over the Friday-to-Sunday period and $32.9M since its launch on Tuesday night. The R-rated film was slammed by critics as being unfunny but instead was hoping to connect with average moviegoers over the long weekend. Given the heat the star carried into the release thanks to all her success last year, it was a rather uneventful launch. Luckily the Warner Bros. release did not cost too much.

The five-day holiday figure came close to the three-day non-holiday $34.6M opening of McCarthy's hit Identity Thief and below the $39.1M of her summer smash The Heat. Both opened last year and positioned the actress as one of the most popular comedy stars of today, male or female. But the same rules of the movie industry apply to all - audiences will keep coming unless you don't make a good product.

Sony launched the new fright flick Deliver Us From Evil and audience turnout was the same as for most films of the genre all year long - unimpressive. The R-rated pic from former super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer opened to an estimated $9.5M from 3,049 locations for a lackluster $3,116 average. Total since Wednesday is just $15M. 2014 has certainly been a horrible year for horror. Still in the top five was the buddy cop smash 22 Jump Street with an estimated $9.4M, off 41%, for a new cume of $158.9M for the studio.

Also in its fourth weekend, the toon sequel How to Train Your Dragon 2 grossed an estimated $8.8M which was down just 34% helped by the holiday. The Fox release has banked $140M to date. Rival kidpic Earth to Echo debuted with an estimated $8.3M from 3,230 theaters for a mild $2,554 average. The PG-rated sci-fi film for tweens struggled to capture its audience although Relativity is hoping that students on summer vacation will continue to find the film in the weeks to come. Cume since its Wednesday start is $13.5M.

The smash hit Maleficent eased only 27% in its sixth round to an estimated $6.1M for Disney. Domestic climbed to $213.9M while the worldwide tally soared to $630.2M. Older audiences came out for the Clint Eastwood film Jersey Boys which slipped only 33% to an estimated $5.2M for a new total of $36.7M for Warner Bros.

Think Like A Man Too fell another 53% in its third weekend to an estimated $4.9M putting Sony at $57.2M to date. Tom Cruise's latest sci-fi thriller Edge of Tomorrow rounded out the top ten with an estimated $3.6M, down 33%, for a $90.9M domestic cume surpassing last year's Oblivion.

Lionsgate generated a soft debut for its documentary America which bowed to only $2.7M from 1,105 theaters for a weak $2,466 average per site. The 5-day wide opening was $4M and reviews were mostly negative. However, the CinemaScore grade was a terrific A+.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $113.3M which was down a troubling 48% from last year when Despicable Me 2 opened at number one with $83.5M; and down 36% from 2012 when The Amazing Spider-Man debuted on top with $62M.

Top Box Office
Transformers: Age of Extinction $37.1M
Tammy $21.6M
22 Jump Street $9.8M
Deliver Us from Evil $9.7M
How to Train Your Dragon 2 $9.0M
Earth to Echo $8.4M
Maleficent $6.2M
Jersey Boys $5.2M
Think Like a Man Too $4.9M
Edge of Tomorrow $3.7M

The summer box office is down nearly 20% following a July 4th holiday weekend that failed to ignite many fireworks at the multiplexes.

Despite hits such as “Transformers: Age of Extinction†and “22 Jump Street,†domestic ticket sales have topped out at $2.3 billion from the first weekend in May through Independence Day weekend, off 19.3% from $2.8 billion through the same period in 2013, according to Rentrak.

Lackluster receipts have pushed the total for the year down as well. Currently, the overall box office is off 3.8% from last year, according to BoxOffice.com. That’s a steep drop-off considering that going into the summer, the stateside box office was up nearly 9%.

“When you look at the overall picture and the percentages it’s not pretty at this point,†said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. “Thank goodness we have ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ coming, because we need it. Boy, do we need it.â€

Compounding issues was a July 4th weekend that saw ticket sales fall nearly 45% compared with last year’s holiday. In place of “Despicable Me 2,†the domestic box office saw the introduction of a trio of mid-budget productions –â€Tammy,†“Deliver Us From Evil†and “Earth to Echo†— that struggled to draw crowds away from barbecues and fireworks displays.

Given the slow-down, 2014 will likely fall short of last year’s record of $10.9 billion in receipts. This year’s crop of sequels and superhero films just couldn’t match the box office heft of “Iron Man 3,†“World War Z†and “Monsters University.â€

I am not surprised at all over the steep drop from last year. The current crop of movies coming out this summer blows badly and the reason no one went to the movies this past weekend was because there was not one decent movie opening this past weekend. Thank god we have a new Planet of the Apes opening this weekend.

 

[Wang Chung]

Caesar still ruled the North American box office as the well-liked action film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes pulled in the most ticket sales for a second frame at number one beating out three new releases over another sluggish session for what Hollywood chose to offer up this summer.

The Fox film grossed an estimated $36M dropping a reasonable 50% in its sophomore frame pushing the total to date up to an impressive $139M. That was a great hold for a sci-fi sequel and shows that audiences are liking and recommending the adventure film. None of the new openers were action tentpoles so that helped as well. Dawn averaged a healthy $9,070 from 3,969 locations and is now running an encouraging 32% ahead of the pace of 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But the coming weeks will present some challenges with a large number of big-budget action offerings on the calendar starting with this Friday's double dose of Lucy and Hercules. Still, Dawn looks to be on track to reach about $225M from North America alone.

50 overseas markets for Dawn, including 29 new ones that just launched post-World Cup, grossed a stellar $61M this weekend bumping the international cume up to $103M with seven of the top ten offshore territories still to open. Worldwide tally stands at $242M with 17 new markets including Brazil and Mexico debuting next weekend.

Ending a drought that has lasted for almost a year, a horror film finally opened to strong numbers as the sequel The Purge: Anarchy debuted in second place to an estimated $28.4M. Scoring a solid $10,110 average - tops among all wide releases - the low-cost $9M thriller fell just 17% from the shockingly huge $34.1M opening weekend of The Purge from last summer. Reviews were mixed but Universal's marketing was effective, as was the brand, and brought out an audience that has avoided almost every fright film this year. None had broken $20M on opening weekend yet. Anarchy delivered the best horror debut since the $40.3M of last September's Insidious Chapter 2.

Studio research showed that the audience was 52% female but what was more critical was that a very high 61% was under 25. Teens and younger adults do not come out to the multiplexes as often as they always have in the past. The mobile device is the new multiplex for this generation. So it is rare today for any film to see that high of a share of its audience be from this younger age demo. Anarchy's audience was also ethnically diverse. Latinos led the way with 36% of the crowd and non-whites in general were 71%. The CinemaScore grade was a B which is pretty decent for this genre. Its predecessor earned a C and plummeted 76% in the second weekend.

Taking advantage of a concerning void in the summer marketplace right now for kidpics, the animated sequel Planes: Fire and Rescue opened well to an estimated $18M from 3,826 locations for a $4,705 average. Considering this is a follow-up to a film intended to go straight to video, the debut was quite respectable and was not too far from the $22.2M launch of Disney's Planes last August. Current kid movies have played out and Pixar has skipped the summer games for the first time in nine years creating a lucrative opportunity for a lower quality animated entry like Fire to enter and succeed.

The audience breakdown was split evenly between males and females and 78% of the crowd consisted of families with little crossover appeal to teens or couples. Reviews were poor which was not surprising but audiences gave an A CinemaScore grade. With studios making the unwise choice of programming no more major toons for the rest of the summer, the new Planes is well-positioned to cash in over the weeks ahead.

Cameron Diaz's new comedy Sex Tape disappointed in fourth place with an opening weekend of an estimated $15M which was less than half of the debut of her 2011 summer R-rated comedy hit Bad Teacher from the same director. The Sony release averaged a mediocre $4,899 from 3,062 locations and was panned by critics which helped to repel potential ticket buyers. Studio research showed that the audience was 53% female and 52% over 30.

Paying moviegoers agreed with reviewers as the CinemaScore grade was a lousy C+. Diaz fared much better anchoring April's The Other Woman which opened at number one to $24.8M on its way to a current cume of $83.8M. In Australia, a great market for American comedies, Sex Tape opened about even with Teacher this weekend so international results could help this new raunchfest become a money maker.

The global phenomenon Transformers: Age of Extinction fell 39% to an estimated $10M for a new domestic total of $227.2M on its way to a finish of around $250M. Overseas results remained much better with an $81.2M international weekend gross driven by new openings in Brazil and much of Europe which until now was distracted by the World Cup. The overseas take vaulted to $659.1M repping three-quarters of the $886.3M global gross as it looks to break the billion dollar mark next week. China leads the world with a staggering $285.7M to date - an amount no film in North America has reached yet in 2014. Extinction has a shot now to surpass the $895M of The Avengers for the number four spot on the list of all-time overseas blockbusters trailing just Avatar, Titanic, and the final Harry Potter. That is an incredible feat for a film which will not even reach the Top 75 among all-time domestic hits.

Melissa McCarthy's Tammy followed with an estimated $7.6M, down a moderate 39%, for a new total of $71.3M for Warner Bros. An R-rated comedy doing much better with summer crowds, 22 Jump Street, dropped only 28% to an estimated $4.7M in its sixth round pushing Sony's new cume to $180.5M.

The DreamWorks toon How to Train Your Dragon 2 took in an estimated $3.8M, off 37%, giving Fox $160.7M. That's 16% behind the pace of its 2010 predecessor. At this point in each of the last two summers, two toons had broken $200M already.

Disney's leggy super villainess pic Maleficent became the first summer movie to spend eight weeks in the top ten with an estimated $3.3M, off only 21%. The Angelina Jolie smash has now amassed a remarkable $228.4M in North America and an incredible $697.2M worldwide. The only other films all year to spend eight weeks in the top ten were Ride Along and Divergent. Among all films however, the year's leader is Frozen with 11 since the beginning of January which followed five frames at the end of 2013. Together, the muscular girlpower mega-hits Maleficent and Frozen have grossed a jaw-dropping $1.97 billion globally for Disney.

Relativity's kidpic Earth to Echo fell 41% to an estimated $3.3M pushing the modest sum up to $32M.

On the specialty scene, the critical darling Boyhood enjoyed a wonderful expansion from five to 34 locations and grossed an estimated $1.2M for a potent $35,235 average. The slower roll-out from IFC is allowing audiences to find the film at the right time as word-of-mouth spreads to all major markets. It's the most talked about film in the indie world right now. Cume is $1.8M with plenty more to come as an additional 15 markets will open next weekend. Boyhood will certainly become one of the highest-grossing films in company history for IFC.

Writer/director/star Zach Braff's new film Wish I Were Here, which generated mountains for press for its Kickstarter campaign, debuted with just decent numbers as reviews from critics were lackluster. Focus bowed the R-rated tale in 68 locations and grossed an estimated $495,000 for a mild $7,279 average. Boyhood, which has far better reviews and even Oscar buzz, is providing plenty of competition at this moment among arthouse audiences across the top ten markets. Wish is planning to expand into about 600 theaters next week which will be a challenge given the average it generated in its limited start. Kate Hudson is receiving much praise for her performance, though.

Hollywood is in a funk this summer as this was the sixth consecutive weekend that the box office was down versus last year. Four of those frames were down by more than 20%. A major factor causing the deficit comes from two genres that usually deliver massive grosses at this time of year - animated films and super hero pics. Compared to this point last summer, those two categories have grossed a whopping $600M less this summer. Add in some lame films, the continuing exodus of teens, and a lack of installments from the top-selling franchises of today, and the industry now has to deal with weak summer attendance that will result in fewer people seeing trailers for the upcoming fall and holiday season movies.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $130M which was down a disturbing 25% from last year when The Conjuring opened at number one with $41.9M; and off 41% from 2012 when The Dark Knight Rises debuted on top with a 2D record $160.9M.

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes $36.0M
The Purge: Anarchy $28.4M
Planes: Fire And Rescue $18.0M
Sex Tape $15.0M
Transformers: Age of Extinction $10.0M
Tammy $7.6M
22 Jump Street $4.7M
How to Train Your Dragon 2 $3.8M
Maleficent $3.3M
Earth to Echo $3.3M

The problem with the box office being down so much is the fact that the new movies coming out blow and have no appeal to them at all. Thank god for decent films like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes which I will be seeing tomorrow with my nephews.

 

[Wang Chung]

The reborn heroes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles conquered the North American box office as the franchise flick beat industry expectations to open at number one with an estimated $65M. It was the fourth biggest opening weekend ever in the month of August and soared about $20M above what the film biz was expecting. Summer has been light on kidpics and audiences came out in droves for Turtles which began as a movie franchise in 1990 with a record debut for its time.

Turtles averaged a sensational $16,905 from 3,845 theaters and got help from 3D and premium large format pricing. Reviews were bad but audiences responded to the brand and the action, especially dads familiar with the property from its glory days in the 1980s and early 90s. Studio research showed that 61% of the audience was male and 55% was over 25. The CinemaScore was a decent B for the $125M-budgeted actioner. Megan Fox and Will Arnett were among the cast members and did the rounds on talk shows to promote.

After last weekend's record opening for Guardians of the Galaxy, the sophomore frame saw a 56% drop to an estimated $41.5M putting the new cume at $175.9M. Considering how front-loaded comic book movies are, and the competition Turtles gave, it was a very respectable hold. The Marvel hit could go on to reach the $290M vicinity for Disney. Overseas brought in an estimated $40.1M from 50 territories bumping the international cume up to $137.3M and the worldwide tally to $313.2M. Many of the world's top ten markets have not opened yet.

The tornado thriller Into The Storm opened in third place with an estimated $18M from 3,434 locations for a moderate $5,246 average. The PG-13 storm chaser flick actually opened with less than half of the $41.1M gross of 1996's smash summer hit Twister back when ticket prices were almost half as much. Critics panned Storm which targeted thrill-seekers for Warner Bros.

Disney and DreamWorks debuted the culinary film The Hundred-Foot Journey in fourth place with an estimated $11.1M from 2,023 theaters for a respectable $5,498 average. Starring Helen Mirren, the PG-rated film based on a popular novel was backed by producers Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg who actively used their tastemaker skills to help build an audience. The first weekend results were slightly better than expected and the road ahead looks promising. Reviews were mixed but paying audiences liked what they got as the Cinemascore was a solid A.

Scarlett Johansson's hit action flick Lucy dropped 49% in its third round to an estimated $9.3M for Universal for $97.4M to date. Step Up All In, the fifth installment in the hit dance competition franchise, suffered the worst opening of the series with an estimated $6.6M bow. Averaging a weak $3,173 from 2,072 locations, the PG-13 pic from Lionsgate fell below the $11.7M of 2012's Step Up Revolution and was a far cry from the $20.7M debut of the first Step Up from eight years ago this very weekend. Every film in the series has opened worse than its predecessor in North America, but brisk overseas sales have kept the franchise going.

Paramount's action epic Hercules took a drop of 48% to an estimated $5.7M for a new sum of $63.5M. Universal's James Brown pic Get On Up declined a hefty 63% in its sophomore effort to an estimated $5M for a sum of $22.9M.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes followed in ninth with an estimated $4.4M, off 49%, for a $197.8M cume for Fox. The toon sequel Planes: Fire and Rescue saw much of its kid audience erode falling 60% to an estimated $2.4M. Cume to date is $53M for Disney.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $169.1M which was up 23% from last year when Elysium opened at number one with $29.8M; and up 31% from 2012 when The Bourne Legacy debuted on top with $38.1M.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles $65.0M
Guardians of the Galaxy $41.5M
Into The Storm $18.0M
The Hundred-Foot Journey $11.1M
Lucy $9.3M
Step Up: All In $6.6M
Hercules $5.7M
Get On Up $5.0M
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes $4.4M
Planes: Fire And Rescue $2.4M

Well for as shitty as TMNT looked and was panned it made some very decent money. Guardians still with respectable numbers.

 

[Wang Chung]

Averaging less than $1M per person listed above the title on the poster, The Expendables 3 crashed and burned settling for a fourth place finish while overperformers Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Guardians of the Galaxy continued their strong run atop the box office. Overall, the August box office came back down to normal numbers after two extremely strong weekends to open the month.

The top two from last week stayed in the same position this week as two different sets of heroes remained in charge of the box office. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fell a reasonable 58% from its huge opening last weekend and brought in an estimated $28.4M for a total cume to date of $117.6M. Look for a finale in the $175M range with a sequel on its way in 2016, because what would life be without sequels? Guardians of the Galaxy fell 41% from last weekend to an estimated $24.7M, bringing its total haul to $222.3M to date. It's running about 10% ahead of Captain America: The Winter Soldier from earlier this year, albeit with a slightly bigger third weekend drop. Guardians is still likely to become the highest grossing film of the year and stay that way, at least until The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 comes out in November. The Guardians sequel is due in 2017.

Led by the stars of The New Girl and The Vampire Diaries, Let's Be Cops landed in third place this weekend with an estimated $17.7M with a total cume from its opening on Wednesday of $26.1M. Heavy promotion and lack of a similar film in the marketplace - the last broad comedy came out over a month ago (anyone remember Sex Tape?) - helped the film break through. Audience breakdowns were 56% Male / 44% Female with 54% under the age of 25.

Fourth place belonged to the film with the most star power in the history of the medium, The Expendables 3. Seriously, is there another film that could boast this kind of lineup? The only one I can think of that might come close is X-Men: Days of Future Past. Led by megastars Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford and others, The Expendables 3 opened to an estimated $16.2M. There are 17 actors listed above the title on the promotional poster which means the movie made less than $1M per person. This isn't a scientific observation, just a very humorous one. While the series was never meant to get into megablockbuster range, this opening has to be seen as very disappointing. The first two films in the series opened to $34.8M and $28.6M. Cinemascore was an A- which is decent and means that people who wanted to see the film enjoyed it, it's just that not many people wanted to see it.

The beloved book-to-film genre added another entry this weekend as The Giver opened in fifth place to an estimated $12.7M. Hoping to tap into the audience of other popular page-to-screen translations like The Hunger Games or Divergent, instead the movie played out more like a Beautiful Creatures or Mortal Instruments. Perhaps there was too long a wait between the novel (which was released in 1993) and the film adaptation.

The disaster film Into the Storm dropped 55% from its opening last weekend and ended up in sixth place this weekend, bringing in $7.7M, according to estimates. Its total now stands at $31M leading to a likely $45M finish. The Hundred-Foot Journey took seventh place this weekend falling a slim 35% to an estimated $7.1M, bringing its total to $23.6M. A finale in the $45M range also seems likely.

Scarlett Johansson crossed the $100M bar this week with Lucy, which took in an estimated $5.3M this weekend for a total of $107.5M to date. The latest in the dance film series Step Up All In came down hard this weekend, falling 58% in its second go around to an estimated $2.7M, bringing its total to $11.8M. Now we play the waiting game to see if the film can reach the heights of Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo which made $15.1M all the way back in 1984/85. Indie darling Boyhood bounced back into the top ten at number ten, adding 265 screens and jumping 9% from last weekend to an estimated $2.1M, bringing its cume to $13.1M.

The top ten films grossed $124.8M this weekend, up 10% from 2013 when Lee Daniels' The Butler opened at number one with $24.6M; and up 2% from 2012 when The Expendables 2 opened on top with $28.6M.

Compared to projections, The Expendables came in under Gitesh's $24M prediction, while both Let's Be Cops and The Giver were right on target with his $17M and $12M projections, respectively.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles $28.4M
Guardians of the Galaxy $24.7M
Let's Be Cops $17.7M
The Expendables 3 $16.2M
The Giver $12.8M
Into The Storm $7.7M
The Hundred-Foot Journey $7.1M
Lucy $5.3M
Step Up: All In $2.7M
Boyhood $2.2M

I think the Expendables was hurt by the leaked version online but it was a fun ride I can say that and with Guardians being a good film I can see it hanging on for awhile so it will be there awhile. No real surprises here.

 

[Wang Chung]

This weekend, Labor Day brought an end to another summer movie season on a slow note with the Marvel overachiever Guardians of the Galaxy leading the way again grossing an estimated $22.2M over the long Friday-to-Monday holiday weekend in its fifth frame. Three of those frames were spent at number one.

With a three-day Friday-to-Sunday take that was almost identical to last weekend's, the Disney release boosted its domestic cume to a fantastic $280.5M. That's slightly ahead of the $277.4M that the first Iron Man had in the bank at the exact same point in its release. Starlord hopes to go on and also collect more riches by growing its franchise fortunes in the years to come. Overseas grosses for Guardians rose to $273.1M putting the worldwide tally at an impressive $554M. It still has yet to open in key markets such as Italy, Japan, and China so $700M+ is likely.

Once again in second place was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with an estimated $15.7M over four days in its fourth round upping the cume to a robust $166.4M. Paramount saw a reasonable slide and with $112.1M from overseas markets has now taken in a strong $278M worldwide kicking off a new global franchise. Past Turtles movies were at New Line and Warner Bros.

Warners collected an estimated $11.6M for its teen romance If I Stay over the long weekend and has made $32.2M so far. The buddy comedy Let's Be Cops followed with an estimated $10.6M for a new cume of $59.7M for Fox.

The new horror flick As Above/So Below opened in fifth place with an estimated $10.3M from 2,640 locations for a mild $3,910 four-day average. The low-budget Paris-set thriller earned a lousy C- CinemaScore from paying moviegoers and is looking at the usual short-lived theatrical run witnessed by films of this genre. The three-day bow was just $8.6M. Nearly every horror movie this year has underperformed as the industry heads into the critical pre-Halloween September-October corridor when demand for this genre usually increases. Even Labor Day weekend has historically been a great launching pad for horror titles but with teens and young adults abandoning multiplexes, this type of film has been struggling to attract paying crowds.

Pierce Brosnan's new spy thriller The November Man debuted close behind in sixth place with an estimated $10.2M from 2,776 locations for a lackluster $3,674 average. Since its Wednesday launch, the total has been just $11.9M for Relativity. Reviews were negative for the umpteenth action offering of the summer.

Sony's inspirational football drama When the Game Stands Tall fell to an estimated $8M and has racked up $18.7M so far. The book-to-movie entry The Giver was next with an estimated $6.9M over four days giving The Weinstein Co. $33.1M to date.

Disney's Oprah-Spielberg-promoted hit drama The Hundred-Foot Journey enjoyed another good hold collecting an estimated $6.3M raising the total to $41.1M. Sylvester Stallone and his gang from The Expendables 3 had the worst drop in the top ten falling to an estimated $4.6M. Lionsgate has banked a weak $34.2M to date.

The Mexican film Cantinflas opened outside the top ten but played well with an estimated $3.3M from 382 sites for a good $8,704 average for Lionsgate. Sony re-released the modern classic Ghostbusters to celebrate its 30th anniversary (and upcoming Blu-ray release) and saw modest numbers with an estimated $2.2M weekend from 784 locations for a soft $2,806 average. Re-releasing old hits rarely leads to huge grosses these days, but they do put the spotlight on a popular brand re-energizing it so that it can monetize itself on other platforms.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $106.3M over four days which was down 3% from last year when The Butler led again with $20.2M; but up 5% from 2012 when The Possession opened on top with $21.1M.

92% Guardians of the Galaxy $16.3M
20% Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles $11.8M
39% If I Stay $9.3M
31% As Above/So Below $8.3M
21% Let's Be Cops $8.2M
37% The November Man $7.7M
17% When The Game Stands Tall $5.6M
32% The Giver $5.3M
65% The Hundred-Foot Journey $4.6M
34% The Expendables 3 $3.5M

Kind of figured it would be this way with the way the summer has been.

 

[Fuji Vice]

LOL at Pierce Brosnan's "geriatric James Bond" movie tanking.

 

[Wang Chung]

I actually thought that it looked pretty decent I haven't seen it though so I have no Idea.

 

[Fuji Vice]

I actually thought that it looked pretty decent I haven't seen it though so I have no Idea.

It just seemed so blah to me from the trailer. The line "they call you the November Man because after you leave nothing lives" made me think the script was written by a Grade 7 student. :