For the third straight weekend in a row, Disney's big-budget animated comedy-drama 'Zootopia' experienced another strong hold ahead of the weekend's three new wide releases, a low-budget faith-based drama that will hope to build up upon strong word-of-mouth, an under-the-radar R-rated comedy, and a big-budget YA sequel that absolutely failed to reach the heights of its predecessors.
Repeating in first place once again, Disney's fantastic 'Zootopia' still captured audiences attention, easing a light 25.9% from its already strong second weekend performance and raking in $38 million. That ranks as the eight biggest third weekend for any film ever, and the biggest third weekend take for an animated film just barely above 'Shrek 2' ($37.9m). Overall, it's just behind 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' and its third weekend of $38.9 million, so once actuals come in it could move into seventh place on the chart. Today, it passed 'Tangled' to become the third highest-grossing film from Walt Disney Animation Studios behind 'Frozen' ($400.7m) and 'Big Hero 6' ($222.5m), and will most likely pass the latter gross next weekend. So far, 'Zootopia' has so far grossed a stellar $201.8 million in just three weeks, and actually has a chance at making over $300 million by the end of its run.
In a weak and disappointing second, 'The Divergent Series: Allegiant' missed the mark with just $29.1 million for a middling $7.8k per-theater average. That is easily the worst opening in the 'Divergent' movie franchise, which is 46.7% below the $54.6 million debut of 'Divergent' and 44.4% below 'Insurgent''s $52.3 million. 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1' only fell 22.9% from 'Catching Fire' and 'Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials' declined a light 6.8% from the first. Those films, however, had stronger marketing, a more reliable fan-base, more appeal, and much better reviews and word-of-mouth/anticipation going into the weekend. After the much weaker reception of the second installment, audiences weren't that eager to rush out to the third one. The teaser trailer for this film received a lackluster 3.5 million views on YouTube while the teaser for 'Insurgent' nabbed 5.4 million. Plus, social media activity was noticeably down, and ultimately all these factors contributed to the weaker-than-expected performance. 'Allegiant' is the second big-budget miss for Lionsgate this year, which not only sets more pressure for next year's 'Ascendant' but also sets up Lionsgate to perform how Warner Bros. performed last year (few hits, mostly flops). For a film that was projected to make $30m-$45m, this is not a good start. Instead, it debuted closer to YA flops 'Ender's Game' ($27m) and 'Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events' ($30.1m).
On Friday, 'Allegiant' made $11.9 million ($2.4m from Thursday) on Friday, dropped a troubling 10.2% on Saturday for $10.7 million, and fell 39.9% on Sunday to make $6.4 million. That represents a concerning 2.45-to-1, which is lower than the 2.48-to-1 ratio of 'Insurgent' and the 2.75-to-1 ratio of 'Scorch Trials' but better than the 2.39-to-1 ratio of the first 'Divergent'. With a reported budget of around $110 million, which was what 'Insurgent' cost last year, 'Allegiant' will have to make up a lot of ground overseas. With critics panning it (10% on RT) and audiences indecisive about it (50% on Flixter), this is unlikely to hold up as well as recent installments and similar YA films. It's unlikely to make much more than $70 million by the time it closes. However, it's faring a lot better overseas, and added $22 million to its foreign tally of $53.4 million. Globally, the YA sequel has grossed $82.5 million and has a pretty solid chance at $280 million.
The $13-million Jennifer Garner led faith-based drama 'Miracles from Heaven' didn't quite make as much as 2014's 'Heaven is for Real', but was still a hit nevertheless. After opening modestly on Wednesday, 'Miracles' gained quite a bit of momentum on the weekend and grossed $15 million for a respectable $4.9k average and a five-day total of $18.6 million. That is right in line with expectations ($12m-$20m) and represents a 33.3% decline from 'Heaven is for Real''s $22.5 million opening, but this is a reasonable result as the latter debuted right before Easter, whereas 'Miracles' has the advantage of opening a week earlier. A significantly leggier run than 'Heaven' is expected because of this and stronger word-of-mouth.
Opening on Wednesday with $1.9 million and declining on 11.6% on Thursday for $1.7 million, 'Miracles' grossed an estimated $4.2 million on Friday, increased a very encouraging 47.3% on Saturday to earn $6.1 million, and fell a light 22.6% on Sunday for $4.7 million. The weekend-to-ratio here is a very solid 3.57-to-1 ratio and the five day to three day weekend ratio is 1.24-to-1, with both figures besting 'Heaven is for Real'. And while reviews aren't that kind or that mean (a middling 54% RT score), word-of-mouth is glowing with an 85% Flixter rating and an 'A+' CinemaScore. With that, it's essentially guaranteed 'Miracles' holds up better than 'Heaven'. It's possible it could snag a weekend multiplier of 5x and end up with around $75 million, but I'm going to be a bit more conservative with a projected $60 million finish.
'10 Cloverfield Lane' held up fairly well, dropping 49.4% for a $12.5 million sophomore frame. With $45.2 million in two weeks, the $15-million sci-fi thriller is already a big hit and will likely continue the 'Cloverfield' franchise in future years. A total of around $65 million should still be doable at this point. Rounding out the Top 5 was 'Deadpool', which grossed $8 million and dropping a slim 26.9%. The $58-million R-rated superhero film goes up against 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' next weekend, so it makes sense that many audiences wanted to catch this before going out to see that. With an enormous $340.9 million since opening in mid-February, 'Deadpool' should make it past $355 million total, which would make it the second biggest R-rated film ever ahead of 'American Sniper' and behind 'Passion of the Christ'.
'London Has Fallen' followed closely with $6.9 million, down a solid 36.4% from last weekend. So far, the $60-million action sequel has made $50.1 million and will try to push past $70 million, which would put it behind the $98.9 million total of 'Olympus Has Fallen'. Fellow March 4-opener 'Whiskey Tango Foxtrot' made $2.8 million and declined 39.9%. Despite the strong holds, the $35-million comedy continues to run below expectations and has made just $19.3 million in three weeks. $25 million should be likely.
Meanwhile, the final new wide release this weekend was 'The Bronze', which downright bombed HARDLY outside the Top 20, making a very paltry $421.4k from 1,167 theaters for just $361 per theater. That is the 14th worst opening for a wide release and the ninth worst per-theater average of all time. Marketing was very minimal for the film, but still it should have at least cracked $3 million. Given the discouraging reviews and word-of-mouth, $1 million would probably be predicting to high.
On a higher note, 'Midnight Special' debuted in five theaters to a very strong $184k for a $36.8k per-theater average. That is an excellent start for the low-budget sci-fi drama that has been compared to Spielberg's films from the 80's. With strong reviews, it should hold up fairly well in the coming weeks, although word-of-mouth is much less impressive. It is expected to expand on April 1.
The Top 12 this weekend made an estimated $119.1 million, which was down 2.4% from last weekend and down a slim 1.7% from last year when 'Insurgent' kept the series alive.
Next weekend should be one that makes history, even if not all records fall. 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice', which has a budget of what 'Avengers 2' had, crashes into 4,100+ theaters next week. On IMDb, its 9.5/10 rating is very encouraging, and anticipation is very high (+98%). It should make it past $130 million in a single weekend, and $170 million is even possible. 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2' also arrives in over 3,000 theaters.
No comments:
Post a Comment