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Similar to last weekend before everybody rushes back to school, studios and distributors are trying to grab as much cash as they can. Today, for example, in the wake of Paramount opening Dora and the Lost City of Gold last weekend, Sony decided to have Rovio’s Angry Birds Movie 2 fly at 3,869 in what looks to be a $2.5M Tuesday.
Per ComScore, there are still 70% K-12 schools out today, but that number dwindles down to 56% by Friday, and 38% the following Friday, Aug. 23. The m.o. by the majors is to get as many of these pics that couldn’t be fitted on the regular summer schedule, out before the new school season really pulls people out of the multiplex.
Six-day outlook for Angry Birds 2 is north of $16M. The animated pic before distribution and marketing expenses cost $65M. The first movie released in May 2016 cost $73M and grossed $352.3M worldwide. The sequel has already earned around $3M abroad from territories such as China, the UK, Ukraine, South Korea and Norway to name a few.
For the most part, box office analysts see the majority of this weekend’s holdovers and new entries (another five) posting tickets sales in the low double digits. Universal’s Hobbs & Shaw is the exception with a forecasted third weekend take in the high teens. Through yesterday, the David Leitch-directed spinoff has collected $111M.
Then there’s a slew of pics posting or debuting in the $11M-$12M range including the second weekend of CBS Films’ Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (up to $23.3M through four days), Entertainment Studios new shark sequel 47 Meters Down: Uncaged starring Nia Long and Sylvester Stallone’s daughter Sistine Rose Stallone, Lion King‘s 5th weekend (current stateside total $475.9M), and Universal/Point Grey fresh potty mouth R-rated comedy Good Boys.
Young females, the ones who already saw Scary Stories, are the prime demo for 47 Meters Down 2 booked at 2,850 theaters with 7PM previews on Thursday. Good Boys, in north of 3,000 theaters, is one pic that if analysts had to guess could pop, it’d be this comedy from the filmmaking team of Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. The trick is whether Uni can get the 17-34 crowd out to see this little kid version of Superbad (a movie, by the way, which is already 12 years old). Critics,who usually hate R-rated comedies, so far are enjoying it at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. Thursday previews start at 7PM.
Meanwhile, Dora in weekend 2 is expected to see between $8M-$9M. Through four days, she counts $19.3M.
Two films, aimed at adults, which look a lot like specialty releases are going wide and will come up with an estimated $4M-$5M a piece: Annapurna/UAR’s Richard Linklater movie Where’d You Go, Bernadette? based on the 2012 Maria Semple comedy novel, and New Line’s Sundance acquisition Blinded by the Light.
At a time when the industry demands diversity behind and in front of the camera, here are two releases trying to make a difference, and it’s extremely unfortunate, but the forecast is that audiences won’t be going out of their way to watch them.
Bernadette, at 2,400 locations, stars two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett. In the movie, a loving mom becomes compelled to reconnect with her creative passions after years of sacrificing herself for her family. Her leap of faith takes her on an epic adventure that jump-starts her life and leads to her triumphant rediscovery. Previews begin at 7PM on Thursday.
Blinded by the Light from Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha was acquired by New Line out of Sundance for $15M as exclusively reported by Deadline. The film killed at its packed premiere at Sundance, and tells the story of a Muslim teen in 1987 Britain who learns to live life, understand his family and find his own voice through the music of Bruce Springsteen. Older females and males are currently the prime demo. Pic has the best RT score for wide entries this weekend at 93% Certified Fresh. No RT scores yet on 47 Meters Down 2 or Bernadette.
Hopefully, summer doesn’t ratchet down too much, because currently, according to ComScore, the period of April 26-Aug. 11 is currently raking in $4.3 billion, 1.4% ahead of the same frame a year ago. Even with five new wide entries last weekend the weekend box office was off 10% from a year ago with $132.2M.