JamesG
03-29-2015, 08:53 PM
Weekend Report: Moviegoers Go Home, Get Hard
by Ray Subers
March 29, 2015
DreamWorks Animation's Home was a huge hit with family moviegoers this weekend, taking first place with an excellent $54 million.
Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard also put up strong numbers in second place, while indie horror movie It Follows did decent business in its nationwide expansion.
Among recent family-friendly movies, Home's $54 million debut is in the same ballpark as Big Hero 6 ($56.2 million) and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water ($55.4 million). It also ranks as one of the top non-sequel movies ever for DreamWorks, behind Kung Fu Panda ($60.2 million) and Monsters vs. Aliens ($59.3 million).
In fact, it's the biggest debut for a DreamWorks movie since its distribution deal began with 20th Century Fox in early 2013; that includes How to Train Your Dragon 2, which opened to $49.5 million last June.
If Home follows the same pattern as Monsters vs. Aliens and Mr. Peabody & Sherman, it will finish with around $180 million. With an "A" CinemaScore and virtually no competition on the way, there's a chance it holds up better than that.
While Home easily took first place, Get Hard was no slouch either: playing at 3,175 locations, the R-rated comedy opened to an estimated $34.6 million this weekend.
That ranks third all-time among live-action Ferrell movies, and ranks second among Hart's recent slew of leading roles (behind Ride Along).
The movie's audience was 54 percent male and 61 percent were 25 years of age or older. Word-of-mouth is mixed ("B" CinemaScore), and reviews are terrible; add in the fact that this faces direct competition from Furious 7 next weekend, and there's a chance that this falls off quickly.
Still, a final total over $100 million isn't out of the question.
The Divergent Series: Insurgent fell 58 percent to an estimated $22.1 million. In comparison, the first Divergent movie fell 53 percent to $25.6 million on this same weekend last year.
So far, Insurgent has earned $86.4 million total, and is now on track to close in the $130 to $140 million range.
In its third weekend, Cinderella fell 50 percent to an estimated $17.5 million. Despite strong reviews and great word-of-mouth, the movie's holds thus far have been pretty unremarkable.
Still, it's already earned $150 million, and will be the highest-grossing movie from 2015 (not in 2015 — that's American Sniper) by next weekend.
Indie horror flick It Follows expanded to 1,218 locations and took fifth place with an estimated $4.02 million this weekend. That's a solid result considering the movie relied almost exclusively on word-of-mouth, social media marketing, and strong reviews (as opposed to a more traditional marketing effort).
Distributor Radius-TWC is planning on further expanding the movie next weekend.
Playing at four locations in New York and Los Angeles, writer/director Noah Baumbach's While We're Young opened to $242,000 this weekend. That translates to a very good $60,500 per-theater average, which is the best ever for Baumbach.
In comparison, his last movie (Frances Ha) averaged $34,350 in its New York / Los Angeles debut. This is also the second-biggest per-theater average ever for distributor A24 behind 2013's Spring Breakers ($87,667).
They're planning on expanding the movie to select markets next weekend ahead of a nationwide release on April 10th. Baumbach's last two movies, Frances Ha and Greenberg, topped out around $4 million; there's a good chance that While We're Young exceeds that number.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4051&p=.htm
March 27-29, 2015 Weekend Studio Estimates:
1. Home $54,000,000
2. Get Hard $34,610,000
3. The Divergent Series: Insurgent $22,075,000 / $86,394,000
4. Cinderella $17,515,000 / $150,022,000
5. It Follows $4,021,000 / $4,755,000
6. Kingsman: The Secret Service $3,050,000 / $119,424,000
7. Run All Night $2,205,000 / $23,823,000
8. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel $2,185,000 / $28,135,000
9. Do You Believe? $2,150,000 / $7,052,000
10. The Gunman $2,045,000 / $8,810,000
by Ray Subers
March 29, 2015
DreamWorks Animation's Home was a huge hit with family moviegoers this weekend, taking first place with an excellent $54 million.
Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard also put up strong numbers in second place, while indie horror movie It Follows did decent business in its nationwide expansion.
Among recent family-friendly movies, Home's $54 million debut is in the same ballpark as Big Hero 6 ($56.2 million) and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water ($55.4 million). It also ranks as one of the top non-sequel movies ever for DreamWorks, behind Kung Fu Panda ($60.2 million) and Monsters vs. Aliens ($59.3 million).
In fact, it's the biggest debut for a DreamWorks movie since its distribution deal began with 20th Century Fox in early 2013; that includes How to Train Your Dragon 2, which opened to $49.5 million last June.
If Home follows the same pattern as Monsters vs. Aliens and Mr. Peabody & Sherman, it will finish with around $180 million. With an "A" CinemaScore and virtually no competition on the way, there's a chance it holds up better than that.
While Home easily took first place, Get Hard was no slouch either: playing at 3,175 locations, the R-rated comedy opened to an estimated $34.6 million this weekend.
That ranks third all-time among live-action Ferrell movies, and ranks second among Hart's recent slew of leading roles (behind Ride Along).
The movie's audience was 54 percent male and 61 percent were 25 years of age or older. Word-of-mouth is mixed ("B" CinemaScore), and reviews are terrible; add in the fact that this faces direct competition from Furious 7 next weekend, and there's a chance that this falls off quickly.
Still, a final total over $100 million isn't out of the question.
The Divergent Series: Insurgent fell 58 percent to an estimated $22.1 million. In comparison, the first Divergent movie fell 53 percent to $25.6 million on this same weekend last year.
So far, Insurgent has earned $86.4 million total, and is now on track to close in the $130 to $140 million range.
In its third weekend, Cinderella fell 50 percent to an estimated $17.5 million. Despite strong reviews and great word-of-mouth, the movie's holds thus far have been pretty unremarkable.
Still, it's already earned $150 million, and will be the highest-grossing movie from 2015 (not in 2015 — that's American Sniper) by next weekend.
Indie horror flick It Follows expanded to 1,218 locations and took fifth place with an estimated $4.02 million this weekend. That's a solid result considering the movie relied almost exclusively on word-of-mouth, social media marketing, and strong reviews (as opposed to a more traditional marketing effort).
Distributor Radius-TWC is planning on further expanding the movie next weekend.
Playing at four locations in New York and Los Angeles, writer/director Noah Baumbach's While We're Young opened to $242,000 this weekend. That translates to a very good $60,500 per-theater average, which is the best ever for Baumbach.
In comparison, his last movie (Frances Ha) averaged $34,350 in its New York / Los Angeles debut. This is also the second-biggest per-theater average ever for distributor A24 behind 2013's Spring Breakers ($87,667).
They're planning on expanding the movie to select markets next weekend ahead of a nationwide release on April 10th. Baumbach's last two movies, Frances Ha and Greenberg, topped out around $4 million; there's a good chance that While We're Young exceeds that number.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4051&p=.htm
March 27-29, 2015 Weekend Studio Estimates:
1. Home $54,000,000
2. Get Hard $34,610,000
3. The Divergent Series: Insurgent $22,075,000 / $86,394,000
4. Cinderella $17,515,000 / $150,022,000
5. It Follows $4,021,000 / $4,755,000
6. Kingsman: The Secret Service $3,050,000 / $119,424,000
7. Run All Night $2,205,000 / $23,823,000
8. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel $2,185,000 / $28,135,000
9. Do You Believe? $2,150,000 / $7,052,000
10. The Gunman $2,045,000 / $8,810,000