The Boss Baby Dethrones Beauty and the Beast as Ghost in the Shell Underperforms
by Brad Brevet
April 2, 2017


It's close, but Fox and DreamWorks Animation's The Boss Baby narrowly beat Disney's Beauty and the Beast and delivered a #1 finish this weekend as it vastly over performed pre-release industry expectations.

Meanwhile, Paramount's Ghost in the Shell debuted with the opposite result, finishing in third position and well below expectations. Elsewhere, Lionsgate's Power Rangers dropped over 60% in its second weekend while WB's Kong: Skull Island, Fox's Logan and Universal's Get Out delivered the best holds within the top ten.







Finishing atop the weekend box office, Fox and DWA's The Boss Baby brought in an estimated $49 million from 3,773 theaters. It currently stands as the tenth largest opening for a DreamWorks Animated title, but could find itself leap-frogging How to Train Your Dragon 2 should actuals come in just a bit higher.

The result is also just a few million shy of the $52.1 million Home opened with over the same weekend in 2015 before it went on to gross over $175 million domestically and $386 million worldwide. It's worth noting, however, Home didn't face any animated competition for nearly three months following its release while Boss Baby will have to contend with the release of Smurfs: The Lost Village next weekend followed by Open Road's Spark after that.



Working in its favor, Boss Baby scored a solid "A-" CinemaScore from opening day audiences with moviegoers under the age of 18 scoring it an "A+".

Internationally, Boss Baby opened in five markets last weekend and brought in $17.5 million.







Finishing second is Disney's Beauty and the Beast with an estimated $47.5 million as its domestic cume climbs to $395.5 million after 17 days in release, putting it on a similar pace to 2008's The Dark Knight, which finished with $533.3 million domestically.

Internationally, Beauty and the Beast added another $66.5 million this weekend from 55 markets, which brings the film's global cume to over $875 million.







In third is Paramount's Ghost in the Shell, which brought in an estimated $19 million from 3,440 theaters. This is below industry expectations and well below Mojo's weekend forecast. Opening day audiences gave the film a "B" CinemaScore and of that audience 61% were male versus 39% female.

While speculation as to why Ghost in the Shell under performed is sure to be a topic du jour, the opening weekend demographics provide a quick and easy indicator when compared to Scarlett Johansson's previous solo actioner Lucy, which debuted with $43.8 million and featured an opening weekend audience that was 50% female.

Internationally, Ghost in the Shell delivered an estimated $40.1 million from 50 international markets.







Lionsgate's Power Rangers finished in fourth place with an estimated $14.5 million signaling a 64% second weekend drop, the worst among the top ten. While the film's $40 million opening was noteworthy, the $100 million price tag and such a steep drop doesn't necessarily help its sequel chances.

That said, it did add $8.1 million internationally this weekend from 70 markets bringing its worldwide cume to just shy of $100 million.







Rounding out the top five is WB and Legendary's Kong: Skull Island, which dropped 40% this weekend, delivering an estimated $8.8 million as its cume now stands at $147.8 million to go along with a $329.5 million international gross for a worldwide total approaching $500 million.

Also dropping 40% was Fox's Logan, which finished in sixth with $6.2 million as its domestic total now stands at $211.8 million and it was Universal's Get Out with the best hold among the top ten once again, finishing with an estimated $5.8 million for a domestic cume that's now approaching $160 million on a $4.5 million budget.







Rounding out the top ten is Focus Features' The Zookeeper's Wife, which opened strong in just 541 theaters, bringing in an estimated $3.3 million.

Lisa Bunnell, President of Distribution at Focus Features provided a quote saying, "We're very happy with our opening weekend, having a more limited title open in the top ten is a great accomplishment! The film played extremely well with our core audience - exit polls were huge with over 90% of the audience rating the film in the top two boxes - as a result we've decided to expand faster than originally planned. Adult audiences are looking for films with a great story and strong performances and The Zookeeper's Wife delivers."

Look for The Zookeeper's Wife to go wide next weekend, adding 200-300 additional locations.







Elsewhere, in limited release China Lion's The Devotion of Suspect X brought in an estimated $330k from 43 theaters ($7,674 PTA); Arrow Films' re-release of Donnie Darko brought in $53,200 from 21 theaters; and Janus Films' release of David Lynch: The Art of Life brought in $12,126 from one theater.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4280&p=.htm









March 31-April 2, 2017 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. The Boss Baby $49,000,000
2. Beauty and the Beast $47,543,000 / $395,459,842
3. Ghost in the Shell $19,000,000
4. Power Rangers $14,500,000 / $65,062,170
5. Kong: Skull Island $8,800,000 / $147,848,204
6. Logan $6,200,000 / $211,867,637
7. Get Out $5,813,715 / $156,887,675
8. Life $5,625,000 / $22,369,239
9. CHiPs $4,055,000 / $14,367,366
10. The Zookeeper's Wife $3,349,475

The Boss Baby Repeats at #1 While Beauty and the Beast Closes in on $1 Billion Worldwide
by Brad Brevet
April 9, 2017


Fox and DreamWorks Animation's The Boss Baby topped the weekend box office for a second week in a row, once again leading Disney's Beauty and the Beast over the course of what felt like a placeholder weekend as far as new releases are concerned.

While Sony's Smurfs: The Lost Village performed mostly as expected and New Line's Going in Style over performed based on expectations, it seems most moviegoers are merely waiting for the next weekend's release of The Fate of the Furious as it looks to become the second 2017 release to debut over $100 million.

Otherwise, this weekend also featured a satisfactory opening for Pure Flix's The Case for Christ, which could see its estimates receive a bump today as a result of it being Palm Sunday, while last weekend's release of Ghost in the Shell dipped over 60% in its second weekend in release.







At the top of the box office it's Fox's The Boss Baby as the animated feature dropped 48% for an estimated $26.3 million sophomore session as its domestic cume is now just shy of $90 million after ten days in release.

Internationally, Boss Baby added another $37.5 million this weekend from 46 markets as its international cume now stands at $110.4 million for a global total just shy of $200 million.







In second, Disney's Beauty and the Beast continued its climb toward $1 billion worldwide, adding an estimated $25 million as its domestic cume topped $430 million and another $36.1 million internationally for a worldwide total over $975 million.

Internationally the film saw no new openings this weekend and won't see any more new openings until April 21st when it debuts in Japan, but by that time it will have already topped $1 billion globally.







In third is where we find Sony's Smurfs: The Lost Village, which industry expectations had opening in the mid-teens, which is to say with its estimated $14 million opening it more or less hit that target. The film was well received by opening day audiences as the 18-and-under demographic gave it an "A+" CinemaScore, while the overall audience CinemaScore was an "A", a touch above the "A-" the two previous Smurfs films received.

Internationally the film grossed an estimated $22 million from 58 markets for an international total of $42.1 million and a global cume that currently stands at $56.1 million.







In fourth is the weekend's second new wide release, New Line's comedy remake Going in Style, which over performed based on what was expected to be an opening around $8 million as the film debuted with an estimated $12.5 million from 3,061 theaters.

Opening day audiences gave the film a "B+" CinemaScore, though more importantly the film's target demographic of audience members 50 and over gave the film an "A-".

Internationally, Going for Style opened in 32 markets where it brought in an estimated $4.3 million.







Rounding out the top five is Paramount's Ghost in the Shell, which debuted to a disappointing $18.7 million last weekend and its sophomore session wasn't much better as it dropped over 60% for an estimated $7.2 million.

Internationally the film brought in an estimated $41.3 million, which includes a $21.4 million ($2.5m from 389 IMAX locations) opening in China as its overseas total climbs to $92.8 million for a global cume just shy of $125 million.







Elsewhere, WB's Kong: Skull Island dropped 32.2%, finishing with an estimated $5.8 million as its domestic cume now stands at $156.5 million.

The film also continues to perform internationally where it brought in an estimated $16 million this weekend, bringing the overseas total to $377.8 million for a global haul just shy of $535 million, topping the $529 million worldwide performance of 2014's Godzilla.







Additionally, Universal's Get Out continued to hold steady, dropping a top ten best, 29% for a ninth place finish and an estimated $4 million as its domestic cume has now topped $162 million.

Rounding out the top ten is Pure Flix's The Case for Christ, finishing with an estimated $3.9 million from 1,174 theaters and an "A+" CinemaScore.







Outside the top ten, FUNimation's release of Your Name is expected to bring in $1.6 million this weekend from ~300 theaters for a $5,281 per theater average; Neon's release of Colossal into four theaters brought in an estimated $125,809 ($31,452 PTA); STX released Their Finest into four theaters where it brought in an estimated $77,000 ($19,250 PTA); FilmRise's release of Truman into three theaters brought in an estimated $25,000 ($8,333 PTA); and IFC's release of Graduation debuted with an estimated $11,040 from two theaters.

Also, Fox Searchlight's limited release of Gifted into 56 theaters brought in an estimated $476,000 ($8,500 PTA). The studio has already planned a Wednesday expansion into ~850 theaters followed by a continued expansion next Friday into ~1,000 theaters and what is expected to be over 1,500 theaters by April 21.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4282&p=.htm









April 7-9, 2017 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. The Boss Baby $26,300,000 / $89,373,318
2. Beauty and the Beast $25,022,000 / $432,316,034
3. Smurfs: The Lost Village $14,015,000
4. Going in Style $12,500,000
5. Ghost in the Shell $7,350,000 / $31,573,450
6. Power Rangers $6,215,200 / $75,111,442
7. Kong: Skull Island $5,825,000 / $156,554,724
8. Logan $4,050,000 / $218,057,408
9. Get Out $4,020,485 / $162,853,135
10. The Case for Christ $3,900,000