"Ender's Game" Defeats Other New Releases This Weekend

[JamesG]

Weekend Report: Ender Wins Box Office Game
by Ray Subers
November 3, 2013


Ender's Game led the domestic box office this weekend, while Last Vegas narrowly beat animated disappointment Free Birds.

Overall, the Top 12 earned an estimated $121.7 million, which is off slightly from last year.







At 3,407 theaters, Ender's Game took first place with a decent $28 million. While that pales in comparison to the likes of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Twilight, it is a bit of an improvement over past young-adult adaptations like The Golden Compass ($25.8 million) and Eragon ($23.2 million).

It is worth noting, though, that adjusting for ticket price inflation those two titles had slightly higher initial attendance.



Ender's Game also opened on the low end for big-budget sci-fi in 2013. It was way off from Pacific Rim and Oblivion (both over $37 million), and was about on par with After Earth ($27.5 million).

Overall, this isn't a terrible start, though it's not a particularly good one either. Marketing emphasized Harrison Ford's gruff military commander while failing to show what it is about Ender that makes him worth rooting for.

This kept the movie from really connecting with those who aren't familiar with the source material, which is the key to success in the adaptation game. According to distributor Lionsgate/Summit, the movie's audience was 58 percent male and 54 percent over the age of 25.



Ender's Game could ultimately find success if it has strong holds and plays well overseas. Unfortunately, it opened to a weak $1.9 million in the U.K. last weekend, and audiences here only gave the movie a so-so "B+" CinemaScore.

Also, it faces brutal direct competition from Thor: The Dark World next weekend, and it's tough to imagine it's still drawing much of an audience when The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens in a few weeks.







After opening in first place last weekend, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa held surprisingly well in its second outing. The movie only dropped 36 percent — easily the best hold in the Jackass franchise—to $20.5 million.

Through 10 days, Bad Grandpa has earned $62.1 million, and it will pass Jackass: Number Two ($72.8 million) in less than a week.







At 3,065 theaters, Last Vegas took third place with an estimated $16.5 million. That's the second-highest start ever for CBS Films behind 2012 horror movie The Woman in Black ($20.9 million).

It's also slightly above Hope Springs ($14.7 million), which is the comparable title CBS has been using.



Still, it's only a bit better than Robert DeNiro's The Family ($14 million), and is also way off from Morgan Freeman's other movies this year (all of which opened above $29 million).

As expected, the movie's audience skewed older (83 percent over 25). Interestingly, its audience was also 53 percent female. Combine that data with a solid "A-" CinemaScore, and it's likely that Last Vegas holds well in the long run.

A total north of $50 million is a likely outcome at this point.







Free Birds, the first animated movie from effects company Reel FX and from distributor Relativity Media, opened in fourth place with an estimated $16.2 million. That's lower than Flushed Away ($18.8 million), which opened on the same date seven years ago, didn't have 3D, and was considered a major disappointment.

It's also off from similarly-themed Chicken Run, which took in $17.5 million over 13 years ago.



Free Birds is the latest example of why a scheduling advantage doesn't guarantee box office glory. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is basically played out, which means that Free Birds was the only major choice for family audiences this weekend.

Unfortunately, the marketing dropped the ball by highlighting generic animated antics as opposed to showcasing the movie's interesting, unique story (turkeys travel back in time to end Thanksgiving!).



The audience skewed female (54 percent) and, strangely, older (57 percent over 25). As usual with animated movies, this should hold well over the next few weeks, though it's hard to imagine it makes it much higher than $60 million or so.







In fifth place, Gravity fell 35 percent—its steepest drop yet—to an estimated $13.1 million.

To date, it has earned an excellent $219.2 million. It remains on pace for at least $250 million by the end of its run.







Captain Phillips had its best hold yet; the Tom Hanks thriller eased 27 percent to $8.5 million in its fourth weekend.

The movie has now earned $82.6 million, and will absolutely finish with over $100 million.







12 Years a Slave expanded to 410 locations this weekend and earned $4.6 million.

The acclaimed slavery drama is set to expand nationwide next weekend in to around 1,000 theaters.







At 175 locations, time travel romance About Time disappointed with just $1.1 million.

It's supposed to expand nationwide next weekend, though it looks unlikely to make much of an impact.







Dallas Buyers Club opened in nine theaters and earned a solid $264,000. That translates to an average of $29,333.

With a 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and plenty of awards buzz for Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, look for Focus Features to aggressively expand this movie over the next month.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3747&p=.htm









November 1-3, 2013 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. Ender's Game $28,000,000
2. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa $20,500,000 / $62,058,000
3. Last Vegas $16,520,000
4. Free Birds $16,200,000
5. Gravity $13,130,000 / $219,196,000
6. Captain Phillips $8,500,000 / $82,551,000
7. 12 Years a Slave $4,600,000 / $8,760,000
8. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 $4,200,000 / $106,195,000
9. Carrie $3,400,000 / $31,973,000
10. The Counselor $3,250,000 / $13,368,000

[looter]

Not a good week for cinema. the Ender's Game book movie failed very much.