OPENINGS: IF I STAY (Warners/MGM) was the best of a weak trio, opening with $16.4M and with an 18% drop on Saturday that indicated moderate front-loading. It should reach a fair $40-50M US total, which could get it to breakeven if not profit.
WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL (Affirm/TriStar/Sony), with a $9M weekend, was in the same vicinity as the $9.2M start for God’s Not Dead, but that was in just 780 theatres, less than 1/3 of Game‘s 2673 total. Game was also hoping to attract some non-religious fans due to its football theme, but that didn’t appear to happen. Game had modest production and marketing costs, and while it won’t create much of a ripple, it shows the continuing box office presence of the fundamentalist audience.
There’s not much to be said about the utter failure of SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR (Dimension/Weinstein) that hasn’t been said over the past 2 days. Its $6.5M weekend is an incredible 22% of the $29.1M start for the original Sin City–and this one benefited not just from 9 years of ticket price increases, but also premium-priced 3D tickets. Somewhat hilariously, the studio may have exaggerated its Sunday estimate to get the number slightly higher (it’s claiming a 20% Sunday drop, compared to 30%/33% for If I Stay and When the Game Stands Tall), as though at this point the specific number mattered at all. The movie is being released by a multitude of local distributors overseas, so its international numbers will trickle in, but it appears to have opened well in Russia.
HOLDOVERS: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Marvel/Disney) celebrated becoming the #1 movie of the summer (in the US) by leaping back into the top spot for the weekend, down a superb 30% from last week to $17.6M. It’s currently at $251.9M, and will pass Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘s $259.8M by this time next week to become the #1 movie of the year in this market. Overseas, Guardians still has openings in Japan, Germany, Italy and especially China to come, and is at $237.6M after a $20.7M weekend. It’s at a worldwide $489.5M, and should top $600M before it’s done.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (Nickelodeon/Paramount) had a solid hold, down 41% to $16.8M and $145.6M to date. Overseas, it added $15.5M for $93.2M, with half the world (including China and Japan) yet to open. LET’S BE COPS (20th) also held well, down 38% to $11M and a $45.2M total. The news was less good for last week’s other openings, as THE GIVER (Weinstein) fell 45% to $6.7M ($24.1M to date), and THE EXPENDABLES 3 (Lionsgate) plunged 58% to $6.6M ($27.5M total). The latter movie is, like Sin City 2, heavily pre-sold to foreign distributors, but isn’t creating much of a stir overseas so far. THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY (DreamWorks/Disney) is thriving with its older audience, down a mere 23% to $5.6M ($32.8M to date).
LUCY (Universal) is trailing off in the US, down 36% to $3.5M ($113.8M total), but still in its prime overseas, where it earned $34M for a $103M total, and still has much of the world yet to open. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 (DreamWorks Animation/20th) is almost done in the US, down 12% to $510K ($172.1M total), but is still thriving internationally, where it took in $18.2M for a $400.7M total. It’s now at $572.8M worldwide, and should end up 20-25% ahead of the first Dragon–although it also cost a lot more than the first installment, so the profit may not be much higher. Still, it’s a critically-needed win for DreamWorks Animation.
It was a very good weekend for a couple of indies in semi-wide release. BOYHOOD (IFC) showed terrific traction, losing about 5% of its theatres but dropping just 6% from last weekend to $1.9M. With $16.5M so far, $20M now looks like a sure thing as we head into festival and awards season. MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT (Sony Classics) lost 18% of its theatres and almost kept pace, falling 25% to $1.3M and a $6.8M total. It should reach $10M, which isn’t anywhere near Woody Allen’s bigger recent hits, but keeps it out of flop territory.
LIMITED RELEASE: LOVE IS STRANGE (Sony Classics) had a solid $25K weekend average at 5 NY/LA theatres. THE ONE I LOVE (Radius/Weinstein) averaged a meh $6K at 9, but the studio unusually also announced that the film has already taken in $500K on VOD, which makes the total picture a lot brighter. (The same studio’s SNOWPIERCER, which has made $4.4M in theaters, has reportedly also earned $6M from VOD.) CALVARY (Fox Searchlight) widened to 240 theatres with an OK $2250 average. LAND HO (Sony Classics) expanded to 51 theatres with a tepid $1700 average. THE TRIP TO ITALY (IFC), which is also on VOD, had an $11K average at 10. The unkillable CHEF (Open Road), now at 105 theatres, fell only 10% from last weekend and $30M is within its grasp.
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