Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #14 of 2013 is looking pretty good: $135 million for the top 12 films in North America, up 16% from the comparable weekend the past few years. The two new openers this weekend are on track to beat our forecast, and The Croods continues to play quite well in its third weekend.
Opening at 3,025 theaters Friday, Evil Dead from Sony grossed $11.8 million Friday and is on track for a $27.2 million opening three-day weekend (a touch above the $26.5 million ShowbuzzDaily forecast). The film is averaging a good $8,900 per theater for the weekend (well above the $5,333 opening weekend average for all wide-release films the last two years), while critical sentiment is relatively strong for a horror film: 65% positive at RottenTomatoes. Evil Dead is headed for $76 million total domestic.
Opening at 2,771 theaters Friday, Jurassic Park 3D from Universal grossed $7 million Friday and is on pace for an $18.6 million opening weekend (also a bit above the $17.5 million ShowbuzzDaily forecast earlier this week). The film is averaging $6,700 per theater for the weekend. Critics are unanimously supportive of this 3D conversion: 91% positive reviews. Jurassic Park 3D should finish with $57 million total domestic.
| Weekend 14 April 5-7, 2013 | ($ millions) | |||||
| Pre-Wknd Showbuzz Forecast | Early Weekend Estimate | Actual Friday Gross | Showbuzz Domestic Final Proj. | |||
| Evil Dead | Sony | [26.5] | 27.2 | 11.8 | 76 | |
| The Croods | DW/Fox | [18.5] | 24.3 | 6.0 | 194 | |
| G.I. Joe: Retaliation | Par | [20.2] | 20.6 | 6.4 | 136 | |
| Jurassic Park 3D | Uni | [17.5] | 18.6 | 7.0 | 57 | |
| Tyler Perry’s Temptation | LG | [9.3] | 10.8 | 3.4 | 62 | |
| Olympus Has Fallen | FilmDis | [7.8] | 10.3 | 3.2 | 95 | |
| Oz the Great and Powerful | Dis | [6.9] | 9.4 | 2.4 | 244 | |
| The Host | OpenRoad | [5.0] | 5.8 | 1.8 | 28 | |
| The Call | Sony | [2.7] | 3.7 | 1.1 | 53 | |
| Admission | Focus | [1.8] | 2.1 | .66 | 19 | |
| Spring Breakers | A24 | — | 1.3 | .40 | 19 | |
| Identity Thief | WB | — | 0.8 | .24 | 135 | |
Note: The table above summarizes an early look at the weekend. The first column is a reminder of each film’s ShowBuzzDaily Forecast for the weekend (in brackets). The second column, on which the films are sorted, displays the new weekend projection for each film, based on the Friday numbers (the third column). The final column is a preliminary estimate of the ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Total number for the film’s total run in North America. A “++” indicates the Domestic number has been upgraded; a “–” indicates a downgrade.
In case you missed them, click to see this week’s Weekend Predictions.
Total Box Office Volume
The Top 12 Films this weekend are looking like $135 million total Friday-Sunday, up 16% from the four-year average for the comparable weekend and up the same amount from the same weekend last year.
| WEEKEND #14 | ($ millions) | ||
| Weekend Volume: Top 12 Films | Top Movies Opening Each Weekend (Fri-Sun only) | ||
| 2013 | $135 | Evil Dead $27, Jurassic Park 3D $18 | |
| 2012 | $117 | American Reunion $21, Titanic 3D $17 | |
| 2011 | $103 | Hanna $12, Arthur $12, Soul Surfer $10, Your Highness $9 | |
| 2010 | $119 | Date Night $25 | |
| 2009 | $126 | Hannah Montana $32, Observe and Report $11, Dragonball Evolution $5 | |
| Avg 2009-12 | $116 | ||
Check back tomorrow for more complete Weekend Studio Estimates based on Saturday’s actual box office, as well as the International Box Office report.
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