Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #12 of 2014 looks like $131 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, very similar to the same weekend last year and 8% below the average for this weekend the past several years.
Opening at 3,936 theaters late Thursday, Divergent from Lionsgate/Summit grossed $22.8 million through Friday, putting the film on track for a $54 million opening weekend (below our $63.5 million ShowbuzzDaily forecast). The film is pacing toward a three-day average of $13,700 per theater for the weekend (above the $5,333 opening weekend average for all wide-release films the last two years). Critical sentiment is soft (41% positive overall and 39% positive with top critics). Divergent is headed for $153 million total domestic.
Opening at 3,194 theaters Friday, Muppets Most Wanted from Disney grossed $4.7 million Friday, putting the film on track for a $17.5 million opening weekend (also below our $26.5 million forecast). The film is pacing toward a perfectly average $5,500 per theater for the weekend. Critical sentiment is decent (77% positive overall at RottenTomatoes and 68% positive with top critics). Muppets Most Wanted is headed for around $81 million total domestic.
God’s Not Dead from Freestyle Releasing opened at 780 theaters and is headed for a very good weekend average of $10.300 per location. That’s a solid $8.0 million opening (more than twice our $3.8 million forecast).
| Weekend 12: March 21-23, 2014 | ($ millions) | |||||
| Pre-Wknd Showbuzz Forecast | Early Weekend Estimate | Actual Friday Gross | Showbuzz Domestic Final Proj. | |||
| Divergent | LG/Sum | [63.5] | 54.0 | 22.8 | 153 | |
| Muppets Most Wanted | Dis | [26.5] | 17.5 | 4.7 | 81 | |
| Mr Peabody & Sherman | Fox/DWA | [12.6] | 11.5 | 2.7 | 116 | |
| 300: Rise of an Empire | WB | [9.4] | 8.2 | 2.4 | 114 | |
| God’s Not Dead | Free | [3.8] | 8.0 | 2.8 | 19 | |
| Need for Speed | Dis | [8.2] | 7.5 | 2.2 | 44 | |
| Non-Stop | Uni | [6.3] | 6.3 | 1.9 | 94 | |
| Grand Budapest Hotel | FoxS | [4.8] | 6.2 | 1.9 | n/a | |
| The LEGO Movie | WB | [4.7] | 3.9 | .97 | 260 | |
| TP’s Single Moms Club | LG/Sum | [3.8] | 3.1 | .94 | 16 | |
| Son of God | Fox | [2.9] | 2.5 | .66 | 59 | |
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.
Total Box Office Volume
The Top 12 Films this weekend are looking like $131 million total Friday-Sunday, down 8% from the four-year average for the comparable weekend and up 1% from the same weekend last year.
| WEEKEND 12 | ($ millions) | ||
| Weekend Volume: Top 12 Films | Top Movies Opening Each Weekend (Fri-Sun only) | ||
| 2014 | $131 | Divergent $54.0, Muppets Most Wanted $17.5 | |
| 2013 | $130 | The Croods $43.6, Olympus Has Fallen $30.4, Admission $6.2, Spring Breakers $4.9 | |
| 2012 | $204 | The Hunger Games $152.5 | |
| 2011 | $109 | Diary of a Wimpy Kid Rodrick Rules $23.8, Sucker Punch $19.1 | |
| 2010 | $117 | How to Train Your Dragon $43.7, Hot Tub Time Machine $14.0 | |
| Avg 2010-13 | $143 | ||
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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