Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #20 of 2014 looks like $177 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up a very good 21% from the norm for this weekend.
Opening at 3,952 theaters, Godzilla from Warner Brothers grossed $38.5 million Friday and late Thursday, putting the film on track for a great $98 million opening weekend (well above our conservative $74.0 million ShowbuzzDaily forecast). The film is pacing toward a solid three-day average of $24,800 per theater for the weekend (almost five times the $5,333 opening weekend average for all wide-release films the last two years). Critical sentiment is supportive (73% positive overall and 67% positive with top critics). Godzilla is headed for $284 million total domestic.
Opening at 3,019 theaters, Million Dollar Arm from Disney grossed $3.5 million Friday, putting the film on track for a tepid $10.8 million opening weekend (below our already bearish $14.5 million forecast). The film is pacing toward a sad three-day average of $3,600 per theater for the weekend. Critical sentiment is fairly positive (60% positive overall and a similar 58% positive with top critics), but that won’t be enough to overcome such a small opening. Million Dollar Arm is headed for $35 million total domestic.
Neighbors is headed for $26.0 million in its second weekend (a touch below our forecast and down a just okay -47% from the opening weekend). The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is on track for $16.0 million this weekend (very close to forecast and down a more severe -55% from last weekend). The second Andrew Garfield Spider-Man is now pacing toward a domestic total of $207 million.
| Weekend 20: May 16-18, 2014 | ($ millions) | |||||
| Pre-Wknd Showbuzz Forecast | Early Weekend Estimate | Actual Friday Gross | Showbuzz Domestic Final Proj. | |||
| Godzilla | WB | [74.0] | 98.0 | 38.5 | 284 | |
| Neighbors | Uni | [27.0] | 26.0 | 8.4 | 159 | |
| Amazing Spider-Man 2 | Sony | [16.3] | 16.0 | 4.5 | 207 | |
| Million Dollar Arm | Dis | [14.5] | 10.8 | 3.5 | 35 | |
| The Other Woman | Fox | [5.7] | 6.4 | 2.1 | 86 | |
| Heaven Is For Real | Sony | [4.9] | 4.7 | 1.2 | 95 | |
| Rio 2 | Fox | [3.1] | 3.7 | .86 | 126 | |
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier | Dis | [3.3] | 3.8 | 1.0 | 259 | |
| Moms’ Night Out | Sony | [2.2] | 2.1 | .62 | 8 | |
| Legends of Oz: Dorothy Returns | Free | [2.0] | 1.9 | .47 | 7 | |
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 $177 million total Friday-Sunday, up 21% from the four-year average for the comparable weekend and up 19% from the really weak total the same weekend last year.
| WEEKEND 20 | ($ millions) | ||
| Weekend Volume: Top 12 Films | Top Movies Opening Each Weekend (Fri-Sun only) | ||
| 2014 | $177 | Godzilla $98.0, Million Dollar Arm $10.8 | |
| 2013 | $148 | Star Trek Into Darkness $70.6 | |
| 2012 | $136 | Battleship $25.5, The Dictator $17.4, What to Expect When You’re Expecting $10.5 | |
| 2011 | $159 | Pirates of the Caribbean $90.2 | |
| 2010 | $143 | Shrek Forever After $70.8, MacGruber $4.0 | |
| Avg 2010-13 | $146 | ||
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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