Articles

April 15, 2015
 

Weekend Box Office Predictions 4.17-19.2015

Weekend #16 of 2015 is looking like $119 million for the top 12 films this weekend, right in line with the norm for this weekend.

Opening at around 3,600 theaters Friday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 from Sony should average $6,900 per theater for the three-day weekend (for a $24.5 million opening three-day weekend). [The average wide-release film the past two years has had a three-day opening weekend of $5,300 per theater for a $14.5 million weekend.] Early reviews at RottenTomatoes are brutal: 0% positive overall in the very early going. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is on track for around $74 million domestic. Overseas the film could bring in maybe $35 million, giving it a worldwide box office target of $109 million.  This would be way down from the $183.3 million worldwide for Paul Blart: Mall Cop (released 1.16.2009) with $146.3 million domestic and $37.0 million overseas.

Opening at around 2,600 theaters Friday, Unfriended from Universal should average $7,500 per theater for the three-day weekend (for a $19.5 million opening three-day weekend). Early reviews at RottenTomatoes are very supportive: 88% positive overall, a huge number for a horror film. Unfriended is on track for around $58 million domestic. Overseas the film could bring in around $55 million, giving it a worldwide box office target of $113 million.

Just in time for Earth Day and opening at around 2,000 theaters Friday, Monkey Kingdom from Disney and DisneyNature should average $2,700 per theater for the three-day weekend (for a $5.3 million opening three-day weekend). Early reviews at RottenTomatoes are loving: 100% positive overall in early reviews. Monkey Kingdom is on track for around $21 million domestic. Overseas the film could bring in maybe $9 million, giving it a worldwide box office target of $30 million.  This would be above last year’s DisneyNature film Bears ($18.1 million worldwide) and closer to 2011’s African Cats ($30.9 million worldwide) and 2012’s Chimpanzee ($34.8 million worldwide).  But nowhere near the glory days of the first two DisneyNature films: 2010’s Oceans ($82.7 million worldwide) and especially the first in 2009, Earth ($109 million worldwide).

 

NEW FILMS THIS WEEKEND

April 17-19, 2015

Critics Positive ($ millions)
Opening Weekend Forecast Domestic Total Projection
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 Sony PG 0% 24.5 74
Unfriended Uni R 88% 19.5 58
Monkey Kingdom Dis G 100% 5.3 21
Note: Although critic reviews are not related to the size of the opening weekend, they are significantly correlated with the size of the declines in the opening weeks of a movie. The Domestic Total is a very early ShowBuzzDaily projection of the total North American gross, based on the Weekend Forecasts.


Furious 7 continues to be the biggest holdover by far.

RETURNING FILMS

April 17-19, 2015

Change vs Last Weekend ($ millions)
Weekend Forecast Showbuzz Domestic Final Proj.
Furious 7 Uni -49% 30.3 392
Home Fox -37% 11.8 181
Longest Ride Fox -47% 6.9 30
Get Hard WB -43% 4.7 86
Cinderella Dis -37% 4.5 207
Woman in Gold Weins -28% 4.0 20
Insurgent LG/Sum -44% 3.8 128

 

Box Office Volume

For the past four years, the top 12 films this weekend have averaged $118 million total (Friday-Sunday), ranking 33rd of 52 weeks. Last year, this weekend’s total was $124 million (while 2013 was $100 million, 2012 was $126 million and 2011 was $121 million). This Friday-Sunday is looking like a very typical $119 million, up a small +1% from the multi-year average for the comparable weekend but down a minor -4% from the same weekend last year.

 

This Weekend Last Two Years ($ millions)

4.18.2014

Transcendence WB PG13 Johnny Depp Rebecca Hall
Opening Weekend — Forecast: $23 Actual: $11
Domestic Gross — Estimate: $24 Actual: $23
International — Estimate: n/a Actual: $80

Heaven Is for Real Sony PG Greg Kinnear Kelly Reilly
Opening Weekend — Forecast: $15 Actual: $23
Domestic Gross — Estimate: $90 Actual: $91
International — Estimate: n/a Actual: $10

A Haunted House 2 Open Road R Marlon Wayans Jaime Pressly
Opening Weekend — Forecast: $14 Actual: $9
Domestic Gross — Estimate: $16 Actual: $17
International — Estimate: n/a Actual: $7

Bears Dis G
Opening Weekend — Forecast: $7 Actual: $5
Domestic Gross — Estimate: $26 Actual: $18
International — Estimate: n/a Actual: $0

4.19.2013

Oblivion Uni PG13 Tom Cruise Morgan Freeman
Opening Weekend — Forecast: $35 Actual: $37
Domestic Gross — Estimate: $107 Actual: $89
International — Estimate: n/a Actual: $197

Check back throughout the weekend for box office updates as the actual numbers come in.



About the Author

Mitch Metcalf
MITCH METCALF has been tracking every US film release of over 500 screens (over 2300 movies and counting) since the storied weekend of May 20, 1994, when Maverick and Beverly Hills Cop 3 inspired countless aficionados to devote their lives to the art of cinema. Prior to that, he studied Politics and Economics at Princeton in order to prepare for his dream of working in television. He has been Head of West Coast Research at ABC, then moved to NBC in 2000 and became Head of Scheduling for 11 years.