Inside the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 4/10/16

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OPENINGS:  On such a razor-thin margin, the standings could change tomorrow with final numbers, but for now, THE BOSS (Universal) has the weekend edge with $23.48M, barely a nose ($45K) ahead of those creaky superheroes.  Bragging rights are nice, but even if it falls behind on Monday, this is still a win for The Boss, which means for Melissa McCarthy (and her director husband Ben Falcone), who demonstrates Adam Sandler-type audience loyalty here by selling plenty of tickets despite no critical validation at all.  Sandler eventually foundered because he was spending $90M on his “little” comedies, but as long as McCarthy can keep her vehicles to the reported $29M level of The Boss, she can keep going indefinitely, especially with the occasional larger-scale project–like this summer’s Ghostbusters–to burnish her brand.  The Boss also dipped its toe into international release, with $1M in 8 markets.

HARDCORE HENRY (STX) didn’t connect at all with $5.1M.  Congratulations to its studio for, as it’s been screaming all week, losing less than people think via pre-sales, after buying the picture for $10M following its midnight Toronto Film Festival premiere.  If that’s so, of course, those holding the rest of the bag are the foreign distributors, which have so far scraped up $2.1M from 12 territories.

DEMOLITION (Fox Searchlight) was another Toronto title, although Searchlight produced the film in-house–and then clearly didn’t know what to do with it, as its oddly-scaled 854-theatre release suggests.  Jake Gyllenhaal, despite being an actor whose name everyone knows, doesn’t sell tickets on name value alone, and with brutal reviews, this had no chance, and will fade fast from its $1.1M opening.

Things weren’t much rosier for MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (Warners), which expanded to 493 theatres and, despite much more critical support, ended up very similarly at $1.2M.  That’s a better per-theatre average than Demolition managed, but still not enough to suggest any kind of commercial future.

A pair of big Hollywood movies began their campaigns overseas.  THE JUNGLE BOOK (Disney), which opens here next week, started strongly with $28.9M in 15 mid-level Asian and Latin American markets.  THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER’S WAR (Universal) was less notable, starting in advance of its April 22 US opening in 18 mostly European markets (including the UK) and earning $20M.

HOLDOVERS:  Notwithstanding its dark violence, in the US BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (DC/RatPac/Warners) is playing as a family movie, and its 76% Saturday bump allowed it to at least be in contention for this weekend’s lead.  Nevertheless, its 54% Weekend 3 drop is nothing to be happy about–it compares to 49% for Jurassic World, 46% for The Avengers, and 43% for The Dark Knight Rises.  The drop is similar to what the final Harry Potter faced, and with $296.7M in the US so far, and its first big competition arriving next weekend, even $350M seems unlikely.  (Among other things, this means it won’t catch Deadpool, still at multiplexes with $358.4M to date after a $2.1M weekend.)  Things are actually worse overseas, where BvS dropped 60% to $34M and a $486.8M total.  It’s worth nothing that although this puts it $86M ahead of Deadpool‘s overseas total, that difference is entirely covered by the fact that Deadpool wasn’t given a China run by the authorities.  (Deadpool, of course, which cost a fraction of the BvS budget to produce, will be far more profitable.)   BvS is headed for $850-900M worldwide, which is a lot of money and enough to put the gigantically expensive venture in profit, but which doesn’t accomplish any of the studio’s goals, most importantly making audiences look forward to the next DC movies instead of dreading them.

ZOOTOPIA (Disney) will probably outgross BvS worldwide (it’s at $852.5M already, and took in another $22.7M internationally this weekend) with a considerably lower budget and much more audience goodwill.  In the US, the animated smash dipped just 26% for $14.4M and a $296M total.  The Jungle Book will cut into its audience next week, but it could still reach $325M before it’s done.

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 (Gold Circle/Universal) had a reasonable 43% drop to $6.4M, and remains on track for $60M in the US.

In the Jesus v. Jesus box office battle, MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN (Affirm/TriStar/Sony) was stronger than GOD’S NOT DEAD 2 (Pure Flix), even though Miracles has been in the market for 2 more weeks.  Miracles was down 33% to $4.8M, and should end up at $65M, while Dead fell 43% to $4.3M, and will end up around $25M.  Both films, though, made on tiny budgets by Hollywood standards, will be quite profitable for their pious producers.

EYE IN THE SKY (Bleecker Street) is clearly generating good word of mouth, down just 29% to $2.8M, with $10.4M so far.  HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS (Roadside) continued mining its elderly target audience, down 32% to $1.6M, and at $9.4M.

LIMITED RELEASE:  EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!! (Annapurna/Paramount) expanded mildly to 63 theatres with a $8100 per-theatre average.  MILES AHEAD (Sony Classics) was similarly modest, with a $9100 average at 25.  It was, however, ahead of fellow jazz bio BORN TO BE BLUE (IFC), which is also available on VOD, averaging $2300 at 47 theatres.  THE INVITATION (Alamo) managed a $6700 average at 10, but that was heavily supported by in-theatre Q&As.  LOUDER THAN BOMBS (Orchard) had a $6100 average at 4.

NEXT WEEKEND:  As noted, The Jungle Book is the big arrival.  Also on tap is the sequel BARBERSHOP: THE NEXT CUT (MGM/Warners) and thriller CRIMINAL (Summit/Lionsgate), and limited release for Sundance titles GREEN ROOM (A24) and SING STREET (Weinstein).