Tom Cruise’s OBLIVION (Universal) faced no significant competition for its opening this weekend, and according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, it had a fairly strong $13.8M Friday (including $1.1M from Thursday night screenings), which should put it on track for a $35M+ weekend, a bit higher than Mitch Metcalf’s weekend prediction. Nonetheless, with a production cost that’s been variously estimated at $120-160M (plus over $100M in worldwide marketing), and with only 2 weeks in theatres until Iron Man 3 takes over the world, Oblivion is another Hollywood epic that will have to overperform internationally to get out of red ink.
This weekend also brings the expansion of THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES (Focus/Universal) to a wide (1542 theatre) release. It had a $1.4M Friday, which should mean an unexciting $4M+ weekend, a $2500-3000 per theatre average (compared with around $9-10K for Oblivion).
Last weekend’s #1 film 42 (Warners) had a very strong hold, down only 43% Friday-to-Friday for a $5.2M day and what should just a 35-40% drop for the weekend to around $17M. Not so much for SCARY MOVIE 5 (Dimension/Weinstein), which fell over 60% Friday-to-Friday to $2M, and should only have a $6M weekend.
Longrunning hits THE CROODS (DreamWorks Animation/20th), OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN (FilmDistrict) and OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL (Disney) continued to hold well, down about 25-35%, while GI JOE: RETALIATION (Paramount/MGM) and EVIL DEAD (TriStar/Sony/FilmDistrict) will fall more like 50% for the weekend.
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About the Author
Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."
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