Articles

March 25, 2015
 

Weekend Box Office Predictions 3.27-29.2015

Weekend #13 of 2015 is looking like $123 million for the top 12 films this weekend, slightly below the comparable weekends the past few years.

Opening at around 3,150 theaters Friday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Get Hard from Warner Brothers should average $9,200 per theater for the three-day weekend (for a $29.0 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 not very good: 44% positive overall. Get Hard is on track for around $93 million domestic. Overseas the film could bring in around $41 million, giving it a worldwide box office target of $134 million.

Opening at 3,600 theaters Friday, Home from Fox should average $7,800 per theater Friday-Sunday (for a $28.0 million opening weekend). Early reviews are also soft: 39% positive so far.  Home is on track for around $105 million domestic. Overseas the film could bring in about $170 million, giving it a worldwide box office target of $275 million.

Opening at around 1,200 theaters Friday, It Follows from Radius-TWC should average $3,200 per theater Friday-Sunday (for a $3.8 million opening weekend). A strong 94% positive score at RottenTomatoes.  No domestic or overseas estimates yet.  

 

NEW FILMS THIS WEEKEND

March 27-29, 2015

Critics Positive ($ millions)
Opening Weekend Forecast Domestic Total Projection
Get Hard WB R 44% 29.0 93
Home Fox PG 39% 28.0 105
It Follows Radius R 94% 3.8 n/a
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.


Insurgent and Cinderella now are the main holdovers in theaters, each somewhat above $20 million this weekend.

RETURNING FILMS

March 27-29, 2015

Change vs Last Weekend ($ millions)
Weekend Forecast Showbuzz Domestic Final Proj.
Insurgent LG/Sum -56% 23.3 135
Cinderella Dis -41% 20.5 212
Kingsman: The Secret Service  Fox -30% 3.3 130
Run All Night WB -43% 2.9 32
The Gunman OpenRoad -50% 2.5 8
Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel FoxS -32% 2.4 34
Do You Believe? PureFlix -35% 2.4 8

 

Box Office Volume

For the past four years, the top 12 films this weekend have averaged $131 million total (Friday-Sunday), ranking 24th of 52 weeks. Last year, this weekend’s total was $131 million (while 2013 was $140 million, 2012 was $140 million and 2011 was $114 million). This Friday-Sunday is looking like a slightly sub-par $123 million, down -6% from the multi-year average for the comparable weekend and down the same -6% from the same weekend last year.   

 

This Weekend Last Two Years ($ millions)

3.28.2014

Noah Par PG13 Russell Crowe Jennifer Connelly
Opening Weekend — Forecast: $37 Actual: $44
Domestic Gross — Estimate: $113 Actual: $101
International — Estimate: n/a Actual: $261

Bad Words Uni R Jason Bateman Kathryn Hahn
Opening Weekend — Forecast: $2 Actual: $3
Domestic Gross — Estimate: $12 Actual: $8
International — Estimate: n/a Actual: $0

Cesar Chavez LG/Sum PG13 Michael Pena John Malkovich
Opening Weekend — Forecast: $3 Actual: $3
Domestic Gross — Estimate: $5 Actual: $6
International — Estimate: n/a Actual: $0

Grand Budapest Hotel Fox R Ralph Fiennes Adrien Brody
Opening Weekend — Forecast: $5 Actual: $9
Domestic Gross — Estimate: $55 Actual: $59
International — Estimate: n/a Actual: $114

Sabotage Open Road R Arnold Schwarzenegger Malin Akerman
Opening Weekend — Forecast: $8 Actual: $5
Domestic Gross — Estimate: $10 Actual: $10
International — Estimate: n/a Actual: $7

3.29.2013

G.I. Joe: Retaliation Par PG13 The Rock Channing Tatum
Opening Weekend — Forecast: $39 Actual: $41
Domestic Gross — Estimate: $136 Actual: $122
International — Estimate: n/a Actual: $253

Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor LG/Sum PG13 Vanessa Williams Kim Kardashian
Opening Weekend — Forecast: $17 Actual: $22
Domestic Gross — Estimate: $58 Actual: $52
International — Estimate: n/a Actual: $0

The Host Open Road PG13 Saoirse Ronan
Opening Weekend — Forecast: $15 Actual: $11
Domestic Gross — Estimate: $28 Actual: $27
International — Estimate: n/a Actual: $22

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.