OPENINGS: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES (Paramount), with its $18.2M weekend, made less at 2867 theatres than the first Paranormal made at 760, a little more than 4 years ago. It was also well below the $29M weekend for the last Paranormal installment in 2012 (which had been the franchise low). In other words, the attempt to rejuvenate the series with a Latino accent and new scheduling was a failure. Nevertheless, with a $5M production budget and moderate marketing costs, Marked Ones will still be a success, especially with overseas results of $16.2M in only 24 international markets indicating strength (the previous Paranormals have made $85-103M overseas).
HOLDOVERS: Coming back to be the nation’s #1 film in the 6th weekend of wide release is no easy feat, and FROZEN (Disney) is a champion, at $297.8M after a $20.7M weekend (down just 28% from last week). That’s the #3 6th weekend of all time, behind only Avatar and Titanic. In addition, it brought in $52.5M overseas for an international total of $342M. It’s only behind The Lion King in the history of non-Pixar Walt Disney Animation, and could get over $800M worldwide by the time it’s done.
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (Warners/MGM) held moderately well, down 44% from last weekend to $16.3M in the US (total so far: $229.6M), and with another $58M overseas (total: $527M). In the US, it’s $34M behind last year’s An Unexpected Journey, and overseas it’s $36M behind, although the latter number has an asterisk, because Journey had already opened in Japan (which made up $19.2M of its total), and Smaug won’t open there until next month. (Both films didn’t hit China until the February after their worldwide release.) With a global total of $70M to make up, it appears that Smaug won’t quite make it to Journey’s $1B mark, but overperformance in the remaining 2 markets could change that–and in any case, worrying about whether a movie ends up at $950M or $1B is the definition of a high-class problem.
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (Paramount/Red Granite) and AMERICAN HUSTLE (Sony) were neck-and-neck, Wolf at $13.4M (down 27%) and Hustle at $13.2M (down 30%). However, Hustle‘s additional week in theatres puts it at $88.7M vs Wolf‘s $63.3M. Neither film is in wide release overseas yet, presumably waiting to see how much Oscar glory they can claim. In the US, though, Hustle will definitely go over $100M, and Wolf has a good shot of doing so as well. ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES (Paramount) was below both of them at $11.1M, and falling much more steeply with a 44% drop. It’s already at $109.2M and a very solid hit. (It’s also made $35M overseas)
SAVING MR. BANKS (Disney) fell 33% to $9.1M, with $59.3M to date and still the chance of getting to $100M if it does well with Oscar nominations. THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (20th) dropped 36% to $8.2M and a $45.7M US total. That puts it nowhere in recouping its roughly $225M production and marketing costs, but the news is a bit better overseas, where the comedy earned $31.5M in 56 markets and a $68.9M total. Ben Stiller’s opus still looks like a longshot to break even.
GRUDGE MATCH (Warners) is the class of the holiday season dregs, down just 23% to $5.4M, with a $24.9M total that will still send it quickly to VOD and homevideo. 47 RONIN (Universal) plunged 50% to $5M and a $32.6M total, and the overseas news wasn’t much better, with $20.5M for the weekend and a $51.3M total. WALKING WITH DINOSAURS (20th) fell 48% to $3.8M and US total of $31.4M (plus $52.6M overseas).
In franchise news, THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (Lionsgate), after a $7.4M weekend, is still tantalizingly close to moving past the first Hunger Games and Iron Man 3. Its $407.5M US total needs $500K for the first milestone and $1.5M for the second. Meanwhile A MADEA CHRISTMAS (Lionsgate) will be on the low end of Madea movies, although with $50.5M earned so far after a $3.2M weekend, it may manage to pass 2011’s Madea’s Big Happy Family ($53.3M).
PHILOMENA (Weinstein) held well in semi-wide release, down 12% to $1.6M at 607 theatres, but the same can’t be said of MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM (Weinstein), which fell 51% to $1.1M at 1010.
LIMITED RELEASE: HER (Warners) very impressively climbed 11% this weekend without adding any theatres, giving it a $15K average at 47 as it prepares for wide release on Friday. DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (Focus/Universal) is also attracting strong word of mouth, up 10% with a $2400 average at 128. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (CBS) was down 6% for a $7500 average at 156. The other Oscar hopefuls were down 8-21%, with averages of $28K and $42K for AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (Weinstein) and LONE SURVIVOR (Universal), both just at a handful of NY/LA houses, and averages in the $2-3K range for 12 YEARS A SLAVE (Fox Searchlight) and NEBRASKA (Paramount), both at several hundred theatres.
THE PAST (Sony Pictures Classics) added 2 theatres for a total of 5, and THE INVISIBLE WOMAN (Sony Pictures Classics) added 1 for a total of 4, and both had $7500-8K averages.
About the Author
