Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #9 of 2014 looks like $109 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, somewhat better than we forecast Wednesday ($100 million) but still 17% below the average for this weekend.
Opening at 3,090 theaters Friday, Non-Stop from Universal grossed $10.0 million Friday, putting the film on track for a $30.0 million opening weekend (slightly above our $27.5 million ShowbuzzDaily forecast). The film is pacing toward a three-day average of $9,700 per theater for the weekend (well above the $5,333 opening weekend average for all wide-release films the last two years). Critical sentiment is mildly positive (58% positive overall and 61% positive with top critics). Non-Stop is headed for $89 million total domestic.
Opening at 3,256 theaters Friday, Son of God from Fox grossed $9.4 million Friday, putting the film on track for a $28.7 million opening weekend (much better than our $19.5 million forecast). The film, much of it repurposed footage from The Bible mini-series on History channel, is pacing toward a three-day average of $8,800 per theater for the weekend. Critical sentiment is not supportive (23% positive overall at RottenTomatoes and only 15% positive with top critics). Son of God is headed for around $79 million total domestic.
| Weekend 9: Feb 28-Mar 2, 2014 | ($ millions) | |||||
| Pre-Wknd Showbuzz Forecast | Early Weekend Estimate | Actual Friday Gross | Showbuzz Domestic Final Proj. | |||
| Non-Stop | Uni | [27.5] | 30.0 | 10.0 | 89 | |
| Son of God | Fox | [19.5] | 28.7 | 9.4 | 79 | |
| The Lego Movie | WB | [21.4] | 19.1 | 4.4 | 265 | |
| The Monuments Men | Sony | [4.4] | 5.1 | 1.4 | 80 | |
| 3 Days to Kill | Rel | [6.0] | 4.9 | 1.4 | 29 | |
| RoboCop | Sony | [4.8] | 4.2 | 1.1 | 60 | |
| Pompeii | Sony | [4.3] | 4.0 | 1.2 | 23 | |
| About Last Night | Sony | [4.2] | 3.4 | 1.0 | 48 | |
| Ride Along | Uni | [2.7] | 3.0 | .87 | 138 | |
| Frozen 3D | Dis | [3.2] | 3.0 | .69 | 395 | |
Note: The table above summarizes an early look at the weekend. The first column is a reminder of each film’s ShowBuzzDaily Forecast for the weekend (in brackets). The second column, on which the films are sorted, displays the new weekend projection for each film, based on the Friday numbers (the third column). The final column is a preliminary estimate of the ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Total number for the film’s total run in North America. A “++” indicates the Domestic number has been upgraded; a “–” indicates a downgrade.
Total Box Office Volume
The Top 12 Films this weekend are looking like $109 million total Friday-Sunday, down 29% from the four-year average for the comparable weekend but up 17% from the same weekend last year.
| WEEKEND 9 | ($ millions) | ||
| Weekend Volume: Top 12 Films | Top Movies Opening Each Weekend (Fri-Sun only) | ||
| 2014 | $109 | Non-Stop $30.0, Son of God $28.7 | |
| 2013 | $93 | Jack the Giant Slayer $27.2, 21 and Over $8.8, Last Exorcism $7.7 | |
| 2012 | $152 | Dr Seuss’ The Lorax $70.2, Project X $21.1 | |
| 2011 | $121 | Rango $38.1, Adjustment Bureau $21.2, Beastly $9.9, Take Me Home Tonight $3.5 | |
| 2010 | $186 | Alice in Wonderland $116.1, Brooklyn’s Finest $13.4 | |
| Avg 2010-13 | $153 | ||
Check back tomorrow for more complete Weekend Studio Estimates based on Saturday’s actual box office, as well as the International Box Office report.
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