Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #26 of 2013 looks like an okay $181 million for the top 12 films, even with or slightly down from the same weekend in recent years. Not a bad weekend at all, just not the blistering pace of the last two weekends.
Opening at 3,181 theaters Friday, The Heat from 20th Century Fox grossed $13.6 million on Friday and is on track for an almost $37 million opening weekend (somewhat above the $34 million ShowbuzzDaily forecast). The film is pacing toward a three-day average of $11,500 per theater for the weekend (comfortably above the $5,333 opening weekend average for all wide-release films the last two years). Critical sentiment is positive: 64% positive overall at RottenTomatoes (with top critics an even more enthusiastic 73% positive). The Heat is headed for $120 million total domestic.
Opening at 3,222 theaters Friday, White House Down from Sony grossed $9.0 million on Friday and is on track for a lame $25 million opening weekend (well below the $39 million ShowbuzzDaily forecast). The film is averaging only $7,700 per theater for the weekend, and critical sentiment is exactly mixed: 50% positive at RottenTomatoes with all critics, compared to 53% positive with top critics. White House Down is headed for maybe $72 million total domestic.
| Weekend 26:June 28-30, 2013 | ($ millions) | |||||
| Pre-Wknd Showbuzz Forecast | Early Weekend Estimate | Actual Friday Gross | Showbuzz Domestic Final Proj. | |||
| Monsters University | Dis | [43.2] | 47.6 | 14.3 | 300 | |
| The Heat | Fox | [34.0] | 36.7 | 13.6 | 120 | |
| World War Z | Par | [29.4] | 29.2 | 8.9 | 195 | |
| White House Down | Sony | [39.0] | 24.7 | 9.0 | 72 | |
| Man of Steel | WB | [20.0] | 20.3 | 6.0 | 296 | |
| This Is the End | Sony | [8.7] | n/a | 2.6 | 97 | |
| Now You See Me | Summit | [5.4] | 5.8 | 1.7 | 124 | |
| Fast & Furious 6 | Uni | [2.7] | 2.3 | .71 | 239 | |
| Star Trek Into Darkness | Par | [1.9] | n/a | .54 | 227 | |
| The Internship | Fox | [1.6] | 1.3 | .41 | 44 | |
| The Purge | Uni | [1.7] | 1.2 | .40 | 62 | |
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.
In case you missed them, click to see this week’s Weekend Predictions.
Total Box Office Volume
The Top 12 Films this weekend are looking like $181 million total Friday-Sunday, even with the four-year average for the comparable weekend but down 8% from the same weekend last year.
| WEEKEND #26 | ($ millions) | ||
| Weekend Volume: Top 12 Films | Top Movies Opening Each Weekend (Fri-Sun only) | ||
| 2013 | $181 | The Heat $36.7, White House Down $24.7 | |
| 2012 | $197 | Ted $54.4, Magic Mike $39.1, TP’s Madea’s Witness Protection $25.4 | |
| 2011 | $192 | Transformers: Dark of the Moon $97.9, Larry Crowne $13.1 | |
| 2010 | $181 | Twilight Saga: Eclipse $64.8, Last Airbender $40.3 | |
| 2009 | $156 | Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs $41.7, Public Enemies $25.3 | |
| Avg 2009-12 | $181 | ||
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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