FRIDAY MARCH 22 BOX OFFICE REPORT

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Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #12 of 2013 is another down weekend (making it 10 down weekends out of 12 this year so far): $128 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday (down 10% from an average comparable weekend the past few years and down 37% from the same weekend last year dominated by the monstrous Hunger Games).  

Opening at 4,046 theaters, The Croods from DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox grossed $11.6 million Friday and is on track for a $42.5 million opening weekend (a touch better than the $40.5 million ShowbuzzDaily forecast).   The film is averaging a solid $10,500 per theater for the weekend (double the $5,333 opening weekend average for all wide-release films the last two years), while critical sentiment is a fairly positive 65% positive.  The Croods are headed for $149 million total domestic. 

Opening at 3,098 theaters Friday, Olympus Has Fallen from FilmDistrict grossed $10 million Friday and is on pace for a $28 million opening weekend (comfortably above the $22.5 million ShowbuzzDaily forecast earlier this week).   The film is averaging $9,000 per theater for the weekend.  Critics are split: 51% positive reviews at RottenTomatoes.  Olympus Has Fallen should finish with $82 million total domestic.

Opening at 2,160 theaters Friday, Admission from Focus/ Universal whiffed with $2.1 million Friday and is on track for a lame $6.2 million opening weekend (well below the $9.0 million ShowbuzzDaily forecast earlier this week).   The film is averaging a very poor $2,900 per theater for the weekend.  Critics are tilting negative: 45% positive reviews at RottenTomatoes.  Admission should finish with $19 million total domestic.

Expanding to 1,104 theaters Friday (from 3 last week), Spring Breakers from newcomer A24 grossed $2.1 million Friday and is headed for a weak $5.2 million opening weekend (below the $8.0 million ShowbuzzDaily forecast earlier this week).   The film is averaging mediocre $4,700 per theater for the weekend.  Critics are positive (downright giddy compared to the other openers this weekend): 69% positive reviews at RottenTomatoes.  Spring Breakers should finish with $21 million total domestic.

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 $128 million total Friday-Sunday, down 10% from the four-year average for the comparable weekend and down 37% from the same weekend last year, which was boosted by The Hunger Games.

Check back tomorrow for more complete Weekend Studio Estimates based on Saturday’s actual box office, as well as the International Box Office report.