Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #40 of 2013 looks like a decent $109 million for the top 12 films, down 18% from last year’s atypical weekend but up 10% from the average for the same weekend the past few years.
Opening at 3,575 theaters Friday, Gravity from Warner Brothers grossed $17.4 million Friday and is on track for a great $47.9 million opening weekend (blowing past the $39.5 million ShowbuzzDaily forecast). The film is pacing toward a three-day average of $13,400 per theater for the weekend (above the $5,333 opening weekend average for all wide-release films the last two years and near the $13,535 mark for top 10% films). Critical sentiment is nearly universal (98% positive overall at RottenTomatoes and 100% positive with top critics). Gravity is headed for $169 million total domestic. But the real money will be made overseas — more on that tomorrow.
Opening at 3,024 theaters Friday, Runner Runner from Twentieth Century Fox grossed $2.7 million Friday and is pacing toward a weak $7.9 million opening weekend (well under our $13.5 million forecast). The film is headed for a really bad three-day average of $2,600 per theater for the weekend. Critical sentiment is hideously bad (9% positive overall at RottenTomatoes and 0% positive with top critics). Runner Runner is headed for a quick exit and $15 million total domestic.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 has been upgraded slightly to $118 million total domestic, while Prisoners has been downgraded slightly to $64 million domestic.
| Weekend 40: October 4-6, 2013 | ($ millions) | |||||
| Pre-Wknd Showbuzz Forecast | Early Weekend Estimate | Actual Friday Gross | Showbuzz Domestic Final Proj. | |||
| Gravity | WB | [39.5] | 47.9 | 17.4 | 169 | |
| Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 | Sony | [22.5] | 22.1 | 4.7 | 118 | |
| Runner Runner | Fox | [13.5] | 7.9 | 2.7 | 15 | |
| Prisoners | WB | [5.8] | 5.5 | 1.7 | 64 | |
| Baggage Claim | Fox | [3.9] | 4.5 | 1.3 | 22 | |
| Rush | Uni | [5.3] | 4.4 | 1.4 | 31 | |
| Don Jon | Rel | [4.5] | 4.3 | 1.4 | 28 | |
| Insidious Chapter 2 |
FilmDis | [3.6] | 3.8 | 1.2 | 77 | |
| Instructions Not Included | LG/Sum | [2.2] | 2.7 | .43 | 48 | |
| Enough Said | Fox S | [—] | 2.1 | .59 | n/a | |
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 $109 million total Friday-Sunday, up 10% from the four-year average for the comparable weekend but down 18% from the same weekend last year (which was fueled by Taken 2).
| WEEKEND 40 | ($ millions) | ||
| Weekend Volume: Top 12 Films | Top Movies Opening Each Weekend (Fri-Sun only) | ||
| 2013 | $108 | Gravity $47.9, Runner Runner $7.9 | |
| 2012 | $133 | Taken 2 $49.5, Frankenweenie $11.4 | |
| 2011 | $85 | Real Steel $27.3, Ides of March $10.5 | |
| 2010 | $81 | Life As We Know It $14.5, Secretariat $12.7, My Soul to Take $6.8 | |
| 2009 | $96 | Couples Retreat $34.3 | |
| Avg 2009-12 | $99 | ||
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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