Friday Box Office Analysis
By Kim Hollis
April 6, 2019
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Our top movie yesterday was the delightful Shazam!, a DC movie with a ton of heart. Featuring Zachary Levi (Chuck, Tangled, and various Thor films) and a cast of talented teen and pre-teen performers, it has cross-demographic appeal and stellar reviews that have encouraged audiences to go ahead and head to theaters for a good time. A $5.9 million total from its Thursday previews gave it a great start, leading to a $20.5 million Friday (those Thursday numbers roll into the Friday total). I see no reason the studio won't estimate it at $50 million, even if it falls a bit short. With a 91 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and an A Cinemascore, this one should perform well right up until the point that Avengers: Endgame is released.
Pet Sematary, a remake of the 1980s film based on Stephen King's scary book, earned a solid $10 million yesterday, including $2.3 million from its Thursday previews. It has okay reviews for horror (62 percent fresh at Rotten Tomatoes), but a C+ Cinemascore. The name recognition and a scary-as-heck trailer should be plenty for around $22 million this weekend, but the subject matter is pretty tough for people who might have enjoyed the story the first time around. I'm pretty sure I'll never see this one.
An STX film titled Best of Enemies, featuring Taraji P. Henson and Sam Rockwell, earned $1.6 million with little fanfare or promotion. That should translate to almost $5 million for the weekend, but will mostly give it a "oh, they were in that movie together?" sort of memory for most people.
Last weekend's top film, Disney's Dumbo, fell a much rougher than needed 68 percent on its way to $4.9 million. Honestly, with middling reviews and Shazam! filling the family film spot, it's not going to hold up that well, either. Dumbo might hit $18.6 million or so. That one's gonna hurt, but Disney has Avengers around the corner. After it breaks every record imaginable, they'll be perfectly happy.