Weekend Wrap-Up
Fire & Ice: Holiday Combo Scorches $200 million 5-Day
By John Hamann
December 1, 2013
The Best Man Holiday is showing signs of a faster than expected descent. After a second weekend take of $12.5 million and a drop of 59%, Thanksgiving provides some relief with an $8.5 million three-day gross, but the drop is still higher than it could be at 32%, one of the worst in the top ten. Remember that everything is holiday-inflated this weekend. Still, the $17 million Universal release has now pulled in a spectacular $63.4 million.
Our second opener is Homefront, the Jason Statham/James Franco old-school action flick. Audiences gave this one a pass this weekend, as it could only find $7 million over three days, and $9.8 million over five. It cost $22 million to make the Open Road release, and it is highly doubtful it will match that domestically. Thanksgiving week releases have a tendency to die quickly at the box office.
The Delivery Man finishes in sixth place. After a floppish $7.9 million opening frame, the Vince Vaughn dramedy earns $6.9 million this weekend. That’s a drop of only 13%, so the DreamWorks film can give thanks to the holiday for bailing it out somewhat. Costs here were $26 million, so it’s still going to take a hit with current box office of $19.5 million after ten days.
Seventh is The Book Thief, a film that expanded from 70 venues last weekend to 1,234 this weekend. From those theaters, The Book Thief managed only $4.9 million this weekend, so will need to build on that result, but with a 48% fresh rating, it has an uphill struggle. So far, the Fox release has earned $7.9 million.
Eighth is Black Nativity, the film based on the stage play. Black Nativity has struggled out of the gate, earning only $3.9 million over three days and $5 million over five. The film cost $17.5 million to make, so will have to rely on extreme word-of-mouth if it wants to stay relevant through the holiday season.
The Weinstein Company expanded Philomena this weekend, moving it from four screens to 835. The film earned $3.8 million ($4.8 million five-day) from those screens, so it garnered a venue average of $4,538. Judi Dench’s Philomena will likely vie with Sandra Bullock’s Gravity performance come Oscar night, so the fortunes for this one may yet improve.
Rounding out the top ten is CBS Films’ Last Vegas, which my 70-year-old parents attended last week (LOVED IT!). The old-timer Vegas adventure earned $2.8 million in its fifth weekend, and dropped 36%, primarily due to losing 1,000 screens. Last Vegas has now earned $58.7 million, becoming CBS’s biggest release ever.
Oh! Oldboy also opened this weekend, doing the belly flop. It didn't even make enough to place, earning only $850,000 over three days and $1.25 million over five days. It cost $30 million to make, and is a massive disappointment from director Spike Lee, as it is unlikely to earn even 10% of that amount in box office revenue.
Overall this weekend, we have two huge films on top, but with nothing supporting them below, the box office total is not record-breaking. The top 12 films this Thanksgiving earned $195.3 million, which is similar to that of last year's holiday when Breaking Dawn Part 2 led the top 12 to $200.4 million. Technically, the 2012 weekend after Thanksgiving last year is the direct comparison. 2013 box office increased 84% from 2012's $106.1 million. Next weekend is mostly quiet, with only Out of the Furnace expanding wide on Friday, and Oscar hopeful Inside Llewyn Davis opening in limited release.
| 1 |
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire |
Lionsgate |
$74,500,000 |
- 53% |
$296,500,000 |
| 2 |
Frozen |
DISNEY |
$66,746,000 |
New |
$93,356,000 |
| 3 |
Thor: the Dark World |
DISNEY |
$11,108,000 |
- 22% |
$186,712,000 |
| 4 |
The Best Man Holiday |
UNIVERSAL |
$8,490,565 |
- 32% |
$63,414,459 |
| 5 |
Homefront |
Open Road Films |
$6,970,000 |
New |
$9,795,000 |
| 6 |
Delivery Man |
DISNEY |
$6,931,000 |
- 13% |
$19,453,000 |
| 7 |
The Book Thief |
Twentieth Century Fox |
$4,850,000 |
+696% |
$7,856,200 |
| 8 |
Black Nativity |
FOX SEARCHLIGHT |
$3,880,000 |
New |
$5,000,000 |
| 9 |
Philomena |
Weinstein Co. |
$3,789,000 |
+ 2850% |
$4,754,000 |
| 10 |
Last Vegas |
Cbs Films |
$2,785,000 |
- 36% |
$58,722,076 |
| 11 |
Gravity |
WARNER BROS. |
$2,605,000 |
- 19% |
$249,787,000 |
| 12 |
Dallas Buyers Club |
Focus Features |
$2,598,902 |
- 3% |
$10,295,054 |
| |
Also Opening/Notables |
| |
Old Boy |
Tartan Films |
$850,000 |
New |
$1,250,000 |
| |
Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom |
Weinstein Co. |
$100,306 |
New |
$100,306 |
| |
Caught In the Web |
Level Film/vitagraph Films |
$330 |
New |
$554 |
| |
Nebraska |
PARAMOUNT |
$728,000 |
+ 123% |
$1,476,000 |
| |
The Great Beauty |
Janus Films |
$138,775 |
+ 165% |
$260,887 |
| |
Free Birds |
Relativity |
$1,815,000 |
- 66% |
$53,244,908 |
| |
Ender's Game |
Warner Bros. |
$1,275,000 |
- 36% |
$59,500,000 |
| |
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa |
PARAMOUNT |
$1,837,000 |
- 47% |
$98,847,000 |
| |
12 Years a Slave |
FOX SEARCHLIGHT |
$2,300,000 |
- 19% |
$33,143,100 |
| |
Captain Phillips |
SONY |
$1,175,000 |
- 35% |
$102,756,000 |
|
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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