Weekend Wrap-Up
MLK Jr. Weekend Rides Along Thanks to Openers, Oscars
By John Hamann
January 19, 2014
With all the new releases, Frozen is down in fifth place, which is new low territory for the animated film that has been in wide release for eight weekends. Despite the new competition from The Nut Job and the length of its release thus far, Frozen still did okay, earning $12 million and dropping 19% from the previous weekend’s take of $14.7 million. This weekend’s score is the fourth biggest for a film in its eighth weekend, behind Titanic, Avatar and Home Alone (which did $12.6 million in weekend eight) and ahead of E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, which pulled in $10.4 million in its eighth frame. Frozen has now earned an amazing $332.6 million since opening, and joins the top 30 domestic earners of all-time list, as it moves ahead of Forrest Gump, which earned $329.7 million.
Sixth is American Hustle, as its 10 Oscar nominations and three Golden Globe wins (including Best Picture, Comedy or Musical) propel it past The Wolf of Wall Street, which has been leading it over the last few weekends. With the awards muscle behind it, Hustle was able to earn another $10.6 million, giving it a 28% increase over last weekend’s take of $8.3 million. Sony’s $40 million awards player has now grossed a fantastic $116.4 million domestically, and is just gaining steam overseas with a take so far of around $25 million. The sun should continue to shine on Hustle until the Oscars are handed out on March 2nd.
Finishing seventh this weekend is our final opener, Devil’s Due. As soon as anyone says "found footage" I am not interested, and it appears audiences are following suit. From Fox, Devil’s Due debuted to only $8.5 million from 2,544 venues. It is 20% fresh at RottenTomatoes and earned a D+ Cinemascore. You’ve been warned.
August: Osage County doubled its venues this weekend and slightly increased its audience compared to the previous frame. August earned $7.6 million from 2,051 venues, compared to last weekend when it earned $7.2 million from 905 screens. The weekend to weekend increase is 6%, and it has a gross to date of $18.2 million.
Ninth is The Wolf of Wall Street, as the Paramount title with the big $100 million budget seems to be struggling a bit to keep up. Wolf earned an additional $7.5 million this weekend, off a not bad 15% compared to the previous frame. The Wolf of Wall Street earned half the Oscar noms as American Hustle, and as a result it falls behind with regards to box office. The good news is that the Leo DiCaprio swear fest has earned $90.3 million and should cross the $100 million mark in two weekends. Overseas, it is approaching $40 million.
Saving Mr. Banks, which earned a single Oscar nomination, finished in 10th place for the weekend. Its $4.1 million indicates a weekend-to-weekend decline of 37%, and its domestic total now sits at $75.4 million. It has only just gotten started in overseas venues, where it is approaching the $10 million mark.
Films sent packing from the top ten this weekend include Spike Jonze’s Her, which was nominated for Best Picture plus four other Oscars. Still, audiences still seem to be shying away from what appears to be one of the better films of the year. Her earned $4.1 million and dropped 24% despite the nominations. It has a gross so far of $15 million. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug also got the boot this weekend, finishing 12th with a gross of $3.9 million. Finally, The Legend of Hercules fell from third last weekend to 13th this weekend, dropping a searing 62%. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Overall, the box office is quite healthy thanks to numerous openers and happy holdovers. The top 12 films earned a stellar $160.5 million this weekend, way ahead of both last year’s MLK weekend when the top 12 took in $117.5 million (led by Mama), and the 2012 weekend at $115.1 million. Next weekend is historically soft, and brings only one opener, I Frankenstein, which looks bad to the camp degree.
1 |
Ride Along |
New Line Cinema |
$41,236,555 |
New |
$47,747,590 |
2 |
Lone Survivor |
UNIVERSAL |
$23,239,475 |
- 39% |
$78,384,000 |
3 |
The Nut Job |
Open Road Films |
$20,550,000 |
New |
$27,200,000 |
4 |
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit |
PARAMOUNT |
$17,200,000 |
New |
$20,000,000 |
5 |
Frozen |
DISNEY |
$11,971,000 |
- 19% |
$337,030,000 |
6 |
American Hustle |
SONY |
$10,600,000 |
+ 28% |
$118,000,000 |
7 |
Devil's Due |
Fox |
$8,500,000 |
New |
$9,500,000 |
8 |
August: Osage County |
Weinstein Co. |
$7,592,000 |
+ 6% |
$19,500,000 |
9 |
The Wolf of Wall Street |
PARAMOUNT |
$7,500,000 |
- 15% |
$91,677,000 |
10 |
Saving Mr. Banks |
DISNEY |
$4,147,000 |
- 37% |
$75,391,000 |
11 |
Her |
WARNER BROS. |
$4,065,000 |
- 24% |
$15,700,000 |
12 |
The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug |
WARNER BROS. |
$3,875,000 |
- 52% |
$249,500,000 |
|
Also Opening/Notables |
|
American Mustang |
Vitagraph/just Media |
$8,100 |
New |
$9,500 |
|
Life of a King |
Millennium |
$4,304 |
New |
$5,000 |
|
The Legend of Hercules |
Lionsgate |
$3,400,000 |
- 62% |
$14,980,000 |
|
Paranormal Activity: the Marked Ones |
PARAMOUNT |
$1,420,000 |
- 77% |
$31,533,000 |
|
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty |
Paramount |
$1,350,000 |
- 69% |
$55,395,800 |
|
Anchorman 2 |
PARAMOUNT |
$2,240,000 |
- 62% |
$122,631,000 |
|
Inside Llewyn Davis |
Cbs Films |
$1,105,000 |
- 41% |
$11,376,261 |
|
Philomena |
Weinstein Co. |
$1,307,000 |
- 6% |
$24,250,000 |
|
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire |
Lionsgate |
$2,900,000 |
- 34% |
$418,500,000 |
|
Nebraska |
PARAMOUNT |
$940,000 |
+ 6% |
$9,915,000 |
|
Dallas Buyers Club |
Focus Features |
$917,000 |
+ 282% |
$17,900,000 |
|
12 Years a Slave |
FOX SEARCHLIGHT |
$1,515,000 |
+ 460% |
$40,914,300 |
|
Gravity |
WARNER BROS. |
$1,945,000 |
+ 364% |
$258,500,000 |
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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