Friday Box Office Analysis
By Tim Briody
October 17, 2015
Goosebumps
The movie adaptation of the children’s horror book series is the winner on Friday with $7.3 million. Timed well with Halloween two weeks away, Goosebumps is most likely benefiting from adults who grew up with the book series now having kids of their own in the appropriate age range for the movie. It should see a nice bump over Saturday and Sunday, with a bonus prediction of holding well next weekend before taking a swan dive on Halloween (which is a Saturday, by the way). This weekend, look for $24 million, more than enough to win the weekend.
Bridge of Spies
The Tom Hanks movie directed by Steven Spielberg finds itself in third place with $5.3 million. This is just fine despite the names involved (it can’t always be the '90s, folks). It’s an espionage thriller based on a true story about the Cold War U-2 incident, which most people only remember as a lyric in Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and get confused about why the band U2 is mentioned in it. Anyway, it’s entering a crowded marketplace for older viewers, with The Martian beating it on Friday, but will still draw well over the remainder of the weekend, especially with its pedigree. It’s going to have a pretty decent weekend of about $17 million, and it was only a $40 million production.
Crimson Peak
Like Bridge of Spies, gothic horror entry Crimson Peak also earned $5.3 million on Friday. Unlike Bridge of Spies, this won’t do well over the next two days and will find itself with just $13.8 million on the weekend.
Woodlawn
It's generally been a weak year for faith-based movies, at least compared to last year, but Woodlawn manages to earn $1.5 million on Friday in 1,553 theaters. Based on a true story of the desegregation of a Birmingham, Alabama high school in the 1970s, the movie stars Sean Astin and Jon Voight. Look for a weekend of $4.5 million.
Notable Holdovers
Goosebumps denies The Martian a third weekend at the top, but it continues to play well with $6.4 million, down 40% from last Friday. It’ll make a race of it, though, as it’s a third weekend of $22 million for the fall’s biggest hit.
Meanwhile, Pan drops a laughable 67% from last Friday $1.7 million, and is easily the biggest flop of the fall and potentially the year. With a second weekend of about $5 million, it’s possible that even the international grosses will save this one.
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Projected Estimates for the Top Ten (Three-Day)
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Projected
Rank |
Film |
Estimated Gross |
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1
|
Goosebumps
|
24.0
|
|
2
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The Martian
|
22.1
|
|
3
|
Bridge of Spies
|
17.0
|
|
4
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Crimson Peak
|
13.8
|
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5
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Hotel Transylvania 2
|
13.1
|
|
6
|
The Intern
|
5.5
|
|
7
|
Pan
|
4.9
|
|
8
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Woodlawn
|
4.5
|
|
9
|
Sicario
|
3.9
|
|
10
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Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
|
2.9
|
|
|
|
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