Weekend Wrap-Up

Halloween Goes “Bumps” Into the Box Office

By John Hamann

October 18, 2015

I mean, stuff like this happens to everyone, right?

New at BOP:
Share & Save
Digg Button  
Print this column
Third is a bit of surprise, as Bridge of Spies is able to overtake Crimson Peak. On Friday, it was certainly close between the two films, with Spies ahead by about $75,000. Over the remainder of the weekend, Spies only got further ahead, as horror (or even goth-romance or whatever it is) is more typically front-loaded than a Steven Spielberg picture. Bridge of Spies turned a $5.4 million Friday into a weekend take of $15.4 million. It pulled that gross from only 2,811 theaters, or about 700 fewer than Goosebumps. That will give it room to expand over the next few weekends and enjoy the standard Spielberg legs. It had an excellent A Cinemascore and could get Oscar’s attention given its 92% fresh rating at RottenTomatoes.

The thing I like the most about Bridge of Spies is that Spielberg made an espionage thriller set during the Cold War, and starring Tom Hanks, for only $40 million. Given this debut, Bridge of Spies' success is not in doubt, given that Lincoln opened to $21 million and went on to earn $182 million, giving it an opening-to-total multiplier of 8.7. That’s not happening here, of course, but even if that gets cut in half, Bridge of Spies earns $70 million domestically. That will mean it needs $50 million overseas to get to profitability for Disney, as the lower budget significantly lowers risk for the studio.




Advertisement



Fourth is Crimson Peak, the new film from Guillermo Del Toro, director of iconic horror-ish films like Pan’s Labyrinth and Cronos, as well as TV’s The Strain. Crimson Peak looks more like a goth-thriller than horror film, or what my wife would call a "spooker." Audiences didn’t buy in on this one, and Crimson Peak finished the weekend with a gross of $12.9 million from 2,984 screens. This is not a great start for a film that cost $55 million to bring to the screen and then was heavily marketed leading up to release. The good news is that this one might play decently overseas, but even if it earns $45 million stateside and a similar amount internationally, that’s not enough for a film with this kind of budget. It earned a B- Cinemascore – which isn’t bad for horror – and the RottenTomatoes score was 68% fresh, but none of that is likely not enough to save Crimson Peak.

Hotel Transylvania 2 is fifth, as Sony’s Goosebumps moves into the territory that Hotel Transylvania had all to itself over the last couple of weekends. Like The Martian, the Transylvania sequel had already earned $120 million heading into the weekend, so holding its position was going to be tough. Regardless, Transylvania 2 still earned $12.3 million, and was off 40% from the prior frame. That puts its total up to $136.4 million, as its Friday was only the second day of its run where it earned less than the original. After four weekends, the original had earned $118.5 million, where the sequel is ahead with its $136.4 million. Overseas, this Sony sequel is approaching $100 million, and all of this earned on an $80 million budget - $5 million less than the original.


Continued:       1       2       3

     


 
 

Need to contact us? E-mail a Box Office Prophet.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
© 2024 Box Office Prophets, a division of One Of Us, Inc.