Weekend Wrap-Up

Talking Animals Trample London

By David Mumpower and Kim Hollis

March 6, 2016

Soon to be appearing in every Easter basket.

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Tina Fey’s Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is a bit of a disappointment this weekend as it wound up with a three-day total of only $7.6 million. The marketing around the project was confusing – was it a war comedy? A serious film with funny elements? Audiences just couldn’t tell, and as a result they simply chose to stay away. Reviews were mostly positive – Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is currently 60% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes – but opening night audiences were not enthusiastic, giving the film a B Cinemascore. Fortunately for distributor Paramount Pictures, the budget was just $35 million, so the damage from this one won’t be as fierce as it could have been.

Rounding out the top five is last weekend’s utter disaster of a film, Gods of Egypt. Although Gerard Butler can claim two films in the top five, he shouldn’t really be particularly proud of either one. Gods of Egypt was presumably Lionsgate’s latest attempt at a franchise starter (although one wonders who ever really believed that to be the case), but instead it has repulsed audiences. This weekend, Gods of Egypt fell a whopping 65 percent from its already terrible opening weekend total of $14.1 million, giving it a second frame of $5 million. So far, the Alex Proyas-directed film has a domestic total of $22.8 million against its gaudy $140 million budget. It seems unlikely that even the best international performance could bail it out.

Sixth and seventh place go to a faith-based film and a January holdover. Risen, the procedural (?) surrounding the death of Jesus Christ, wound up in sixth as it fell 43 percent from last weekend to $3.9 million. Thus far, the $20 million-budgeted film from Sony/Columbia has earned $28.7 million domestically. It will be most profitable once it reaches home video. Seventh was Kung Fu Panda 3, which obviously suffered from direct competition from Zootopia. It fell 60 percent to $3.5 million for the weekend. With a $133.8 million domestic total, KFP3 is looking to its international grosses for profitability. It has already earned over $180 million overseas and has yet to open in a number of locations.

We close out the top 10 with an Oscar contender/winner, a fairly generic sports flick, and an inscrutable horror title. Eight place goes to The Revenant, which was one of the favorites to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards this past weekend but lost to Spotlight. Still, with a Best Actor Oscar for Leonardo DiCaprio, the film was able to stay in audience’s sights for another weekend, allowing it to decline just 16 percent to $3.3 million. The Revenant has now earned $176 million domestically and another $238 million from international venues.




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Eddie the Eagle takes ninth place as it falls 49 percent from its debut last weekend to $3.1 million. It increases its domestic take to $10.9 million and will fade from North American theaters quickly. Tenth is The Witch, a horror film that has received stellar critical reviews but somewhat less excitement from audiences. With a weekend total of $2.5 million, it falls 50 percent, but brings its overall total to $20.9 million. Not bad for a Sundance product with a $3.5 million budget.

The Oscars didn’t have much of an impact on the box office this weekend, although Best Picture winner Spotlight did see a 149 percent increase weekend-over-weekend. Its $1.8 million take probably could have been higher had the film not already been released on home video. Its domestic total is $41.6 million, pretty similar to last year’s Best Picture winner Birdman, which took in $42.3 million.

Overall, the top 12 films at the box office destroyed the same weekend in 2015. This year’s $145 million is almost double last year’s top 12 take of $78.3 million. Zootopia is obviously worth a lot more than new releases like 2015’s Chappie, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Unfinished Business. Next weekend should see Zootopia continue its winning ways, although it will have some competition in the form of 10 Cloverfield Lane, Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Brothers Grimsby, the faith-based The Young Messiah, and the smaller-scale release The Perfect Match.


Top Weekend Box Office for 3/4/16-3/6/16 (Estimates)
Rank Film Distributor Estimated Gross Weekly Change Running Total
1 Zootopia Disney $73,700,000 New $73,700,000
2 London Has Fallen Gramercy $21,714,000 New $21,714,000
3 Deadpool Fox $16,400,000 - 47% $311,158,000
4 Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Paramount $7,600,000 New $7,600,000
5 Gods of Egypt Lionsgate $5,000,000 - 65% $22,850,000
6 Risen Sony $3,885,000 - 43% $28,700,000
7 Kung Fu Panda 3 Fox $3,525,000 - 60% $133,831,000
8 The Revenant Fox $3,325,000 - 16% $175,976,000
9 Eddie the Eagle Fox $3,100,000 - 49% $10,861,000
10 The Witch A24 $2,509,453 - 50% $20,920,027
11 Triple Nine Open Road Films $2,128,347 - 65% $10,239,381
12 How to Be Single New Line Cinema $2,115,000 - 58% $43,318,000
  Also Opening/Notables
  The Other Side of the Door Fox $1,200,000 New $1,200,000
  The Wave Magnolia $60,000 New $60,000
  Knight of Cups Broad Green Pictures $56,688 New $56,688
  Trapped Abramorama/roco $20,385 New $20,385
  Colliding Dreams Int'l Film Circuit $15,972 New $15,972
  Songs My Brother Taught Me Kino Lorber $3,680 New $6,430
  Race Focus Features $1,486,000 - 64% $16,485,563
  The Mermaid (mei Ren Yu) Sony $375,000 - 47% $2,650,000
  Star Wars: the Force Awakens Disney $1,811,000 - 39% $928,789,000
  Spotlight Open Road Films $1,831,889 + 149% $41,628,028
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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