Weekend estimates: Croods still rule

December 13th, 2020

The Croods: A New Age continues to dominate at the box office (relatively speaking) this weekend, with Universal projecting a weekend box office of $3.01 million for a total of $24.26 million to date. Half Brothers is outperforming expectations in second place with a projected $490,000 sophomore weekend, down just 30% from its last outing. More...

Weekend estimates: Croods leads another dismal weekend

December 6th, 2020

The Croods: A New Age will remain top at the box office this weekend, with Universal projecting a $4.4-million weekend as of Sunday morning. That will take the animated adventure past $20 million in total by the end of the day today. That fact pales in comparison to bad news regarding the continued decline in box office receipts. Returning films are falling 12% to 25% short of our model’s pre-weekend predictions. Part of that is down to the post-Thanksgiving decline that’s to be expected, but the continued toll of the pandemic is further dragging on spending. Perhaps the glimmer of good news is that more people are heeding experts’ advice and watching their movies at home. More...

Weekend estimates: Freaky top at the box office in an ailing theatrical market

November 22nd, 2020

Freaky will remain top at the domestic box office this weekend in spite of a steep 66% decline from its opening weekend. Its win at the box office was practically guaranteed going into the weekend, with Vanguard, the only new wide release, playing in a more modest 1,375 theaters for indie distributor Gravitas Ventures (it is now projected to open with $400,000). Freaky’s steep decline was also expected, with our model predicting a $1.56 million weekend and a decline of 57%. The fact that it fell 20% short of that low figure is a measure of how audience attitudes are changing towards the theatrical experience as COVID-19 cases rise steeply across the United States. More...

Weekend estimates: Come Play scores solid Halloween win

November 1st, 2020

Come Play is outperforming expectations and set for a comfortable weekend win, according to studio projections released on Sunday morning. Its $3.15-million debut is a little behind other recent chart toppers like Honest Thief and The War with Grandpa, both of which picked up $3.6-million openings, but it’s also comfortably ahead of our pre-weekend prediction of $2.2 million.

Is this better-than-expected performance a sign of a strengthening market? Unfortunately not. More...