Weekend Wrap-Up: Cinderella Helps Box Office Bounce Back
March 16, 2015
As expected, Cinderella easily won the race to the top of the box office. However, it didn't quite do as well as expected. Additionally, Run All Night's opening was also a little softer than expected. Fortunately, despite this, the overall box office still bounced back from last weekend growing by 47% to $132 million. This was also higher than last year by 16%, which is really high for a year-over-year comparison. Year-to-date, 2015 is ahead of 2014 by 2.3% at $2.01 billion to $1.97 billion. This is not a huge lead, but it is still enough growth that the overall industry should be happy.
Cinderella is the latest live action hit for Disney based on an animated film and it is clear they are not going to stop now. The film pulled in $67.88 million over the weekend, which is the second best opening for 2015 (third best if you include the wide expansion of American Sniper). Its reviews are 83% positive and it's aimed at families, so it should have longer than average legs and $200 million clearly isn't out of range. How far it will go will depend on how well it holds up next weekend.
It looks like the market for Liam Neeson action films is drying up, as Run All Night only managed $11.01 million during its opening weekend. To put this into perspective, Taken 3 earned $14.88 million during its opening day. This film's reviews are much, much better and are currently just a hair below the 60% level on Rotten Tomatoes. I don't think that will help its legs much, on the other hand, because its per theater average is low enough that even a low drop next weekend will cause many theater owners to drop it sooner rather than later.
Surprisingly, Kingsman: The Secret Service rose to third place with $6.21 million over the weekend for a total of $107.39 million after a month of release. Again, its made enough to justify a sequel. It's just a matter of time.
Focus was next with $5.74 million over the weekend for a total of $43.97 million after three weeks of release. It remains on pace for $50 million domestically, but likely won't get there this coming weekend.
Chappie fell from first to fifth with $5.70 million over the weekend for a total of $23.32 million after two. It needed to make more than that during its opening weekend to have a real shot at breaking even any time soon.
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel just missed the top five with $5.69 million over the weekend for a total of $18.05 million after two. It is on pace for just over $30 million during its domestic run. Assuming it can do as well internationally as the first film did, then it will break even before its home market run.
The only other sophomore film not to reach the top five was Unfinished Business, which fell just over 50% to $2.32 million over the weekend for a total of $8.69 million after two. Its per theater average is just $834, so its theater count is going to take a massive hit on Friday.
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Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Cinderella, Chappie, Unfinished Business, Run All Night, Focus, Taken 3, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, American Sniper, Liam Neeson