Weekend Wrap-Up: Hotel Transylvania Climbs into the Record Book
September 28, 2015
Hotel Transylvania 2 was surprisingly strong this past weekend, topping expectations and entering the record book. It wasn't the only new release of the week. The Intern matched expectations nearly perfectly. On the other hand, Everest struggled and The Green Inferno barely made a peep. The overall box office pulled in $138 million, which is 22% higher than last weekend and 29% higher than the same weekend last year. 2015's lead over 2014 has grown to $470 million or 6.3%. This year we have a running tally of $7.96 billion compared to $7.49 billion from last year. There's just three months left in the year, so 2015's lead looks safer and safer every passing weekend.
Hotel Transylvania 2 topped the weekend box office chart with $48.46 million. That's higher than expected, higher than its predecessor, and the biggest September opening of all time. Additionally, its reviews improved and are now at 52% positive. This is better than the first film's reviews and good enough for a kids movie. By this time next week, the film should be ahead of Pixels as the biggest hit for Sony this year. At least the biggest hit so far this year. I suspect Spectre will open with more than Pixels will make in total and it will be the studios only $200 million hit of the year.
The Intern had a perfectly acceptable opening, earning second place with $17.73 million. Its reviews rose to 56% positive, which is fine for this time of year. Additionally, its target audience is less likely to rush out to see a movie opening weekend, so it should have better than average legs. The film should have no trouble topping its production budget domestically and as long as it just matches its domestic box office internationally, it will break even early in its home market run.
The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials landed in third place with $14.27 million over the weekend for a total of $51.92 million after two. The film opened slower than the first film did and suffered a deeper decline. This is not good news for the franchise going forward, especially with the leap in production budget from the first to the second film.
Everest's wide expansion didn't go as well as Universal would have liked, as it only managed fourth place with $13.24 million over the weekend for a total of $23.28 million, including its week-long IMAX run. Its reviews are good, but unless it is a much bigger than expected hit internationally, it won't break even any time soon.
Black Mass rounded out the top five with $11.03 million over the weekend for a total of $42.13 million after two weeks of release. It's going to become a solid midlevel hit for Warner Bros. and it should break even, eventually.
The Green Inferno did about as well as most people expected with an opening weekend of $3.52 million in 1,540 theaters. The film should do a lot better on the home market, unless it has such a bad reputation of being a box office bomb that fans of the genre ignore it.
The final release in the top ten worth mentioning it Sicario, which earned tenth place with $1.72 million, despite playing in just 59 theaters. It led the way on the per theater chart and will have no problem expanding further. In fact, if its reviews can turn into Oscar buzz, then it should do well enough to expand truly wide.
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Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Pixels, Hotel Transylvania 2, The Green Inferno, Everest, The Intern, Black Mass, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, Sicario, The Maze Runner