Friday Estimates: Call has a Wilder Start to the Weekend than Anticipated

February 22, 2020

The Call of the Wild

The Call of the Wild really bounced back from Thursday’s previews to earn $8.05 million on Friday. The film is projected to earn $24 million to $25 million over the weekend, which is much better than predicted and puts it in a virtual tie with Sonic the Hedgehog for top spot. It is likely to have better legs than most new releases, because of its target audiences, which is a mix of families and older moviegoers who would be fans of the original novel. Additionally, its reviews are good, but not great, and it earned an A minus from CinemaScore, which is also good, but not great, for a family film. Unfortunately, it still has that $125 million production budget to deal with, so breaking even is very unlikely. Maybe it can save face though.

Sonic the Hedgehog landed in second place with $6.4 million on Friday and Paramount is projecting a $25 million weekend based on that result. This is a very steep decline, both from last Friday and last weekend. It is a post-holiday weekend and the direct competition is doing better than anticipated, which does explain this result. Furthermore, the movie already has $86.7 million in just 8 days of release, so even short legs won’t prevent it from breaking even and justifying a sequel or two.

Brahms: The Boy II managed $2.2 million on Friday, putting it on pace for between $5 million and $6 million, which is a little better than anticipated. Its reviews remain in the single-digit range and it earned a C minus from CinemaScore, neither of which are going to help its legs. It should still place in the top five by the end of the weekend, so it could be worse.

Speaking of worse, Birds of Prey fell 69% from last Friday to just $1.92 million, putting it on pace for between $6 million and $7 million over the full weekend. Matching its $82 million production budget is going to be a lot harder after this result.

Bad Boys for Life rounded out the top five, with $1.57 million putting it on pace for nearly $6 million over the weekend. This will most likely allow it to climb above Brahms in the end.

Emma opened with $80,000 in just five theaters for a one-day average of $16,000. This bodes very well for its chances to expand over the coming weeks.

- Friday Box Office Chart
- Thursday Box Office Chart

- Thursday Night Previews: Wild has a Tame Debut
- Weekend Predictions: Will Audience Answer the Call?
- Theater Counts

Filed under: Friday Estimates, Bad Boys For Life, The Call of the Wild, Sonic The Hedgehog, Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), Brahms: The Boy II, Emma.