Refresh for more analysis and charts Moviegoing was once a 52-week business, according to some studio distribution executives. Well, that’s not the philosophy this weekend, and it’s even grimmer next weekend as most of the majors figured in the wake of MLK weekend, and a traditional box office dead zone like January with Omicron flying around, that it wasn’t worth the P&A spend to put any kind of movie out there. Back in the good ole days, and we’re talking five years ago, post MLK was the time when Universal turned M. Night Shyamalan’s Blumhouse horror movie Split Paramount was second in the Vin Diesel sequel, despite a $40M start. xXX: Return to Xander CageFor $20.1M
And, so, we settle for Sony’s Spider-Man, There’s No Way HomeIt rose to No. In its 6th weekend with, it climbed to No. $13.5MThis puts its huge domestic total at $720.4M,and Paramount/Spyglass Media’sScream In second place with a drop of -61% $11.7M, and $50.6M ten-day total. This weekend’s second ease is roughly the same asScream 4(-61%), but richer than the previous installment which did $7M in weekend 2, and among the franchise’s second weekend’s it’s third behindScream 3($16.3M)Scream 2($13.9M).
Spider-Man‘s cume by Sunday keeps the blockbuster title in 4th place among all movies at the domestic box office. The webslinger to beatAvatarIt was the third highest-grossing movie in Canada and the United States.Spider-Man, There’s No Way Homemust do more than $40.1M in the business. Through six weekendsThere’s no way homeIt is 31% higher thanAvatarThe movies were shot at the same time (5521.7M at the end of the post-MLK frame), but the difference is thatSpideyThis is front-loaded and more flexible thanAvatarThe Presidents Day weekend saw continued strong numbers (i.e. Weekend 6 was $34.9M; weekend 7 was $31.2M; weekend 8 was $22.85M. The Presidents Day holiday, which lasted for four days, brought in $28.7M.
Major studio moviegoing isn’t expected to come back until Feb. 4 with Lionsgate’s sci-fi Roland Emmerich titleMoonfalland Paramount’sJackass Forever It begs the question of whether there was an opportunity missed by studios in not programming this weekend. I get it, best to spend your marketing money during a pandemic on the holiday frames, when there’s more of the audience that could come out. However, with the 18-34 demographic being the most confident to head to the movies, it’s interesting to note that there were more colleges out yesterday at 15% and K-12 at 3% then there is on Feb. 4 which is respectively 2% and 1%. It’s amazing that in the wake Sony moving Morbius, The assumption was that Omicron would get worse over time. According to Los Angeles Times, the surge is now flattening here in LA County, even though California is averaging 100K new cases a day, more than twice as high as last winter’s high of 46K. Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County Public Health director, advised that people avoid unnecessary activities like unmasked parties and dinners.
There will come a time when studios return to a big event movie a week, essentially that starts on March 25 with Paramount’sThe Lost City It continues throughout the summer. The calendar is still in dead zones, i.e. next weekend there’s nothing, on Feb. 25 there’s no wide releases, and the weekend after Warner Bros. The Batman opens on March 11, there aren’t any wide releases programmed, however, analysts seem to debate whether the Matt Reeves DC title will be another $100M opener; news of the pic’s 2 hour and 55 minute running time casting a little bit of doubt.
You may have noticed Universal released the faith-based movieLove can be redeemed Based on Francine Rivers’ novel, the film was seen in 1,903 theaters for $1.49M yesterday. $4M weekend, but it’s not the studio’s movie. They’re just doing a distribution deal and I understand that they’re not even on the hook for marketing. The movie was fromEagle EyeAndDisturbiaDirector D.J. Caruso is a production of Pinnacle Peak Pictures and Mission Pictures International. Roma Downey is listed under Executive Producer. Contrary to other faith-based movies that typically win over their audience with an A+ rating, this movie is not like others. Love can be redeemedA B+ was awarded. Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak exits were 85% positive and 72% recommended. Anyone seen this film’s ads? I’m sure not.
I hear there weren’t any NYC or LA cinemas in the top 100 runs for the movie, with the South reaping close to 60% of the movie’s gross versus the business average of 35% for a regular wide release. 79% of the females were over 25 years old, while 76% were over 25. Close to half of them are over 35. Close to a third (24-34 year olds) of ticket buyers came from this age group. Diversity demos represented 65% Caucasian, 16% Latino/Hispanic and 11% Asian/other.
South Africa.Redeeming loveis set against the 1850 California Gold Rush and follows Angel (Abigail Cowen), who was sold into prostitution as a child. She has survived through hatred and self-loathing, until she meets Michael Hosea (Tom Lewis) and discovers there is no brokenness that love can’t heal. At 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, critics turned their backs.
Gravitas Ventures decided not to compete on marquees and made the Pierce Brosnan/William Hurt film. The King’s DaughterTheir largest release at 2,170 locations. The movie’s weekend results madeRedeeming love‘s ticket sales look like a blockbuster with an estimated $750K. The PG movie follows Brosnan as Central Recorder King, Louis XIV. Obsessed with his own mortality and the future of France, Louis turns to his spiritual advisor, Père La Chaise (Hurt), and the royal physician to help him obtain the key to immortality. Believing a mermaid (Fan Bingbing) contains a force that grants everlasting life, Louis commissions a young sea captain to search the seas and capture the mystical creature. Further complicating his plans is his orphaned daughter, Marie-Josèphe (Kaya Scodelario), who returns to court with an abundance of elegance and an inherent defiance of authority. Critics enjoyedThe King’s DaughterJust a little more thanRedeeming your love At 26% Soft ticket sales are here, mostly in West with PostTrak at 66%. A low 31% recommendation. The few people who saw it were 55% of the population, 88% of those over 25 and 62% of those over 35. 43% of those over 45 are also interested. Diversity demos included 72% Caucasian, 19% Latino/Hispanic, 6% Asian/other, and 3% Black.
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