Weekend Wrap-Up: Box Office was Less than Super
February 2, 2015
Super Bowl weekend was rough at the box office with only one film topping $10 million. That film was American Sniper, which completed the hat trick, but with less than expected. Second place went to Project Almanac, again earning less than expected, while Paddington was right behind in third place. Overall the box office fell 36% from last weekend, down to just $102 million. This is still 18% higher than the same weekend last year, so we have that to focus on. Year-to-date, 2015 has pulled in $994 million, which is 7.0% more than last year's pace of $929 million. Again, it is way too early to judge and as we saw last year, things can fall apart really quickly. That said, I will take any good news I can get.
American Sniper earned first place with $30.66 million over the weekend for a total of $247.75 million. The film actually fell faster than expected over the weekend and might fall to third place next weekend. $300 million is still within reach, but its chances of catching The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 and Guardians of the Galaxy have fallen.
Project Almanac also didn't do as well as most people expected earning just $8.31 million. Given its reviews and its per theater average, it likely won't have good legs nor will theater owners be too excited to keep it around for much longer than they are contractually obligated to.
Paddington did a little better than expected earning $8.27 million over the weekend for a total of $50.30 million The film cost $55 million to make, so it will top its production budget next weekend. Additionally, it has been a much bigger hit internationally, so it has already broken even with room to spare.
Black or White managed to top expectations, barely, earning fourth place with $6.21 million. The film's reviews are really bad and its per theater average isn't impressive either, so look for short legs.
The Boy Next Door fell to just $6.08 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $24.67 million. It could have been worse, but this is certainly not a good run.
The Loft barely made the top ten with just $2.75 million in 1,841 for a per theater average of just $1,492. Additionally, its Tomatometer Score is just 9% positive, so word-of-mouth will kill it.
Looking in on the sophomore class, we find Strange Magic in ninth place with $3.36 million over the weekend for a total of $9.82 million after two. It actually held on well over the weekend, but this is a case of too little, too late. On the other hand, Mortdecai plummeted 66% to $1.44 million over the weekend for a total of $6.58 million after ten days of release. It would have had to make this much on opening day to become a midlevel hit.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, The Loft, Project Almanac, Paddington, The Boy Next Door, Mortdecai, Black or White, American Sniper, Strange Magic