Weekend Estimates: Krampus Wins Battle for Second

December 6, 2015

Krampus

Krampus is providing the industry with some surprise post-Thanksgiving, pre-Holiday cheer this weekend, with an opening well ahead of expectations amongst a crowd of slightly disappointing results. Mockingjay, Part 2 will top the chart with $18.6 million, which is off a surprisingly steep 64%. With the film expected to hit $20 million or so this weekend, that’s a disappointment, and makes a final total of $300 million look just out of reach. The Good Dinosaur was expected to have the legs of a Pixar movie, and is instead looking more like a run-of-the-mill high-budget animated film, so instead of topping $20 million, it is down 60% to $15.5 million for the weekend. That left an opening for Krampus, which will take second spot overall with a $16-million debut.

Also performing well this weekend is Creed, which will be off 48% to $15.5 million. Current projections have it fractionally ahead of The Good Dinosaur, but that race is really too close to call. (Based on the numbers I’ve seen, I would actually give Dinosaur a very slight edge, but it’ll be extremely close either way.) However things turn out, the top four looks quite different to what was generally expected going in to the weekend, but the difference between first and fourth is so minimal that the distinction comes down to bragging rights more than financial significance.

The weekend’s other wide release, The Letters, is falling on hard times, with just $802,000 from 886 theaters, which will barely be enough for a place in the top 15. Poor reviews and strong competition doomed this earnest drama.

Chi-raq is doing better in a mid-tier release in 305 theaters. It will earn about $1.2 million, for an average around $4,000. An official estimate hasn’t been posted at the time of writing, and the final report may come in a little higher or lower than this number. Either way, it’s an OK debut for the first film from Amazon Studios.

In limited release, Carol continues to garner the most love from filmgoers, with another $147,000 this weekend from four locations. Its average of $36,810 is very impressive for a film that’s been playing for three weeks, although the fact that it’s playing in only four venues makes it hard to project what will happen when it expands. Likewise, The Danish Girl, which will earn an almost-as-impressive $106,000 from four theaters this weekend. Also in four movie houses is new release Youth, which Fox Searchlight is projecting will earn $80,000. The other debutant heading for an average over $10,000 is Macbeth, with a projected $67,868 from five theaters.

- Weekend estimates
- Krampus comps
- Mockingjay Part 2 comps
- The Hunger Games franchise details
- Disney-Pixar production company history
- Rocky franchise history
- Spectre comps
- James Bond franchise history
- Peanuts comps
- The Martian comps

Bruce Nash,

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Danish Girl, The Good Dinosaur, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, The Letters, Krampus, Creed, Macbeth, Carol, Chi-raq, Youth, James Bond, Rocky, Hunger Games