Friday Estimates: Baby Bosses Around the New Releases, Maintains First with $6.86 Million

April 8, 2017

The Boss Baby

There was quite a race at the box office on Friday. The Boss Baby led the way with $6.86 million for the day, putting it just ahead of Beauty and the Beast, which made $6.85 million. This is a 56% decline from the film’s opening Friday, which is a little high for a family film. Granted, its reviews are not good, but it did get an A minus from CinemaScore. It should bounce back on Saturday, but a nearly 50% drop-off to just under $26 million is likely at this point.

Beauty and the Beast is on pace for $25 million over the weekend and $433 million after four weeks of release. The film remains on track for $500 million domestically, if Disney continues to support it as the summer holidays begin. I think that’s likely.

Going in Style did better than expected on Friday, earning third place with $4.2 million; however, it likely won’t stay there. Reviews are mixed and it only managed a B plus from CinemaScore, which won’t boost its legs. On the other hand, it does have a more mature target demographic than most films, so that will help. Look for a $12 million opening, which isn’t bad for a film that cost $25 million to make. It will still need help internationally and / or on the home market to break even, but that is not impossible.

Smurfs: The Lost Village opened in fourth place on Friday with $4.15 million; however, since it is a family film, it will have a bigger bounce on Saturday and climb into third place over the weekend with $14 million. Critics did not like the film, and gave it just 38% positive reviews. On the other hand, audiences loved it, as it earned a solid A from CinemaScore. Fortunately, the film reportedly only cost $60 million to make, so Sony won’t lose a ton of money here. That’s damning it with faint praise.

Ghost in the Shell managed just $2.1 million on Friday, which was more than 70% lower than its opening Friday. On the bright side, this is on par with expectations and it will earn between $7 million and $8 million over the weekend. It looks like Paramount will lose $60 million on this movie, which is terrible news. After a rough 2016, they can’t afford more losses.

The final new release of the week is The Case for Christ, which opened in seventh place with $1.5 million. It could have been worse. There are still not a lot of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and it wasn’t released in enough theaters for CinemaScore to track it, so it is hard to judge its legs. I am rather confident it will, at worst, come within a rounding error of our $5 million prediction.

Early reports have Colossal dominating the theater average chart with more than $100,000 over the weekend in just 4 theaters. Their Finest is expected to make over $60,000, also in four theaters. Meanwhile, Gifted is on pace to earn nearly $500,000 in 56 theaters during the weekend. That’s excellent for a limited release playing in over 50 theaters.

- Friday Box Office Chart

- Smurfs: The Lost Village Comparisons
- Going in Style Comparisons
- The Case for Christ Comparisons

Filed under: Friday Estimates, Smurfs: The Lost Village, The Boss Baby, Ghost in the Shell, Beauty and the Beast, Colossal, Gifted, Their Finest, The Case for Christ