Friday Estimates: Audiences are still in Love with Furious
April 29, 2017
The top five this weekend looks a little different than anticipated. Okay, “a little” might be an understatement. The Fate of the Furious dominated Friday’s box office with $5.1 million, which puts it on pace for $18.5 million for the weekend. This is almost exactly as expected. Some of the new releases were a little more surprising.
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion managed second place on Friday with $4.75 million, including $2.5 million in Thursday previews. There are still only two reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, so it is hard to judge the film’s quality. That said, both reviews are positive. If the film has a similar run as Baahubali: The Beginning, taking into account the previews, then Baahubali 2 will make close to $9 million opening weekend. Unfortunately, Indian films tend to have short legs, as fans of these movies rush out to see them opening weekend, so $20 million domestically is likely out of the question. It is doing huge business in India, so it will likely top its $30 million production budget during its worldwide opening weekend. A result like this should encourage Hollywood studios to either dabble in Bollywood films, or at the very least, cast Bollywood performers to help boost sales to this lucrative audience.
How to be a Latin Lover earned third place on Friday with $3.9 million and is expected to earn just over $11 million over the full weekend. I would compare this start to Instructions Not Included, except that film opened on a long weekend, so that messes with the multiplier. The two films earned similar reviews and the target audience is still under-served, so this could become the second biggest hit of April, behind only The Fate of the Furious.
On the downside, The Circle is a little too close to a zero after earning just $3.2 million on Friday. There’s almost no good news to report, as the film’s reviews went from 50% positive early Thursday to just 16% positive on Saturday morning. Furthermore, the film managed just a D plus from CinemaScore. Anything less than a B plus is considered a bad sign for the film’s legs going forward, so a D plus is rightly considered a disaster. The film could make just under $9 million during its opening weekend, putting it in a tight race for third place.
The final release of the week was Sleight, which earned $582,000 in 565 theaters. Its reviews improved to 71% positive, but its theater average is low enough that theater owners will drop it before word-of-mouth can really make a difference.
- The Circle Comparisons
- How to be a Latin Lover Comparisons
Filed under: Friday Estimates, The Fate of the Furious, The Circle, Sleight, How to Be a Latin Lover