Weekend Estimates: Ender's Game Leads Trio of Openers
November 3, 2013
As expected, Ender's Game will comfortably win this weekend's box office race with an opening in the vicinity of $28 million. That's a healthy figure, but barely gets it into the top 100 openings in November and it'll be footnote by the time Thor and The Hunger Games have rolled out in a few week's time. It seems well short of what would be needed for a sequel to be greenlit. Free Birds will also not enjoy a theatrical sequel (although direct-to-video spin-offs seem likely) as it will open with around $16 million, but CBS Films is very happy with the $16 million debut of Last Vegas, which will benefit from an older demographic in the weeks to come.
The other standout in the top 10 is 12 Years a Slave, which will post around $4.6 million from 410 theaters, making it the only top 10 film to average over $10,000 this weekend.
In limited release, Dallas Buyers Club will make about $270,000 from 9 theaters for a very strong $30,000 theater average on debut -- certainly enough to support a major expansion. About Time is looking less healthy, with $1.1 million from 175 venues. Its average of $6,100 isn't a death knell, but it looks like it will struggle to reach a big audience.
Bruce Nash bruce.nash@the-numbers.com
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Ender’s Game, Dallas Buyers Club, Free Birds, About Time, Last Vegas, 12 Years a Slave