Weekend Wrap-Up: Monsters Freeze Out Competition
July 2, 2013
As expected, Monsters University remained the top draw on the weekend box office chart. The Heat performed a little better than expected, but White House Down struggled. Overall, the box office fell 21% from last weekend to $190 million over the weekend. More importantly, this is 9% lower than the same weekend last year, meaning 2013 fell a little further behind 2012's pace. The difference is only $78 million or 1.5% at $5.18 billion to $5.26 billion, which is much better than it was earlier this year, so hopefully we can close that gap before too long.
Monsters University fell 45% to $45.61 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $170.43 million. This is already a solid run and the film is already very close to becoming the biggest digitally animated hit of the year. For a kids movie, a 45% drop-off during its sophomore stint isn't bad, but it isn't great either. It should top $250 million with relative ease, but that won't be enough to maintain its crown for biggest digitally animated film of 2013 for very long.
The Heat has shown that R-rated comedies are not just for guys and with a talented cast and crew, even action comedies with female leads can be major hits. The film earned a solid second place with $39.12 million and with good reviews, it should be on pace to reach $100 million. As for profitability, the film is already nearly at its production budget and would likely only need to make $120 million domestically to break even. That's within reach, assuming it holds up well over the coming weeks. Even if it does not and it struggles to find an audience internationally, it would still break even early during its home market run.
World War Z earned $29.77 million, which was exactly as predicted. It did top $100 million over the weekend and its running tally is now $123.70 million. Unfortunately, it cost $190 million to make, so it will need to perform relatively well internationally and on the home market to break even. Still, getting to $100 million this fast should be a bit of a relief to the studio.
White House Down missed expectations opening in fourth place with $24.85 million during its opening weekend. This is the worst opening for a wide release in Roland Emmerich's career, if you take into account inflation. Unless the film's legs are better than its reviews would indicate, it will likely earn no more than half its production budget. Unless it is a much bigger hit internationally, three or four times bigger, it won't break even any time soon.
Man of Steel slipped into fifth place with $20.74 million over the weekend for a total of $248.58 million after three.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Man of Steel, Monsters University, World War Z, White House Down, The Heat, Roland Emmerich