Weekend Wrap-Up: Box Office Loses Focus
March 3, 2015
As expected, Focus led the way at the box office, but sadly did so with a much lower opening weekend result than predicted. The rest of the top five were a little stronger than predicted each earning between $10 million and $12 million. That said, the overall box office was still weak, down 10% from last week to $107 million. It was also down 13% from last year. This caused 2015's lead over 2014 to drop. Granted, 2015 is still ahead of 2014 by $110 million or 6.8% at $1.74 billion to $1.63 billion, so it would take a while to lose that lead at this pace.
Focus opened in first place with $18.69 million. This was more than 50% more than the second place film, but 25% less than predicted. It is also one of the worst openings of Will Smith's career and will likely fizzle out before it reaches $50 million at the domestic box office. Its reviews are 55% positive, which is not good enough to be at the overall positive level, but not bad enough to be a real detriment. In other words, it is a typical February release. Unfortunately, it cost $65 million to make, so it will need help internationally if it is to break even during its initial push on the home market.
Kingsman: The Secret Service remained in second place with $11.88 million, which is about $1 million more than expected. This pushes its running tally to $85.83 million, so by this time next week, it could be at over $100 million. If not, it will get there shortly afterward.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water remained in fourth place with $10.82 million over the weekend for a total of $139.94 million. The film will cross $150 million during the upcoming weekend, which is close to twice as much as most people predicted it would make. I'm sure the studio is looking to make a third film in the franchise.
Fifty Shades of Grey fell from first to fourth with $10.55 million over the weekend for a total of $147.39 million after three weeks of release.
The Lazarus Effect opened in fifth place with $10.20 million. This is obviously not a great start, while its genre and reviews will result in short legs. On the other hand, the film only cost $5 million to make, so that's already covered. All the film needs to do now is recoup its global P&A budget. I would not be surprised to learn its global P&A cost $30 million. It should still break even, it will just likely have to wait till the home market to do so.
McFarland, USA was the best of the sophomore class and it only managed sixth place. The film dipped just 29% to $7.84 million over the weekend for a total of $22.02 million after ten days of release. At this pace, the film will make $40 million, which might be enough to break even sometime on the home market. The Duff fell from fifth to eighth with $6.87 million over the weekend for a total of $19.77 million after two. It too is on pace to break even on the home market. On the other hand, Hot Tub Time Machine 2 is a bomb. The film fell 59% to just $2.44 million over the weekend for a total of $10.31 million after two weeks of release. Its per theater average is just $842, which means its theater count will take a massive hit this weekend and it will likely finish with below $15 million. Most people thought it would open with that much.
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Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Fifty Shades of Grey, McFarland, USA, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, The Lazarus Effect, Focus, The DUFF, SpongeBob SquarePants, Will Smith