Weekend Estimates: Compton Brushes Off Newcomers
August 23, 2015
As expected, Straight Outta Compton is continuing to dominate at the box office this weekend, with a second weekend of $26.76 million and a total of $111.5 million projected by Universal on Sunday morning. In fact, Compton is so dominant that the music biopic will earn more than the combined grosses of all three debutants. Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation’s fourth-weekend $11.7 million will be enough for second place.
In other words, it’s pretty much carnage for the openers this weekend. Sinister 2 is the best of the bunch with a projected $10.6 million, which is well behind the $18 million opening enjoyed by the first film in the franchise. A low-ish $10 million budget and relatively low marketing costs will save the film from oblivion financially, but it seems unlikely that the franchise will see another theatrical release.
Hitman: Agent 47 is looking uglier for Fox, with a poor $8.2 million projected debut and higher production and marketing costs. It has a shot at doing better internationally, but will have to massively outperform its domestic numbers to recoup its outlays.
The final wide release this weekend, American Ultra, will land with $5.5 million from 2,778 theaters. The film clearly struggled from going up against the likes of Mission: Impossible, Hitman and The Man From UNCLE, and couldn’t beat any of them on its first weekend. (UNCLE is having a pretty good second weekend, given its soft opening, and will be down just 45% to $7.4 million.)
In limited release, Grandma is the standout opener with $120,856 projected for four theaters and a very healthy average just North of $30,000. Learning to Drive is also looking good with $67,417 projected for four theaters and an average over $16,000. Two other debutants are getting off to good starts: Digging for Fire will bring in around $24,500 from three locations, and Station to Station is set for about $9,500 in a single venue.
Bruce Nash, bruce.nash@the-numbers.com
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Hitman: Agent 47, Straight Outta Compton, Sinister 2, Learning to Drive, Digging for Fire, Grandma, Station to Station, American Ultra, Sinister