Friday Estimates: Civil War Falling Fast, But Monster Makes Good Money

May 14, 2016

The Darkness

As expected, Captain America: Civil War dominated the box office chart on Friday, earning $19.44 million. However, this is down 74% from its opening Friday, which is a sharper-than-expected drop. It will bounce back over the weekend to earn $70 million, but that’s a loss of over $100 million from its opening weekend. It is also not enough to get it to $300 million this weekend. It will get there on Monday, on the other hand. Again, I must emphasize that this is only bad when compared to monstrous expectations. Its sophomore decline will be about 60%, which is in line with Age of Ultron. Additionally, Civil War is already the biggest hit for the Captain America franchise at the worldwide box office and will be the first of the three films to reach the $1 billion mark. There’s no reason to be upset at its box office run so far.

There is some good news coming out of Friday, as Money Monster did better than expected with $5.0 million. This is a big jump from its Thursday Previews, which suggests a more mature target demographic and that in turn suggests a $14 million to $15 million opening weekend. The reviews have been up and down the past few days, floating around the overall positive mark of 60%. It appears they will settle just under that figure, which is disappointing, but hardly fatal. Likewise, its CinemaScore is a B+, which is fine, nothing more. It won’t help its legs, but it also won’t hurt.

On the other hand, The Darkness started the weekend with zero positive reviews, because there were no reviews before its release. As of the writing of this column, it still has no positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Furthermore, its Friday opening was just $2.13 million, but that’s still better than expected. Its CinemaScore was a C. It wasn't even a C+, just a flat C. Anything below a B is considered a liability. It will still beat predictions with an opening weekend of $5 million. That’s nothing to celebrate, but it could have been worse.

- Friday estimates
- Captain America: Civil War comparisons
- Money Monster Comparisons
- The Darkness Comparisons
- The Jungle Book vs. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

Filed under: Friday Estimates, Captain America: Civil War, The Darkness, Money Monster, Captain America