Friday Estimates: Doctor Heals the Box Office with $14.92 million

November 12, 2016

Arrival

Doctor Strange held on better than expected to earn $14.92 million on Friday. This was down just 54% compared to its opening Friday. This is partially due to its reviews, but also due to Veterans Day landing on a Friday. It won’t bounce back as much as other sophomore films do in this case, but even if it has the exact same internal multiplier as it did last weekend, it will pull in $39 million this weekend and match our prediction. It will likely top $40 million, maybe even hitting $42 million, if it is lucky.

Trolls was next with $12.22 million, which is barely lower than its opening Friday box office of $12.37 million. However, it got a huge boost from the holiday, so it won’t have the same internal multiplier. That said, it is still going to top $30 million with ease and it will likely get past $35 million as well. Fox has to be incredibly happy with this result.

Arrival was the best of the new releases, but it only managed third place with $9.4 million. Its reviews remained among the best of the wide releases to come out this year at 93% positive, but its CinemaScore was a mere B. Usually this is a result of a gap between the actual film and how it was advertised. Paramount tried to sell it as more of a thriller than an intellectual drama. This could hurt the film’s legs, but topping $20 million is the bare minimum after Friday’s haul. It should even top $23 million and earn itself a place in the $10,000 club on the theater average chart.

Almost Christmas matched expectations nearly perfectly with $5.9 million on Friday and should finish the weekend with just over $15 million. This is a great start for a film that cost $17 million to make. The reviews won’t help, but its CinemaScore was a solid A minus, so no complaints there. The film likely won’t be in many theaters by the time Christmas arrives, but the Thanksgiving weekend should give it a boost and it should earn Universal a nice profit early in its home market run.

Finally we get to Shut In. This film only managed $1.43 million on Friday, putting it on pace to open below $4 million and below the Mendoza Line. The critics are unanimous in their contempt for this film with 13 negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and not a single positive one. It also only managed a C from CinemaScore. It will disappear from theaters as soon as theater owners are able to drop it. Fortunately, the film only cost $10 million to make, so it is not going to lose the studio a ton of money.

- Friday Box Office Chart

- Arrival Comparisons
- Almost Christmas Comparisons
- Shut In Comparisons

Filed under: Friday Estimates, Trolls, Doctor Strange, Shut In, Arrival, Almost Christmas