Weekend estimates: Croods leads another dismal weekend
December 6, 2020
The Croods: A New Age will remain top at the box office this weekend, with Universal projecting a $4.4-million weekend as of Sunday morning. That will take the animated adventure past $20 million in total by the end of the day today. That fact pales in comparison to bad news regarding the continued decline in box office receipts. Returning films are falling 12% to 25% short of our model’s pre-weekend predictions. Part of that is down to the post-Thanksgiving decline that’s to be expected, but the continued toll of the pandemic is further dragging on spending. Perhaps the glimmer of good news is that more people are heeding experts’ advice and watching their movies at home.
In Friday’s weekend preview, I talked about how difficult it was to predict the performance of Half Brothers, which boiled down to whether playing nationwide would work for a comedy that looked more of a fit for Hispanic audiences. Although the film managed to come in second for the weekend, the answer appears to be that it didn’t break out of its obvious demographic, landing at about of half of the model’s prediction with a projected $720,000.
All My Life also fell short of expectations, with $350,000 from 970 theaters, but that figure isn’t surprising given the weakness of the market and the challenges that romantic dramas face in drawing theater-goers. On the bright side, Universal will be able to get it out on VOD in time for the Holidays.
Universal Pictures and its subsidiary Focus Features will pull off the normally-remarkable feat of having six out of the top seven films at the box office this weekend. That’s more of a participation prize though, since it’s the only studio releasing films wide right now. What’s important for the industry is that participation: Universal/Focus will earn roughly $6.5 million at the box office this weekend, out of a total from all films of around $9 million. Imagine how the market would look without the likes of The Croods: A New Age and Freaky playing.
The Croods: A New Age will pick up $13.566 million internationally this weekend, according to Universal’s tracking, for totals of $40.253 million abroad, and $60.553 million worldwide. Its best international territory is China where it will earn $12.193 million for the weekend for $36.563 million in total. The Middle East continues to be relatively strong, with $420,000 from the UAE and other Middle East territories, and $1.479 million in total in the region.
The Invisible Man finally launched in China with $1.528 million. Its international total rises to $70.394 million and it has $140.804 million worldwide. Trolls World Tour will make $582,000 this weekend for $44.065 million internationally and $49.706 million worldwide led by $452,000 from its final major market opening in Brazil. Freaky will pick up $357,000 from 30 territories and has a total of $13.307 million worldwide now. Let Him Go will earn $216,000 from 10 international territories for $9.963 million worldwide.
Warner Bros. has three films playing in international territories. Tenet will earn $1.3 million worldwide this weekend topped by a $675,000 opening weekend in India and $303,000 from its fifteenth weekend in Australia. The Witches takes its international total to $18.9 million with a projected opening of $790,000 in Japan and $1.5 million from all 36 overseas markets. Finally, Superintelligence will earn a projected $501,000 from 10 territories for a total of $1.6 million to date. Its best territory is Russia with $236,000 this weekend for $756,000 in total. It opens in the UK next weekend.
- Weekend studio estimates
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International Markets
- Weekend predictions
- Weekend theater counts
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Trolls: World Tour, The Croods: A New Age, The Invisible Man, Superintelligence, The Witches, Tenet, Let Him Go, Freaky, Half Brothers, All My Life