Saturday AM writethru after Friday 3rd UPDATE: Paramount is seeing slightly better numbers on a film that opened this past Tuesday in previews and has been stuck in second gear. The latest pic in its franchise —Transformers: The Last Knight — is on track to take in about $40M+ for the three-day and is looking at a $63.9M five-day, which would be the lowest opening in the series of five films. The last time out, Transformers: Age of Extinction grabbed $100M in its opening weekend in 2014 also in June. It seems the studio and Hasbro has squeezed every drop out of this film franchise; audiences are clearly growing tired of it.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros./DC’s Wonder Woman cleared the $300M mark yesterday with $7.3M and is expected to hit $319.4M by Sunday. Currently, the Patty Jenkins-directed movie is expected to pull in $26.17M for the weekend, which would inch out Dark Knight ($26.11M) to become the best fourth weekend for a Warner Bros. release ever at the domestic box office. Soon, Wonder Woman will overtake Suicide Squad ($325.1M) and Batman v. Superman ($330.3M) to become the third highest grossing DC title ever after The Dark Knight ($534.9M) and The Dark Knight Rises ($448.1M).
In its second weekend out, Cars 3 should drive past the $100M mark for Disney/Pixar, depending on how strong the family audience attendance is today and Sunday. That would mean a 52% drop for $25.6M. The picture that is just tanking in its second weekend is the Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyez on Me, which kept its theaters but it sinking like a stone in its sophomore frame, down possibly 78% with $5.88M.
More interesting are the performances of films in the Specialty box office. The Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan comedy The Big Sick from Amazon and Lionsgate could pull off $80K per screen in its five theaters its first weekend out. To date in 2017, that’s the best opening theater average beating Beauty and the Beast‘s $42K. The husband/wife duo promoted this film at CinemaCon earlier this year and it was one of the highlights of the convention, primarily because Nanjiani had everyone in stitches. As reported exclusively by Deadline, Amazon scooped up The Big Sick at Sundance for $12M. Can they make their money back? Given the notable per theater here, an expansion is obviously in store. The movie is certified fresh by Rotten Tomatoes at 97% and that equals more foot traffic.
Sofia Coppola’s drama The Beguiled, which premiered this year at Cannes and stars Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning, is also in a handful of theaters and may pull in a per screen average of around $65,6K from its four theaters. The Beguiled is also in its first weekend. While Beguiled is 74% fresh, it has the distinction of having Cannes kudos best director for Coppola as well as Nicole Kidman’s special 70th anniversary prize.
Other indies, like the Mike White/Miguel Arteta satirical comedy Beatriz for Dinner expanded to 491 theaters after a great performance for distributor Roadside Attractions’ last weekend. The film, which has been getting critical kudos since it premiered at Sundance, stars Salma Hayek and Jonathan Lithgow. And you gotta give kudos to the marketing team on this one for the fun trailer and visuals.
Here’s the chart as of Saturday AM:
1). Transformers: The Last Knight (PAR), 4,069 theaters / $15.65M Wed. (includes Tuesday preview of $5.5M) / $8.1M Thurs. / $13.7M Fri. / 3-day cume: $40.1M / Total cume: $63.9M / Wk 1
2). Wonder Woman (WB), 3,933 theaters (-85) / $7.3M Fri. / 3-day cume: $26.1M / Total: $319.4M / Wk 4
3). Cars 3 (DIS), 4.256 theaters (o) / $7.65m Fri. / 3-day cume: $25.6M (-52%) / Total: $100.3M+ / Wk 2
4.). 47 Meters Down (ENT), 2,471 theaters (+201) / $2.2M Fri. / 3-day cume: $6.9M (-38%) / Total: $23.7M / Wk 2
5.). All Eyez On Me (LGF), 2,471 theaters (0) / $1.89M Fri. / 3-day cume: $5.88M (-78%) / Total: $38.7M / Wk 2
6.). The Mummy (Uni), 2,980 theaters (-827) / $1.7M Fri. / 3-day cume: $5.8M / Total: $68.5M / Wk 3
7.). Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (DIS), 2,453 theaters (-68) / $1.6M Fri. / 3-day cume: $5.4M / Total: $160.1M / Wk 5
8./9). Captain Underpants (DWA/20TH), 2,328 theaters (-44) / $1.46M Fri. / 3-day cume: $4.8M / Total: $66.3M / Wk 4
Rough Night (SONY), 3,162 theaters (0) / $1.58M Fri. / 3-day cume: $4.8M (-40%) / Total: $16.7M / Wk 2
10). Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (DIS), 1,468 theaters (-72) / $876KFri. / 3-day cume: $3M / Total: $380.2M / Wk 8
11./12) DJ Duvvada Jagannadh (BSKY), 190 theaters / $608K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1.8M /Wk 1
Beatriz At Dinner (RSA), 491 theaters (+414) / $558K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1.8M (+140%) / Per screen average: $3,6K / Total: $3M / Wk 3
NOTABLES:
Book of Henry (FOC), 646 theaters (+67) / $311K Fri. / 3-day cume: $972K (-32%) / Per screen: $1,5K/ Total: $3.1M / Wk 2
The Big Sick (AMAZ/LGF), 5 theaters / $134K Fri. / 3-day cume: $401K / Per screen: $80K / Wk 1
The Beguiled (FOC), 4 theaters / $89K Fri. / 3-day cume: $262K / Per screen: $65,6K / Wk 1
Figures as of Friday night:
1). Transformers: The Last Knight (PAR), 4,069 theaters / $15.65M Wed. (includes Tuesday preview of $5.5M) / $8.1M Thurs. / $13.6M to $14M+ Fri. / 3-day cume: $40M to $42M / Total cume: $65M+ / Wk 1
2). Wonder Woman (WB), 3,933 theaters (-85) / $7.5M Fri. / 3-day cume: $27.5M to $27.8M / Total: $319M / Wk 4
3). Cars 3 (DIS), 4.256 theaters (o) / $7.7M to $8M Fri. / 3-day cume: $26M to $27M (-52%) / Total: $100M+ / Wk 2
4.). 47 Meters Down (ENT), 2,471 theaters (+201) / $2.2M Fri. / 3-day cume: $6.57M (-38%) / Total: $23.5M / Wk 2
5.). The Mummy (Uni), 2,980 theaters (-827) / $1.7M Fri. / 3-day cume: $6.1M / Total: $68.9M / Wk 3
6.). Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (DIS), 2,453 theaters (-68) / $1.8M Fri. / 3-day cume: $6.4M / Total: $161M / Wk 5
7.). All Eyez On Me (LGF), 2,471 theaters (0) / $1.8M Fri. / 3-day cume: $5.4M (-79%) / Total: $38.2M / Wk 2
8.). Captain Underpants (DWA/20TH), 2,328 theaters (-44) / $1.87M Fri. / 3-day cume: $5.5M to $6.4M / Total: $67M / Wk 4
9.). Rough Night (SONY), 3,162 theaters (0) / $1.6M Fri. / 3-day cume: $4.5M to $5M (-44%) / Total: $16.5M to $17M / Wk 2
10). Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (DIS), 1,468 theaters (-72) / $1M+ Fri. / 3-day cume: $3.4M to $3.7M / Total: $380.8M / Wk 8
NOTABLES:
11). Beatriz At Dinner (RSA), 491 theaters (+414) / $526K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1.7M (+140%) / Per screen average: $3,450 / Total: $2.9M / Wk 3
Book of Henry (FOC), 646 theaters (+67) / $325K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1.1M (-21%) / Per screen: $1,741 / Total: $3.2M / Wk 2
The Big Sick (AMAZ/LGF), 5 theaters / $105K Fri. / 3-day cume: $322K to $400K / Per screen: $64K to $80K / Wk 1
The Beguiled (FOC), 4 theaters / $68K Fri. / 3-day cume: $210K / Per screen: $52,190 / Wk 1
— Anita Busch reported Friday night numbers. Anthony D’Alessandro handled Saturday AM writethru
2nd UPDATE, Friday, 12:24 PM: Paramount’s Transformers: The Last Knight is looking at an estimated $12.5 million today based off of midday matinees, with a current outlook that’s just under $60M over five days. That number could fall if these estimates don’t maintain themselves into the night. Three-day already is estimated at $36.5M.
Again, this is a waning property stateside, which many in town believe Paramount strictly made for China, which is bound to clear a $100M opening per Deadline’s Nancy Tartaglione. That territory repped close to a third of Age Of Extinction‘s $1.1 billion take. And even though China for Last Knight is pacing ahead of Extinction by 69%, some analysts believe it may not even finish in the $300M-plus range when all is said and done.
After drawing a profit of $250M on the last movie (merchandise alone generated $30M), it only made sense financially for Paramount to make another Transformers film, and a prolific writers roundtable led by Akiva Goldsman cannot put these robots back together again when there’s the dominant, repetitive, hyper-CGI vision of director Michael Bay (who apparently says its his last Transformers). As we’ve pointed out, critics have zero patience for Last Knight and moviegoers’ interest is on the decline.
Warner Bros/DC’s Wonder Woman, which is clicking past Universal’s Mamma Mia! on a worldwide basis to become the highest-grossing live-action movie directed by a female with $610M, will stay planted in second place with an estimated $26M take (down a marvelous 37%). By Sunday, the Patty Jenkins-directed movie will hurl itself past $319.2M, just $5.8M shy of taking out Suicide Squad and another $11.1M before Wonder Woman shows Batman V. Superman ($330.3M) who exactly is the boss at the box office. Wonder Woman is looking at an estimated $7M today.
Disney/Pixar’s Cars 3 is also driving toward $7M today, but as of this minute is expected to come in under Wonder Woman in third with $23M, down 57% from last week, for a running 10-day take of $97.7M by Sunday.
Lionsgate’s Codeblack Entertainment’s All Eyez On Me is expected to gross $2.7M today for a second weekend of $8M, down 70%, for a 10-day total of $40.8M.
We’ll have more updates tonight.
PREVIOUS, Friday 7:32 AM: Thursday wasn’t expected to be high for Paramount’s Transformers: The Last Knight at the domestic box office, but the downer $8.1 million day, off 48% from its $15.65M opening, doesn’t help the Hasbro pic’s five-day opening.
Through two days, Last Knight counts an estimated $23.7M at 4,069 venues, and some analysts even think there’s a chance the Michael Bay title may even fall below $60M in its five-day opening. Last Knight cost a reported $217M before P&A and will rely on overseas ticket sales to get it to any profit point. The last movie, which grossed a then-domestic final low of $245.4M, minted $1.1 billion worldwide good for a $250M profit after all post-theatrical streams were counted. We’ll have a better idea by noon where domestic lies for Last Knight, and overseas results will be coming in soon. What’s interesting is that no other studio dared to counter-program Last Knight, which is funny because it’s not like the movie is vacuuming up the weekend’s business.
While the fifthquel declined to a B+ CinemaScore from the A- earned by its previous chapter Age Of Extinction, ComScore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak even shows a tiring among audiences between installments. Moviegoers gave Last Knight a mundane 75% positive score versus 84% on Age Of Extinction. Word of mouth has even declined from a 69% definite recommend on AOE to 55% on Last Knight. PostTrak shows mostly men occupying seats at Last Knight, at 61%. How that breaks down: men 25+ (33%), men under 25 (29%), women 25+ (23%), and women under 25 (16%). Most people are watching Last Knight in 3D at 53%. A bulk of Last Knight‘s sales are from walk-up business, with 80% purchasing tickets at the theater. Forty-four percent of moviegoers attended Last Knight because it’s part of a franchise they like, while 16% came for star Mark Wahlberg.
Disney/Pixar’s Cars 3 made $4.4M yesterday in second place, raising its week’s cume to $74.7M, off 10% from the first week of Cars which made $83.3M in seven days and ended its stateside run at $244M.
Warner Bros/DC’s Wonder Woman grossed $4M in third at 4,018 for a running three week cume of $293.2M. Entertainment Studios’ 47 Meters Down rose up in the daily rankings to fourth with $1.2M at 2,270 and a week’s cume of $16.7M. Lionsgate’s Codeblack Entertainment’s All Eyez On Me made $1.09M at 2,471 and a week’s tally of $32.8M. Where’s Sony’s Rough Night? All the way down in eighth place with $878K and a seven-day take of $11.9M.
Meanwhile, hope resides for the Culver City studio with their romantic action title Baby Driver, opening Wednesday, and currently maintaining a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.
‘Transformers’ Still Rusty At $63M+; ‘Wonder Woman’ Soars Past $300M – Saturday AM Update