‘Ant-Man’ & ‘Minions’ Smaller In Actuals; ‘Trainwreck’ Starts To Party – Weekend Box Office
Sunday was a tad slower than anticipated for Disney Marvel’s Ant-Man which came in below its $58M weekend estimate with $57.1M. Universal Illumination Entertainment’s Minions also came in under its $50.25M estimate with a reported actual of $49.3M.
Uni’s Trainwreck came quite close to matching yesterday’s projection, just $100K off with $30.1M; officially director Judd Apatow’s second best B.O. bow behind 2007’s Knocked Up which opened to $30.7M and made 4.8 times that in the end with $148.8M.
Despite Sunday’s slowdown, all films in play over the weekend rang up $193.4M per Rentrak Theatrical, up 30% over the same weekend a year ago, which saw the second weekend of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (at $36.3M) beating out a so-so medley of new titles: The Purge: Anarchy ($29.8M), Planes: Fire & Rescue ($17.5M) and the bomb Sex Tape ($14.6M).
The Amy Schumer R-rated Trainwreck was anything but a hot mess, earning an A- CinemaScore besting the B+s earned by Knocked Up and Apatow’s Bridesmaids ($26.2M bow, final cume $169.1M). Per CinemaScore averages, Trainwreck is bound to outpace both titles at the domestic B.O. Universal conservatively figured that Trainwreck was going to pull in with a high teens weekend. The industry figured better at $20M-$22M. In the end, team Apatow-Schumer kicked ass.
Ant-Man
opened in the neighborhood of Universal’s Marvel The Incredible Hulk which made $55.4M in 2008 and finaled with a 2.4 multiple of $134.8M off an A- CinemaScore (which typically boasts a 3.6x multiple). Ant-Man‘s A CinemaScore on paper indicates it should fare better than Hulk, however, the tiny masked man is going to have to demonstrate some serious holding power if he wants to continue his solo gig in movies, and not be relegated to co-star status like the Hulk (in the Avengers movies). The Incredible Hulk, which was the second reboot of the Marvel character after Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk, fell 60% during its sophomore sesh, which is at the far end of where these superhero films decline in their second frames. Should Ant-Man hold in the vicinity of Thor‘s second weekend (-47%), that would be…super. Again, as we emphasized throughout the weekend, an epic plotline more than brand and gimmick was essential if Ant-Man was going to scale to greater B.O. heights.
While Disney and Marvel had the fanboys in the palm of their hand at three Comic-Cons in a row with Ant-Man footage, they did their best to establish the little guy before mass audiences. They trailored Ant-Man on big summer films like Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mad Max and San Andreas. There was an exclusive sneak peak of Ant-Man with five minutes of film footage in front of Imax Jurassic World showtimes. PR stunts included actor Michael Douglas and Ant-Man ring the NYSE closing bell, Paul Rudd getting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Michael Pena presiding over a car wash at L.A. Live. As is traditional for all Disney releases, they pump up the volume for them at their theme parks and 220+ stores. There was a 4D sneak peek of Ant-Man at Disney California Adventure’s Bug’s Life Theater. Rudd even stopped by to say hello to the crowd on June 25. Footage was also programmed at Disneyland Paris and Disney cruise ships with custom bus wraps at Walt Disney World.
Next weekend, Ant-Man faces three wide releases: Sony’s Adam Sandler-Kevin James comedy Pixels at an estimated 3,500 theaters; 20th Century Fox’s feature adaptation of teen novel Paper Towns at 3,100; and Weinstein Co.’s boxer film Southpaw in 2,750.
Top screen averages of the weekend included Sony Classics’ Irrational Man at $35K, IFC’s The Stanford Prison Experiment at $18,757; Ant-Man with $14,841; Minions with $11,430; and Eros’ Bajrangi Bhaijaan with $10,200.
Shoutout to A24’s documentary Amy which is showing a fantastic fold of -38% in its third frame with $1.1M at 435 locations with a cume of $4.1M. Solid numbers for a feature doc.
The top 20 films per Rentrak Threatrical for the weekend of July 17-19:
1). Ant-Man (DIS), 3,856 theaters / 3-day cume: $57.2M / Per screen average: $14,841 /Wk 1
2). Minions (UNI), 4311 theaters (+10)/3-day cume: $49.3M (-57%)/Per screen: $11,430 /Total Cume: $215.8M / Wk 2
3). Trainwreck (UNI), 3,158 theaters/ 3-day cume: $30.1M / Per screen: $9,530 / Wk 1
4). Inside Out (DIS), 3,263 theaters (-381)/ 3-day cume: $11.5M (-35%) / Per screen: $3,538 / Total cume: $306.2M/ Wk 5
5). Jurassic World (UNI), 3,117 theaters (-324) / 3-day cume: $11.45M (-37%) / Per screen: $3,675 / Total cume: $611.2M/ Wk 6
6). Terminator: Genisys (PAR), 2,814 theaters (-969) / 3-day cume: $5.4M (-61%) / Per screen: $1,920 / Total cume: $80.6M/ Wk 3
7). Magic Mike XXL (WB), 2,577 theaters (-799)/ 3-day cume: $4.4M (-54%) / Per screen: $1,726 / Total cume: $58.6M/ Wk 3
8). The Gallows (WB), 2,720 theaters (0) / 3-day cume: $4M (-59%) / Per screen: $1,475 / Total cume: $18M /Wk 2
9). Bajrangi Bhaijaan (ERO), 257 theaters / 3-day cume: $2.62M / Per screen: $10,200 / Wk 1
10). Ted 2 (UNI), 1,582 theaters (-589)/ 3-day cume: $2.6M (-54%)/ Per screen: $1,645 / Total cume: $77.4M /Wk 4
11). Mr. Holmes (RSA), 361 theaters / 3-day cume: $2.4M / Per screen: $6,745 / Wk 1
12). Self/Less (FOC), 2,353 theaters (0)/ 3-day cume: $2.3M (-58%) / Per screen: $964 / Total Cume: $10.3M / Wk 2
13). Max (WB), 1,508 theaters (-580)/ 3-day cume: $1.9M (-46%)/ Per screen: $1,268 / Total Cume: $37.9M / Wk 4
14). Spy (FOX), 939 theaters (-518)/ 3-day cume: $1.5M (-51%) / Per screen: $1,604 / Total Cume: $106.6M / Wk 7
15). Amy (A24), 435 theaters (+94) /3-day cume: $1.1M (-38%)/ Per screen: $2,552 / Total cume: $4.2M/ Wk 3
16). Baahubali (Telugu) (BSKY), 160 theaters (-10)/ 3-day cume: $1M (-67%)/ Per screen: $6,343 / Total Cume: $6.1M / Wk 2
17). San Andreas (WB), 402 theaters (-354)/ 3-day cume: $590K (-52%) / Per screen: $1,467 / Total Cume: $151.2M / Wk 8
18). Avengers: Age Of Ultron (DIS), 292 theaters (-46)/ 3-day cume: $468K (+3%)/ Per screen: $1,603 / Total Cume: $456M / Wk 12
19). Mad Max: Fury Road (WB), 268 theaters (-70)/ 3-day cume: $384K (-38%)/ Per screen: $1,434 / Total Cume: $151M / Wk 10
20). Dope (OPRD), 221 theaters (-159)/ 3-day cume: $297K (-52%)/ Per screen: $1,345 / Total Cume: $16.1M / Wk 5
Notables:
Irrational Man (SPC), 5 theaters /3-day cume: $175K / Per screen avg: $35,062/ Wk 1
Northern Limit Line (WLGO), 13 theaters /3-day cume: $108K / Per screen: $8,327 / Wk 1
The Stanford Prison Experiment (IFC), 2 theaters / 3-day cume: $38K / Per screen: $18,757/Wk 1
The Look Of Silence (DF), 1 theaters /3-day cume: $6,616/ Wk 1
Court (ZEIT), 1 theaters /3-day cume: $4,806 / Wk 1
Alleluia (MBF), 2 theaters /3-day cume: $2,712 / Per screen: $1,356 / Wk 1
Jellyfish Eyes (JANUS), 1 theaters /3-day cume: $1,541/Total Cume: $5,532 / Wk 1
Fidelio: Alice’s Odyssey (FR), 1 theaters /3-day cume: $454 / Wk 1
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