‘Toy Story 4’ Holds Down No. 1 With $58M Before ‘Spider-Man’ Mania, ‘Annabelle 3’ Jump Scares To 31M+, ‘Yesterday’ $17M+ – Sunday Final
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4TH Update/Writethru, Sunday AM FINAL after Friday midday and Saturday AM posts: W/chart Moviegoers continued to flock to Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 4, which saw a 23% rise in business on its second Saturday from Friday, with $23M heading toward a slightly higher weekend of $58M ($57.9M per Disney), down only 52%.
Though solid, especially for a sleepy period prior to the anticipated domination of Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: Far From Home (ComScore is seeing $147.6M this weekend for all titles, -17% from a year ago), it’s a take that’s behind the second frames of Incredibles 2 ($80.3M), Finding Dory ($73M), and even Toy Story 3 ($59.3M). Toy Story 4‘s 10-day total of $237M is pacing 4% ahead of Toy Story 3 at the same point in time; that pic ended its run at $415M domestic. ComScore/Screen Engine PostTrak exits remain strong in weekend 2 at 4 1/2 stars each for general audiences (70% of business), kids under 12 and families, (combined 30%).
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Actually, the big news this weekend is overseas, where Spider-Man: Far From Home is killing it in China, Japan, and Hong Kong with an anticipated $111M weekend. By next Sunday, worldwide, it won’t be a shocker if Far From Home has a running total close to or at $500M. Interestingly enough, no previews for Far From From tomorrow night. Deadline recently learned that Spider-Man: Far From Home will start previews at 12 midnight Tuesday.
New Line’s Annabelle Comes Home hit the low end of its tracking, with a Warner Bros.-reported $20.3M weekend and $31.2M in 2nd place. Solid numbers for a film that cost between $27M-$32M before P&A (the pic costs more than the single digit budgets of other Annabelle pics due to VFX and the franchise’s producer fees). However, Annabelle 1 and 2 achieved such sales in the course of a three-day weekend, respectively with $37.1M and $35M.
Here’s the great thing about Annabelle 3, and folks at Warners are very happy: Coming off their $7.1M Wednesday, there was concern that this film was going to arrive below its tracking in the mid $20Ms over five days, and by targeting moviegoers with digital ticket ads throughout the week, Warners hooked Hispanic audiences in. That demo repped 31% of weekend business not far behind Caucasian’s 39% share.
While churning out horror sequels is de rigueur, there should be some concern here on behalf of New Line and Warners about killing the golden goose, much in the way they overdosed on Lego Movie sequels. We had the highest-grossing Conjuring movie of all-time, The Nun, back in early September, followed by The Curse of La Llorona two months ago, which, though not technically part of the series’ canon, sure as hell was marketed and positioned like one, drawing a $26.3M opening and $54.6M final domestic. Annabelle 3 was a cash grab, and there should be a greater concern here by the Burbank lot about protecting and spacing out the franchise, especially in this streaming era (despite the fact that horror stills works on the big screen unlike comedy).
Yes, Annabelle 3 is filling the need for horror fans Independence Day week, but a Conjuring spin-off like this can command more cash when given breathing room on the schedule, and here it is on the heels of Child’s Play, smashing right into A24’s Ari Aster hipster genre pic Midsommar on July 3, and not that far away from Paramount’s alligator movie Crawl on July 12. Apparently Annabelle 3 went here instead of mid-August like Annabelle: Creation to get ahead of all the big July-August tentpoles like Far From, The Lion King and Hobbs and Shaw. Another reason why Annabelle 3 went in this corridor is because the studio had access to more premium large format screens.
The next Conjuring movie is aptly scheduled 16 months from now, in the Post-Labor Day frame of 2020 with Conjuring 3. Still, 2 1/2 stars on PostTrak with a low 43% recommend. The crowd was 52% female and 70% between 18-34 years old, with the single largest quad being 18-24 at 44%. Annabelle 3 played best in in the West and the South. On Wednesday night, Annabelle 3 was graded with a B- CinemaScore, below the previous Annabelle‘s Bs. The PostTrak stars and CinemaScore grade should come as a sign to the studio that they just can’t phone these Conjuring movies in, especially when they’re below the 4 stars racked up by Annabelle: Creation.
Social media entertainment analytics corp RelishMix noticed that the core fans were stoked for Annabelle 3, as the pic had a good social media universe across Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram of 154.4M, not propped by any previous Conjuring title. The pic’s viral video rate was high at 39:1, above the genre’s 25:1. Also, the average daily YouTube views for the film were earning 36.4k a day, again exceeding the genre’s average of 27.7k. Overall, word-of-mouth heading into the weekend was positive. Again, all these stats were prior to PostTrak hitting.
Universal/Working Title’s Yesterday, which cost a reported $26M, took in $17M, ahead of where the studio and industry were seeing it last week between $10M-$14M. Rivals applaud Universal for propelling such an original musical comedy to this place in the sluggish market. Worldwide start was at $24.7M. The UK did $2.8M.
Beamed Universal domestic distribution boss Jim Orr this morning, “Yesterday is exactly what the domestic box office needs right now. A very, smart, original, whimsical romantic comedy that audiences can’t wait to tell their friends and family to come out to theaters and sing along with. I knew Yesterday was always in for the long run, but with these great exits, I’m even more convinced.”
CinemaScore was an A-, while PostTrak exits on Friday remain fantastic for this Richard Curtis-scripted, Danny Boyle-directed Beatles music romance, with 4 1/2 stars and a great 65% recommend. Uni reports 56% females, 75% over 25. Diversity breakdown is 65% Caucasian, 18% Hispanic, 7% African American, 6% Asian.
Friday night PostTrak demos showed women over 25 leading at 41% (they really like the pic at 92% positive), men over 25 at 37%, females under 25 at 13%, and men under 25 having no interest in showing up at 9%.
Universal had several word-of-mouth screenings, and launched this film as the closing night title at the Tribeca Film Festival. The studio also showed off star Himesh Patel’s singing chops at CinemaCon and a recent record release party in Hollywood. However, despite having Cinderella and Baby Driver‘s Lily James in the movie, the pic is packaged and looks like a British indie, and that’s what’s halting a great stampede here. Nonetheless, once people get in the theater, they obviously love the pic’s conceit about a singer who wakes up after an accident to learn that the world has never heard of the Beatles, so he begins to capitalize off their song catalog. Pic played best on the coasts and in the Mid-West.
Really big social media universe here for Yesterday per RelishMix at 217.5M across Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. For context, the 271.5M SMU is substantially larger than the typical comedy’s 67.8M by opening week. “However, keep in mind that Ed Sheeran makes up 31% of the film’s reach himself –more than 67M followers,” says RelishMix. Viral video rate is high at 18:1 off nine clips.
Reports RelishMix further: “Fans of Danny Boyle and thought-provoking, original movie ideas are leading the positive discussion for Yesterday. Many feel that Boyle’s filmography and ability to take unique storylines to the finish line make the trip to theaters worth it. Sure, Yesterday has a pretty British vibe, but the social discussion appears universal in its appeal. Obviously, fans of the Beatles are also chiming in, from younger folks just learning their songs to more distinguished moviegoers who might have even seen the lads perform live back in the day. Regardless of who the fans are, they are all intrigued by the ‘what if’ teased for star Himesh Patel – and the idea of ruining a classic by re-writing it, ‘Hey Dude…'”.
Other notes about this weekend: Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum crosses $300M worldwide, one of the few sequels to actually work at the summer box office, and another big comeback by Keanu Reeves during his post-Matrix career. Also, Disney’s Aladdin is several jumps ahead of the breadline, as the Guy Ritchie-directed movie crosses $300M at the domestic box office; it became his highest-grossing film of his career a few weeks ago. Also, Disney’s re-release of Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame with new footage and a Stan Lee tribute earned $5.5M domestic and $7.5M worldwide for the weekend, raising its running global total to $2.761 billion. The pic remains $26M shy of Avatar‘s all-time global box office record of $2.787 billion, and as we mentioned on Friday, it’s going to take another theatrical re-release of some sort to get the 181-minute running pic past the James Cameron film. Avengers: Endgame‘s re-release in the market is essentially about its connection to Spider-Man: Far From Home. Captain Marvel experienced an extra boost in cash ($17.4M global) in the wake of Endgame’s opening.
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Saturday AM’s chart:
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PREVIOUSLY, Friday 7:28 AM: Universal/Working Title’s Yesterday made $1.25M last night from 7 PM shows at 2,200 theaters. The print count for the Beatles-inspired music romance grows now to 2,603. Pre-weekend projections have the Danny Boyle-directed film between $10M-$14M. We heard late last night that Fandango is seeing brisk sales for the movie.
Yesterday, together with New Line’s Annabelle Comes Home, which earned $3.6M yesterday (-49%) in second place, are trying to get some steam as the second and third choices at the Independence Day week box office before Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: Far From Home comes in and grabs everyone’s money. Annabelle Comes Home is up to $10.8M in its first two days, and it’s pacing 22% behind Blumhouse/Universal’s The First Purge which launched a year ago. That film made $31.2M over five days; Annabelle 3 will make less, between $23M-$25M.
Disney’s Toy Story 4 was No. 1 on Thursday with $11.5M, down 4% from Wednesday, for a first-week total of $179M, 7% ahead of Toy Story 3 (which ended its run at $415M) and 16% behind the first week of Finding Dory (which finaled at $486.3M domestic). Industry estimates figure between $50M-$60M this weekend for the Pixar title.
Yesterday is a different type of romance/musical to peg a comparison on. Yesterday‘s previews are just under the $1.37M earned by British romance pic Me Before You, (which didn’t have any music, but starred Emilia Clarke). That pic saw a $7.8M first Friday (previews repped 18%) and an opening weekend of $18.7M.
Disney’s Aladdin was third yesterday with $1.8M, up 3% from Wednesday, for a five-week running total of $296.5M. The Guy Ritchie-directed pic is definitely clicking past $300M stateside today.
Illumination/Universal’s The Secret Life of Pets 2 grossed $1.4M in fourth place, +4% from Wednesday, for a three week tally of $124.1M.
Sony’s Men in Black: International saw an estimated $1.22M in fifth for a two-week total of $58.4M.
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