Weekend Projections: ‘The Magnificent Seven’ Guns Down Solid $34.5M Debut; ‘Storks’ Delivers Underwhelming $18.5M; ‘Sully’ Set to Add $14M

Saturday Update: Sony reports today that The Magnificent Seven took in an estimated $12.7 million haul on opening day Friday, including Thursday night’s $1.75 million debut. That’s a healthy start for the film that falls within the studio’s expected range ahead of release, although it does fall short of expectations established by stronger pre-release tracking. Modest reviews could partially be to blame for that, but still, this is definitely another success for the resumes of Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, and director Antoine Fuqua. Boxoffice is projecting a $34.5 million opening weekend.

Opening in second place, WB Animation’s Storks similarly came in well under tracking with an opening day of $5.73 million. Despite a near-three month gap since the last major animated family release (The Secret Life of Pets), Storks wasn’t able to take flight at the level of past September releases like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Hotel Transylvania. One reason for the lack of moviegoer interest this weekend could be due to the surging buzz for Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, which is set to bow next week and hopes to capture a similar young audience. For now though, Storks appears poised to pull a disappointing weekend gross around $18.5 million.

Meanwhile, Sully continued its strong run with another $4.16 million earned yesterday, bringing its 15-day total to $82.7 million. Look for a third frame around $14 million.

Our weekend projections based on official studio Friday estimates are below. Updated weekend estimates from the studios will be published on Sunday.

WIDE (1000+)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 The Magnificent Seven (2016) $34,500,000 3,674 $9,390 $34,500,000 1 Sony / Columbia
2 Storks $18,500,000 3,922 $4,717 $18,500,000 1 Warner Bros.
3 Sully $14,000,000 -35% 3,955 430 $3,540 $92,563,447 3 Warner Bros.
4 Bridget Jones’s Baby $4,600,000 -46% 2,930 3 $1,570 $16,537,675 2 Universal
5 Snowden $3,900,000 -51% 2,443 0 $1,596 $14,894,226 2 Open Road
6 Blair Witch $3,800,000 -60% 3,121 0 $1,218 $15,978,695 2 Lionsgate
7 Don’t Breathe $3,700,000 -34% 2,438 -770 $1,518 $81,010,808 5 Sony / TriStar
8 Suicide Squad $3,200,000 -32% 2,172 -568 $1,473 $318,223,343 8 Warner Bros.
9 When the Bough Breaks $2,200,000 -60% 1,444 -802 $1,524 $26,313,349 3 Sony / Screen Gems
10 Kubo and the Two Strings $1,300,000 -49% 1,209 -548 $1,075 $46,151,573 6 Focus
11 Hell or High Water $1,100,000 -47% 1,128 -377 $975 $24,840,427 7 CBS Films / Lionsgate
12 Pete’s Dragon (2016) $1,000,000 -54% 1,230 -718 $813 $74,343,342 7 Disney
13 The Wild Life (2016) $500,000 -82% 1,431 -1062 $349 $7,789,512 3 Lionsgate / Summit

LIMITED (100 — 999)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Bad Moms $1,050,000 -41% 986 -500 $1,065 $111,722,552 9 STX Entertainment
2 The Secret Life of Pets $750,000 -39% 747 -258 $1,004 $364,388,700 12 Universal
3 No Manches Frida $700,000 -46% 416 -40 $1,683 $10,265,221 4 Lionsgate / Pantelion
4 Jason Bourne $570,000 -48% 623 -385 $915 $161,344,540 9 Universal
5 Sausage Party $525,000 -56% 551 -630 $953 $96,346,592 7 Sony / Columbia
6 Hillsong – Let Hope Rise $400,000 -71% 763 -53 $524 $2,083,120 2
7 War Dogs $370,000 -64% 417 -485 $887 $42,470,188 6 Warner Bros.
8 Mechanic: Resurrection $300,000 -63% 398 -560 $754 $20,737,477 5 Lionsgate / Summit
9 The Light Between Oceans $280,000 -64% 416 -717 $673 $11,948,871 4 Disney / DreamWorks
10 Finding Dory $230,000 -21% 197 -95 $1,168 $484,227,686 15 Disney
11 Ice Age: Collision Course $190,000 -20% 198 -41 $960 $63,699,932 10 Fox

PLATFORM (1 — 99)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Queen of Katwe $250,000 52 $4,808 $250,000 1 Disney

Friday Report: Sony reports this morning that The Magnificent Seven scored an estimated $1.75 million from 3,096 locations on Thursday evening. That’s a solid start for Antoine Fuqua’s classic western remake with Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt in key leading roles, a combination that’s expected to draw a wide range of audiences over the weekend.

By comparison, Seven came in 30 percent ahead of Sully‘s $1.35 million Thursday take two weeks ago, 17 percent ahead of The Equalizer‘s $1.5 million two Septembers ago, and 30 percent behind The Martian‘s $2.5 million before the first weekend of October last year. Although a rush of older audiences that don’t typically show up on Thursdays could still be a swaying factor with this film, our initial weekend projections now stand lower than our most recent forecast of $51 million published on Wednesday. If the film follows the path of Sully from here, a weekend in the realm of $45 million would come to pass. That being said, middling reviews could be another component to sway extrapolations.

Unfortunately, no early reports for Storks were available at the time of this article’s publishing.

UPDATE: Storks reportedly earned $435,000 last night, a very healthy start for the WB animated title. That comes in about 34 percent below Home‘s $650,000 in March 2015, which is within our previously expected range.

Official Friday estimates and weekend projections will be posted on Saturday morning.

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