This week’s report takes a look at three wide releases currently scheduled for March 23:
PROS:
- Pacific Rim: Uprising boasts John Boyega taking over the lead role and fresh off his newfound fame from the Star Wars franchise. Although fan favorite and recent Oscar nominee Guillermo del Toro isn’t returning to direct, Steven S. DeKnight takes the reigns following his successful work on Marvel’s Daredevil Netflix series. Early social buzz is generally positive among die hard fans of the 2013 original film.
- Sherlock Gnomes enters a spring market largely devoid of obvious animated box office hits for families and young kids. Initial trailers are encouraging, and staying power should be expected until direct competition arrives in early summer.
- Midnight Sun will hope to court teen date night crowds with Bella Thorne and Patrick Schwarzenegger in the lead roles.
CONS:
- The original Pacific Rim was a modest box office player in North America, and the nearly five-year wait may prove too long for Uprising to fully capitalize on the heat from that film’s fan support. Opening in between Tomb Raider and Ready Player One will likewise cut into its target audience, but this is ultimately a sequel made more for overseas audiences, where the original film was a sizable hit — particularly in China.
- Coming seven years after the surprise hit that was Gnomeo & Juliet, it may similarly be too late for Sherlock Gnomes to benefit from its predecessor’s success in the fullest possible way.
- Open Road’s limited box office history has us conservative with Midnight Sun, with expectations similar to that of last year’s Before I Fall.
This Week’s Other Notes
- As noted in our report on Thursday, traditional tracking has chimed in for the first time on Black Panther. With early surveys showing interest metrics ahead of Deadpool and other similar titles, combined with strong social media numbers and presales reports, our forecasts continue to increase for the anticipated Disney/Marvel release.
- Unsane, also slated to open March 23, is excluded from the forecast until marketing begins and a true wide release is confirmed.
The 8-Week Forecast:
| Release Date | Title | 3-Day Wide Opening | % Chg from Last Week | Domestic Total | % Chg from Last Week | Estimated Location Count | Distributor |
| 2/2/2018 | Winchester | $11,500,000 | $31,000,000 | 2,300 | Lionsgate / CBS Films | ||
| 2/9/2018 | The 15:17 to Paris | $15,000,000 | $47,000,000 | 3,000 | Warner Bros. | ||
| 2/9/2018 | Fifty Shades Freed | $40,000,000 | $100,000,000 | 3,700 | Universal | ||
| 2/9/2018 | Peter Rabbit | $19,000,000 | $78,000,000 | 3,500 | Sony / Columbia | ||
| 2/16/2018 | Black Panther | $133,000,000 | 11% | $371,000,000 | 11% | Disney | |
| 2/16/2018 | Early Man | $5,000,000 | 25% | $25,000,000 | 25% | Lionsgate / Summit | |
| 2/16/2018 | Samson | $3,500,000 | $13,000,000 | Pure Flix | |||
| 2/23/2018 | Annihilation | $15,000,000 | $50,000,000 | Paramount | |||
| 2/23/2018 | Every Day | n/a | n/a | Orion | |||
| 2/23/2018 | Game Night | $17,000,000 | $55,000,000 | Warner Bros. | |||
| 3/2/2018 | Death Wish | $13,500,000 | $34,000,000 | Annapurna / MGM | |||
| 3/2/2018 | Red Sparrow | $26,000,000 | $84,000,000 | Fox | |||
| 3/9/2018 | Gringo | $3,000,000 | $7,500,000 | STXfilms | |||
| 3/9/2018 | The Hurricane Heist | n/a | n/a | Entertainment Studios | |||
| 3/9/2018 | Strangers: Prey at Night | $4,000,000 | $8,500,000 | Aviron | |||
| 3/9/2018 | A Wrinkle In Time | $52,000,000 | $154,000,000 | Disney | |||
| 3/16/2018 | Love, Simon | $13,000,000 | $40,000,000 | Fox | |||
| 3/16/2018 | Tomb Raider | $22,000,000 | $55,000,000 | Warner Bros. | |||
| 3/16/2018 | Untitled A24 Horror | n/a | n/a | A24 | |||
| 3/23/2018 | Midnight Sun | $6,000,000 | NEW | $15,000,000 | NEW | Open Road | |
| 3/23/2018 | Pacific Rim Uprising | $20,000,000 | NEW | $49,000,000 | NEW | Universal | |
| 3/23/2018 | Sherlock Gnomes | $12,000,000 | NEW | $45,000,000 | NEW | Paramount | |
| 3/23/2018 | Unsane | n/a | NEW | n/a | NEW | Bleecker Street |
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