MLK Weekend Projections: ‘Hidden Figures’ Reigns ($18.9M 3-day/$22.3M 4-day); ‘La La Land’ Expands ($14M/$17M); ‘Patriots Day’ Healthy ($12.7M/$15M); ‘Sing’ & ‘Rogue One’ Outshine Other Newcomers

Saturday Update: One of the most jam-packed weekends in recent memory boasted a few surprises and otherwise expected results on Friday. Hidden Figures again claimed the top spot with $5.525 million as it expanded to 3,286 locations after last week’s strong debut. The four-day MLK weekend and strong word of mouth should continue to propel it toward victory over the three- and four-day frames with a respective $18.9 million and $22.3 million — projections based on the studio’s Friday estimate.

The Bye Bye Man opened to a healthy $5.43 million yesterday, though notably boosted by horror fans turning out for “Friday the 13th.” We’re expecting a weekend split of $11.5 million/$12.5 million.

Patriots Day expanded into wide release with $4.13 million yesterday, somewhat below our pre-release forecast but still within a solid range for success ahead with great word of mouth behind it. Look for a weekend split around $12.7 million/$15 million.

Meanwhile, La La Land continues to grow its momentum following its record seven Golden Globe wins last weekend. The awards front-runner added $4.1 million yesterday after expanding to 1,848 theaters, heading toward a weekend of $14 million/$17 million.

Rogue One topped off the top five with another $3.244 million yesterday as it looks to cross the $500 million domestic benchmark by the end of the holiday frame. Its weekend split should ring up close to $13.5 million/$16.9 million.

Sleepless rang up a modest $3.015 million yesterday, eyeing $8.2 million/$9.6 million for the weekend; Monster Trucks launched with $2.6 million and should take in around $10.5 million/$14.1 million this weekend (also ahead of our pre-release tracking, but still an unfortunately slow start for the troubled release); and Live By Night came in well below our already conservative expectations with $1.95 million in its wide expansion yesterday, now eyeing a weekend of $5.5 million/$6.4 million.

Last but not least, Martin Scorsese’s Silence posted $660,000 from 747 locations yesterday. It should net around $2.1 million/$2.6 million.

Our key three-day weekend projections are below. Three-day studio projections will be published tomorrow, with four-day projections on Monday and actuals on Tuesday.

1 Hidden Figures $18,900,000 -17% 3,286 815 $5,752 $53,283,100 4 Fox
2 La La Land $14,000,000 38% 1,848 333 $7,576 $73,581,569 6 Lionsgate / Summit
3 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story $13,500,000 -39% 3,162 -995 $4,269 $498,591,734 5 Disney
4 Sing (2016) $13,000,000 -37% 3,693 -262 $3,520 $232,215,520 4 Universal
5 Patriots Day $12,700,000 12018% 3,120 3113 $4,071 $13,624,082 4 CBS Films / Lionsgate
6 The Bye Bye Man $11,500,000 2,220 $5,180 $11,500,000 1 STX Entertainment
7 Monster Trucks $10,600,000 3,119 $3,399 $10,600,000 1 Paramount
8 Sleepless $8,200,000 1,803 $4,548 $8,200,000 1 Open Road
9 Underworld: Blood Wars $5,700,000 -58% 3,070 0 $1,857 $23,816,118 2 Sony / Screen Gems
10 Live By Night $5,500,000 20329% 2,822 2818 $1,949 $5,685,644 4 Warner Bros.
11 Passengers $5,300,000 -40% 2,447 -953 $2,166 $89,679,731 4 Sony / Columbia
12 Moana $3,700,000 -42% 1,847 -702 $2,003 $231,006,125 8 Disney
13 Why Him? $3,500,000 -49% 1,977 -927 $1,770 $55,333,047 4 Fox
14 Fences $2,800,000 -42% 1,342 -1026 $2,086 $45,932,362 5 Paramount

LIMITED (100 — 999)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Lion $2,200,000 6% 575 -25 $3,826 $13,242,604 8 Weinstein Company
2 Silence $2,100,000 336% 747 696 $2,811 $3,181,764 4 Paramount
3 Assassin’s Creed $1,450,000 -65% 968 -1674 $1,498 $52,953,641 4 Fox
4 Jackie $670,000 -36% 353 0 $1,898 $10,423,089 7 Fox Searchlight
5 Trolls $350,000 -21% 262 -70 $1,336 $151,752,691 11 Fox / DreamWorks Animation
6 OK Jaanu $260,000 121 $2,149 $260,000 1 FIP

===

Friday Update: Patriots Day began its nationwide expansion last night with an estimated $560,000. That comes in below the $860,000 of Deepwater Horizon, although the extended holiday frame this weekend could render that a somewhat apples-to-oranges comparison. Positive reviews and its healthy platform run point to a very successful weekend ahead.

Sleepless opened to $410,000 last night, just ahead of The Bye Bye Man which posted $400,000. By comparison for the latter film, The Forest grabbed $520,000 when it debuted one week before MLK weekend in January last year.

Meanwhile, Live By Night scored $325,000 in its expansion last night, coming short of Ben Affleck’s most recent Thursday night launch — The Accountant ($1.35 million).

No Thursday night opening shows were held for Monster Trucks or Silence (which is expanding to 747 locations). For the weekend, though, we continue to expect a close race at the top between Hidden Figures and Patriots Day, with the former of the two likely winning out over the four-day period. La La LandSing, and Rogue One will be in the thick of things as well.

We’ll update with weekend projections based on studio Friday estimates on Saturday morning.