Monday Update: Disney’s Tomorrowland was able to hold off Universal’s Pitch Perfect 2 in a close race for first place over the holiday weekend with an estimated four-day debut of $41.74 million. The Brad Bird directed sci-fi family film starring George Clooney and Britt Robertson opened on the very low end of pre-release expectations. Despite opening on the lower end of expectations, the film’s debut was an underwhelming one, especially given the film’s large price tag and Memorial Day weekend release date. The four-day start of Tomorrowland was a slim 3 percent ahead of the $40.42 million four-day take of 2011’sSuper 8. The revised three-day estimate for Tomorrowland stands at $32.97 million. That gives the film an estimated four-day to three-day ratio of 1.27 to 1. Tomorrowland received a modest B rating on CinemaScore.
On the heels of last weekend’s break-out start, Pitch Perfect 2 experienced a respectable second weekend hold this weekend with an estimated four-day take of $38.54 million. The successful musical comedy sequel starring Anna Kendrick was down 44 percent from last weekend’s three-day debut. Pitch Perfect 2 zoomed past the $100 million domestic mark this weekend and has grossed a stronger than expected $126.02 million in eleven days. That places the film an impressive 35 percent ahead of the $93.16 million eleven-day gross of last year’s Neighbors.
Warner’s Mad Max: Fury Road placed in third with an estimated four-day take of $32.10 million. The critically acclaimed action film starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron was down 29 percent from last weekend’s three-day start. Mad Max: Fury Road held up nicely for a high-profile action film in its second weekend of release. The film has grossed $95.53 million in eleven days. That is on the high end of expectations and places the film 4 percent ahead of the $91.92 million eleven-day take of 2012’s Prometheus. The revised three-day estimate for Mad Max: Fury Road is $24.82 million.
Avengers: Age of Ultron claimed fourth place with an estimated four-day take of $27.81 million. In the process, the blockbuster superhero sequel from Disney and Marvel surpassed the $400 million domestic mark this weekend. Avengers: Age of Ultron was down 28 percent from last weekend and has grossed $410.98 million in 25 days. The film is currently running 22 percent behind the $523.91 million 25-day take of 2012’s Marvel’s The Avengers and 10 percent ahead of the $372.78 million 25-day gross of 2013’s Iron Man 3. The revised three-day estimate for Avengers: Age of Ultron is $21.69 million.
Poltergeist rounded out the weekend’s top five with an estimated four-day start of $26.50 million. The PG-13 rated horror remake from Fox and MGM debuted in line with its wide ranging expectations and was off to a solid start with its modest price tag in mind. The four-day take for Poltergeist was 4 percent behind the $27.48 million four-day start of 2013’s Evil Dead. The revised three-day estimate for Poltergeist stands at $22.60 million. That places the film’s estimated four-day to three-day ratio at a front-loaded 1.17 to 1.Poltergeist was soft on CinemaScore with a C+ rating, which is a very common occurrence for a horror film.
Sunday Update: Disney reports Tomorrowland posted a solid 22 percent increase from opening day to $11.84 million on Saturday. They estimate this will give the film the weekend edge for first place with $32.159 million for the three-day frame, and $40.707 million over the four-day weekend. IMAX receipts will account for an estimated $5 million of the four-day opening, while Disney reports a near-even split in audience genders. 61 percent of the audience were adults, while 30 percent were families, and 9 percent were teenagers.
Universal reports that Pitch Perfect 2 increased 14 percent from Friday to earn an estimated $11.1 million on Saturday. The studio estimates the smash hit sequel will tally $30.3 million for a second place finish over the three-day frame, giving it $117.8 million in the bank through the end of Sunday. The studio also projects a $37.9 million four-day extended weekend.
George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road jumped 33 percent from Friday to earn an estimated $9.01 million yesterday. From there, Warner Bros. estimates a three-day haul of $23.885 million, which would give it $87.315 million in total through the end of Sunday. The studio did not provide a four-day weekend estimate at the time of this story’s publishing, but BoxOffice projects that figure will land around $29.7 million.
Avengers: Age of Ultron moved up to fourth place as it added another $8.31 million on Saturday. Disney estimates the Marvel sequel will tally $20.895 million for the three-day weekend, giving it $404.065 million in the domestic bank through Sunday’s end. The studio projects $26.789 million for the four-day frame.
Fox and MGM’s Poltergeist remake slid 21 percent from opening day to $7.375 million as it capped off the top five on Saturday. The studios’ official estimate for the three-day weekend is $23.0 million, although they did not provide a four-day projection at the time of publishing. BoxOffice’s four-day projection is $28.2 million.
Meanwhile, Far From the Madding Crowd jumped 45 percent from Friday’s gross to $0.883 million from 865 locations on Saturday. Fox’s three-day estimate is $2.28 million.
Check back tomorrow for updated three-day and four-day estimates from the studios.
Studio Weekend Estimates
1. Tomorrowland ($32.16 million 3-day / $40.71 million 4-day)
2. Pitch Perfect 2 ($30.3 million / $37.9 million)
3. Mad Max: Fury Road ($23.9 million / $29.7 million*)
4. Poltergeist ($23.0 million / $28.2 million*)
5. Avengers: Age of Ultron ($20.9 million / $26.8 million)
6. Hot Pursuit ($3.48 million / $4.2 million*)
7. Far from the Madding Crowd ($2.28 million / $3.0 million*)
8. Furious 7 ($2.1 million / $2.6 million)
9. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 ($1.755 million / $2.225 million)
10. Home ($1.68 million / $2.25 million*)
11. The Age of Adaline ($1.45 million / $1.86 million*)
* = denotes BoxOffice’s projection
Saturday Update: Disney’s Tomorrowland opened in first place yesterday with $9.737 million. The latest outing from respected filmmaker Brad Bird will likely concede to Pitch Perfect 2 for the weekend, though.Tomorrowland‘s opening day was notably lower than Disney’s own Prince of Persia adaptation, which opened to a $10.21 million first day during Memorial Weekend back in 2010. Reviews are also in the disappointing category with a 49 percent score from critics, while word of mouth appears mixed thanks to a 64 percent audience score as of this morning. It remains to be seen whether Disney’s core young/family audience turn out over the weekend, but for now, we’re projecting a $30.9 million three-day weekend and $38 million four-day weekend for a second place opening overall.
Universal reports Pitch Perfect 2 was off 65 percent from its opening day last week to $9.7 million yesterday in second place on Friday. That gives the smash comedy sequel a domestic total of $97.2 million through eight days of play — 31 percent ahead of the studio’s Neighbors last year. Universal projects a $32.9 million three-day haul and $41.1 million four-day frame, which would impressively give it first place on both counts for a second straight week.
Fox and MGM’s Poltergeist remake also fell below expectations yesterday with a $9.35 million bow in third place. That’s lower than the Evil Dead remake’s $11.9 million first day in 2013, and the outlook isn’t encouraging with the film’s 37 percent score among critics and 35 percent among audiences. BoxOffice projects a $23.8 million three-day frame and $29.2 million four-day for a fourth place finish.
Warner Bros.’ Mad Max: Fury Road took in $6.745 million to begin its second frame, down 59 percent from opening day last week. That Friday-to-Friday drop compares favorably against the likes of Lucy (68 percent) and Prometheus (73 percent) and brings Max‘s total to $70.18 million thus far. The strongly received franchise revival pic looks to earn $24 million over the three-day and $29.9 million over the four-day frame.
Meanwhile, Avengers: Age of Ultron pulled $5.36 million yesterday for a 46 percent week-to-week decline. Marvel’s latest blockbuster has tallied $388.53 million domestically through 22 days of play, keeping it on its previous pace between the first Avengers and Iron Man 3. BoxOffice projects $20.1 million for the three-day and $25.7 million for the four-day.
Expanding into semi-wide release in 865 locations, Far from the Madding Crowd brought in $0.61 million yesterday, giving it $3.77 million in the bank so far. BoxOffice projects a $2.2 million three-day and $2.9 million four-day.
Check BoxOffice on Sunday for official weekend estimates from the studios.
3-Day and 4-Day Projections
1. Pitch Perfect 2 ($32.9 million / $41.1 million)
2. Tomorrowland ($30.9 million / $38 million)
3. Mad Max: Fury Road ($24 million / $29.9 million)
4. Poltergeist ($23.8 million / $29.2 million)
5. Avengers: Age of Ultron ($20.1 million / $25.7 million)
6. Hot Pursuit ($3.2 million / $3.9 million)
7. Far from the Madding Crowd ($2.2 million / $2.9 million)
8. Furious 7 ($2.1 million / $2.6 million)
9. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 ($1.7 million / $2.3 million)
10. Home ($1.5 million / $2 million)
11. The Age of Adaline ($1.4 million / $1.8 million)
Friday Update #2: Sources tell BoxOffice that four-day hauls for this weekend are on pace:
Tomorrowland: $43 million-$44 million
Pitch Perfect 2: $37 million
Poltergeist: $36 million
Mad Max: $35 million
Check back tomorrow for updated projections and official studio numbers.
Friday Update #1: Disney reports this morning that Tomorrowland brought in $725,000 from 701 locations last night with shows starting at 7pm. That gives the Brad Bird sci-fi adventure a per-theater average of $1,077. Given the limited number of theaters showing the film, and the fact that many of them were in premium screen formats, most comparisons for last night’s performance won’t be relevant. That said, the studio notes that with location averages projected out, this would line up with the likes of Interstellar ($2.7 million) or World War Z ($3.6 million).
Meanwhile, Fox and MGM’s Poltergeist remake grossed a healthy $1.4 million from last night’s shows beginning at 8pm in 2,500 theaters. That’s essentially in between the most recent horror flicks to make any sort of mark on the box office, those being last year’s Ouija ($0.91 million) and Annabelle ($2.1 million).
Overall, we continue to expect a competitive weekend ahead. In addition to the high profile new releases,Mad Max: Fury Road and Pitch Perfect 2 are each poised to carry over some of last weekend’s success into Memorial Day weekend, while Avengers: Age of Ultron still remains a relatively strong presence in the market.
More as it comes…
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