Weekend Wrap-Up: Spidey Strong, but not Amazing
May 6, 2014
The summer blockbuster season has begun and it started on a mixed note. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 easily earned first place with more than $90 million. An opening of more than $90 million isn't a bad number, but it is the lowest opening three-day weekend for a Friday debut in the franchise. Worse still, the overall box office was just $153 million, which is substantially lower than last year's number one film, Iron Man 3, opened with. $153 million is 32% higher than last weekend, but the start of summer should be bigger than that. It is also 30% lower than the same weekend last year. You usually only see a decline that sharp when there's a misalignment in a holiday weekend. Granted, 2014 is still ahead of 2013 by a large margin (8.6% or $3.26 billion to $3.01 billion) so we don't have to worry about 2014 losing that lead any time soon. This is just not a great way to start the summer blockbuster season.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opened in first place with $91.61 million, more than five times the second place film. This is more than the previous film's three-day opening weekend, but that film opened in the middle of the week, so it is not a fair comparison. It is the lowest three-day opening weekend for a film in the franchise that opened on a Friday. Worse still, its reviews are also the worst in the franchise and its legs will likely be shorter than average. It is still on pace to hit $250 million, or come close, but that will change if it collapses next weekend.
The Other Woman fell to second place with $14.41 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $47.55 million, which is already more than it cost to make. Given its sophomore stint result, it should get to $75 million before its done. If it can match that internationally, or at least come relatively close, then it will break even before it reaches the home market.
Heaven is for Real remained in third place with $8.60 million over the weekend for a running tally of $65.50 million. I suspect it has broken even; it depends on if the studio decided to boost its P&A budget after its strong start. Spending an extra few million dollars to get an extra $10 million in theaters and maybe another million units sold on the home market is a wise business move.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier matched expectations (nearly) perfectly with $7.77 million over the weekend for a total of $237.16 million after a month of release. It is still at a saturation level theater count and its per theater average is still good, so it should stick around long enough to reach $250 million domestically.
Rio 2 rounded out the top five with $7.71 million over the weekend, which pushed its running tally past the century mark to $106.58 million. It will finished behind its predecessor, but it will break even likely before it reaches the home market.
Looking in on the sophomore class, we find Brick Mansions down in sixth place with $3.69 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $15.63 million. This represents a 61% decline and it is likely the film will suffer a large drop in its theater count on Friday. Likewise, The Quiet Ones will also see its theater count decline this Friday. Over the weekend, it added $2.03 million to its running tally, which is now just $6.79 million. It only dropped by 48%, but that's far too little, far too late for a film that opened below the Mendoza Line.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Rio 2, The Quiet Ones, Heaven is for Real, The Other Woman, Brick Mansions, Spider-Man