Weekend Wrap-Up: Deed has a Good Opening, but Box Office is still Bad
September 16, 2014
No Good Deed led the box office this weekend with a surprisingly robust opening of $24.25 million. This was more than double last week's number one movie, Guardians of the Galaxy. Dolphin Tale 2 also topped last week's number one film, even though it didn't live up to expectations. Overall, the box office pulled in $90 million, which was 37% more than last weekend. Unfortunately, this was still 13% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2014 has pulled in $7.26 billion, which isn't an insignificant amount. However, it is 5.2% or nearly $400 million behind last year's pace. 2014 still has a chance to catch up to last year, but the odds of it doing so are getting slimmer and slimmer each week.
After the studio announced it was canceling all of the press screenings for No Good Deed and the film was opening in barely more than 2,000 theaters, it was not overly pessimistic to think it would bomb. However, it earned a first place with a surprisingly strong debut of $24.25 million. On the other hand, its reviews are terrible and that appears to have had an effect on its internal multiplier. Next week is busier and I suspect this film will take a hit at the box office.
Dolphin Tale 2 failed to live up to expectations, or its predecessor, with an opening of $15.87 million. This isn't a bad result and with good reviews and no direct competition this coming weekend, it should hold on well. It will match its production budget by the end of the month and will break even sometime on the home market.
Guardians of the Galaxy fell out of first place with $8.10 million over the weekend for a total of $305.99 million after 45 days of release. It hit the $300 million milestone on its 44th day of release, which is far from the record, but considering so few people thought the film would reach $200 million, this is a fantastic result.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles held on better than expected with $4.86 million over the weekend for a total of $181.10 million after six weeks of release. I still don't think it will reach $200 million, but this result makes getting to that milestone a little more likely.
Let's Be Cops rounded out the top five with $4.38 million over the weekend for a total of $73.05 million after just over a month of release. There's a chance it has broken even just on its domestic numbers. It will certainly break even before it reaches the home market.
The Drop earned sixth place with $4.10 million during its opening weekend. Its reviews were excellent, but it was playing in so many theaters that I thought it would struggle more than this. Granted, a per theater average of $5,074 isn't amazing, but given the circumstances, the studio should be happy.
This did push If I Stay into seventh place with $3.94 million over the weekend for a total of $44.82 million. It is on pace to reach $50 million, which is enough to make it a solid midlevel hit. It only cost $11 million to make and while it might have cost twice that to advertise, it has already made enough worldwide that it has either broken even or will do so very quickly.
The Identical was the only new release last weekend and it completely collapsed during its sophomore stint. It plummeted 75% to just $402,000 over the weekend for a total of $2.58 million after ten days of release. Had it earned this much during its opening day, it still would have struggled at the box office.
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Filed under: Weekend Estimates, If I Stay, Guardians of the Galaxy, No Good Deed, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Dolphin Tale 2, Let’s Be Cops, The Drop, The Identical