Weekend Wrap-Up: Mama Mia!
January 22, 2013
Mama easily won the box office race over the Martin Luther King, Jr. long weekend, with Zero Dark Thirty earning a solid second place. Unfortunately, the other two new releases, Broken City and The Last Stand, were weak and weaker. The overall box office was on par with last week, down less than 1% to $139 million, over the three-day weekend. This was 6% higher than the same weekend last year, over the same period. Adding on Monday, and the total weekend was $165 million, or about 1% higher than last year. It is still way too early to pay real attention to the year-to-date stats, but 2013 is ahead of 2012 by a 7.0% margin at $658 million to $615 million.
Recently, horror films have had success early in the year, and Mama continued that trend with a first place, $28.40 million over three days and $32.15 million when you include Monday. It earned more over three days than most people thought it would earn over four days. In fact, it did so by a $10 million margin. This genre tends to have pretty weak legs, but the reviews are positive, so perhaps it will perform better than average. Even if it doesn't, it has already made enough to completely pay for its $15 million production budget, so it is well on its way to profitability.
Zero Dark Thirty was a distant second place with $15.80 million / $18.60 million over the weekend for a total of $56.95 million. This is almost perfectly inline with expectations, and with stellar reviews and the Oscars ahead, it is on pace to reach $100 million, assuming it wins some Oscars.
Silver Linings Playbook's wide expansion was a little better than expected, as it earned third place with $10.75 million / $12.74 million over the weekend for a running tally of $57.70 million. Like the previous film, this one has amazing reviews and Awards Season success, so it might have the legs needed to get to $100 million, with some Oscar wins.
Gangster Squad was a surprise entrant in the top five, but it got there due to weak new releases. The film fell 49% during the three-day portion of the weekend to $8.64 million, while its four-day box office number was $10.13 million. So far, the film has made $33.24 million and it will end up a middling hit.
A Haunted House added $8.17 million / $9.47 million over the weekend for a total of $31.09 million after two. It was a disaster with critics, but its has earned enough that it will break even sooner rather than later.
Broken City failed to win over critics and moviegoers were no more generous. The film only managed sixth place with $8.27 million / $9.46 million during its opening weekend. It will likely quickly fall after this and be forgotten in a month.
The Last Stand actually earned mostly positive reviews, but it bombed with just $6.28 million / $7.21 million. That was barely enough for tenth place. Perhaps it will be discovered by more on the home market.
There were a couple milestones over the weekend. Skyfall reached $300 million on Friday, its 72nd day of release. Meanwhile, Life of Pi reached $100 million on Monday, its 62nd day of release.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Life of Pi, Skyfall, Zero Dark Thirty, Mama, The Last Stand, Gangster Squad, Broken City, Silver Linings Playbook, A Haunted House