Weekend Estimates: War Room Stays Strong to Top Chart

September 6, 2015

War Room

Summer, 2015 comes to a sedate finish this weekend, with The Transporter Refueled falling flat, and War Room moving to the top of the chart in its second weekend in release. The faith-based drama is expected to earn $9.3 million for the three-day portion of the weekend, comfortably clear of Straight Outta Compton’s $8.8 million in its fourth weekend. War Room will top the chart while playing in only 1,526 theaters, the fewest theaters for a number one film since the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour topped the chart from 683 theaters back in 2008 (see fewest theaters for number one movie since 2000).

The weekend’s top debutant is A Walk in the Woods, with a solid $8.2 million Friday–Sunday, after picking up $2 million on Wednesday and Thursday. The adventure/drama, which benefited from its appeal to a slightly older crowd, is the first wide release for Broad Green Pictures, and marks a good start for the distributor.

The Transporter Refueled marks a less healthy start for distributor RED, with just $7.1 million earned from a massive rollout in 3,434 venues. There’s not much positive to say about that start, although the film did scrape over the $2,000 theater average, and thereby avoided total humiliation.

On a much more positive note, Un gallo con muchos huevos is set to debut with $3.4 million from just 395 theaters for an unexpected place in the top ten. The Spanish-language film will be appearing in more theaters with an English-language version in a few weeks, and it’ll be interesting to see how successfully it will cross over with broader audiences.

In really limited release, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of a Revolution has the best theater average for the weekend with a projected $20,215 in a single New York theater. The PBS documentary will be touring the country over the next few weeks.

- Weekend Estimates
- Fewest theaters for number one movie since 2000

Bruce Nash,

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, A Walk in the Woods, Straight Outta Compton, The Transporter Refueled, War Room, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Un gallo con muchos huevos