Weekend Wrap-Up: Fanboys Propel Fault to the Top
June 9, 2014
As expected, The Fault in Our Stars won the box office race this past weekend, while its opening weekend was on the very high end of expectations. (It did so with a surprisingly strong opening Friday, but more on that later.) The other wide release of the week, Edge of Tomorrow, did about as well as expected, which is to say it really struggled compared to its production budget. Overall, the box took in $163 million, which is 2% lower than last weekend. On the other hand, it is 9% higher than the same weekend last year, which is the far more important number. Year-to-date, 2014 has pulled in $4.38 billion, putting it 3.3% ahead of last year's pace of $4.24 billion. This is still a good margin and hopefully it will last.
The Fault in Our Stars opened in first place with $48.00 million, which is on the very high end of expectations. However, if you look at its daily numbers, a rather interesting picture emerges. The film earned $26.06 million during its Thursday prestige opening / Friday debut. It only made $22 million the rest of the weekend. Its internal multiplier was just 1.84, which is insanely low for this type of film and shows John Green has a following that is stronger than most things we normally associate with Fanboys / Fangirls. In fact, I think it think it is safe to say this Fanboy Effect led to an additional $15 million earned on Friday and we should take that into account going forward. For instance, despite earned 82% positive reviews, it will likely fall to just $16 million to $18 million next weekend. Granted, that's still more than it cost to make, so the studio is likely super happy and will very likely be looking to adapt more John Green novels.
Maleficent held on even better than expected falling just 51% to $34.33 million over the past three days for a total of $128.18 million after ten. At this pace, it has a shot at $200 million, although the studio might need to give it a push at the end. On the positive side, there isn't really any direct competition for a while, so while the reviews are merely mixed, it should last a long time.
Edge of Tomorrow opened in third place with $28.76 million, which is nearly spot on with expectations. Because the film's reviews are 90% positive and it isn't based on a long-running franchise, it should hold on better than most of the number one releases have this summer. However, $100 million is very likely out of the question, so the studio will see this movie as a box office disappointment. It is performing better internationally, but it is too soon to tell if it will break even or not.
X-Men: Days of Future Past matched predictions (nearly) perfectly with $15.15 million over the weekend for a total of $189.56 million after three weeks of release. At this pace, the film will hit $200 million by this time next week.
A Million Ways to Die in the West rounded out the top five with $7.35 million over the weekend for a total of $30.34 million after two. A lot of people thought this film would open with more than $30 million, so this is a disappointing. That said, the film only cost $40 million to make and it will at least match that domestically and do the same internationally, so it could break even sometime on the home market.
One final note, Captain America: The Winter Soldier finally overtook The LEGO movie for biggest hit of the year, albeit by less than $10,000 at just over $255.86 million to just under $255.86 million.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Edge of Tomorrow, Maleficent, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Lego Movie, X-Men: Days of Future Past, A Million Ways to Die in The West, The Fault in Our Stars, John Green