Weekend Wrap-Up: Box Office Assassinated
August 25, 2015
It was an ugly weekend, for the most part. Straight Outta Compton fell about as fast as expected, but that was more than enough to dominate the new releases and push it past an important milestone. On the other hand, the biggest new release, Sinister 2, only managed third place, while the less said about Hitman: Agent 47 and American Ultra, the better. Overall, the box office fell 27% to $107 million. Like I said on Friday, summer is most definitely over. Worse still, this figure is 7.3% lower than the same weekend last year. Had all three new releases matched expectations, the box office would have practically matched last year's pace. Year-to-date, 2015 has pulled in $7.26 billion, which is 5.3% head of 2014's running tally of $6.90 billion.
Straight Outta Compton fell 56% to $26.36 million over the weekend for a total of $111.09 million after ten days of release. On Saturday, it became the 19th film released in 2015 to reach the $100 million mark, which is yet another reason for Universal to celebrate this year. It wasn't the only reason for Universal to celebrate this weekend.
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation remained in second place with $11.45 million over the weekend for a four-week total of $157.51 million. This is already more than it cost to make and the film should remain in theaters long enough to reach $180 million to $190 million. This would be enough to push it ahead of the first film in the franchise, not taking into account inflation.
Sinister 2 was close behind with $10.54 million during its opening weekend. This is more than 40% less than the first film opened with and things are only going to get worse from here. Horror movies rarely have strong legs, while sequels almost always have worse legs than their predecessor had. Add in the film's reviews, which are just 13% positive and this film might not make $10 million during the rest of its run. The only good news is the upcoming long weekend and the lack of strong competition for the next few weeks.
Hitman: Agent 47 was the only new release to match expectations earning fourth place with $8.33 million during its opening weekend. Its reviews are just 8% positive, meaning it will be remembered as one of the worst films of the year, if it is remembered at all. This is a complete disaster and exactly what people fear when they think of late August to early September releases.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. remained in the top five with $7.32 million over the weekend for a total of $26.53 million after two weeks of release. At this pace, it will top $40 million domestically, which might not be enough to cover its P&A budget, meaning it will need its international box office to cover its entire production budget. This is possible, but not very likely.
The final new wide release of the week was American Ultra. Despite earning the best reviews of any of the wide releases this week, it still failed to reach the top five with just $5.45 million. This put it below the Mendoza Line, earning less than $2,000 per theater. While VOD has made the Mendoza Line less of a disaster for limited releases that have early / simultaneous VOD releases, it is still just as bad for wide releases as it has ever been.
There was one more film of note over the weekend, as Trainwreck reached the $100 million mark on Friday. It became the 18th film released in 2015 to reach this milestone and it is only the seventh best film released by Universal so far this year. It seems female-centric movies have real drawing power among moviegoers.
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Hitman: Agent 47, Straight Outta Compton, Sinister 2, Trainwreck, American Ultra, Mission: Impossible