Weekend Estimates: Zootopia Romps to $50 Million Second Weekend

March 13, 2016

Zootopia

Zootopia is headed to another big win at the box office this weekend, with a modest 33% decline from last weekend keeping it well ahead of a pack of new releases. Its $50 million gross this time around takes it to $142.6 million in total domestically. With $288.7 million in the bank internationally, including over $100 million in China by the end of the weekend, Disney looks to have struck gold again. A sequel, theme park tie-ins and merchandizing seem likely, although Disney has so much of that going on already, what with Star Wars, Marvel, its Princess lines, and Pixar, that this might actually be more of a niche for them. (A half-billion-dollar-and-counting niche. Nice work if you can get it.)

Among the new releases, 10 Cloverfield Lane stands out, in that people actually showed up to see it. The J.J. Abrams-produced successor to Cloverfield isn’t doing quite the same business as its predecessor, which opened with $40 million back in 2008, but $25.2 million will do just fine for a film that was budgeted at $5 million and didn’t cost a fortune to market. It already looks as though it’s getting good word-of-mouth, so a decent run in theaters seems a good bet, not to mention a lively performance in the home market.

The same cannot fairly be said about any of the other new releases this weekend. To get the worst out of the way first, The Brothers Grimsby is an out-and-out dud, with just $3.15 million this weekend from 2,235 theaters. A theater average of $1,409 means it’ll be dumped after exactly two weeks, with a box office total most likely somewhat less than $10 million. Sacha Baron Cohen has never had an opening weekend less than $10 million, and even the under-performing The Dictator managed $60 million in total, so this is a major set-back for him.

The Young Messiah isn’t faring much better with $3.4 million expected from 1,761 theaters, for an average of $1,933. Easter might help it a bit, if it can hold on to enough theaters, but its prospects look dim, particularly with Risen still playing.

The final new wide release, The Perfect Match, is doing a bit better, with Lionsgate expecting $4.15 million in total this weekend from 925 theaters. That’s hardly earth-shattering, and the film isn’t exactly breaking new ground, even among romantic comedies, but the studio looks to have successfully found its target audience without spending a huge amount on advertising.

In the lower reaches of the chart, several films are doing very nicely in limited release. Hello, My Name is Doris will post around $85,000 from four locations. City of Gold is looking to take in about $64,000, also from four theaters. Remember will also hit the $10,000 theater average mark, or at least come close to it: A24 is projecting $20,000 from two venues. Also looking good, although we haven’t seen an official estimate for the weekend, is Eye in the Sky, which should top $100,000 from five movie houses.

- Weekend estimates
- Zootopia comparisons
- 10 Cloverfield Lane comparisons
- The Brothers Grimsby comparisons
- Young Messiah comparisons
- The Perfect Match comparisons

Bruce Nash,

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Young Messiah, The Brothers Grimsby, Risen, Zootopia, Eye in the Sky, Hello, My Name is Doris, City of Gold, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Remember, The Perfect Match, J.J. Abrams, Sacha Baron Cohen