Weekend Wrap-Up: Furious Completes Sweep
April 27, 2015
As expected, Furious 7 completed the sweep winning every single weekend in April. Thankfully, every film in the top five matched or exceeded predictions, including The Age of Adaline, which had a solid third place opening. However, the overall box office still fell 18% from last weekend to just $97 million. This was also 16% lower than the same weekend last year. 2015 is still ahead of 2014 by a margin of 2.3% at $3.13 billion to $3.06 billion.
Furious 7 added another $17.82 million over the weekend for a total of $320.08 million after four weeks of release. Normally, I would suspect the film would have more than enough gas to get past $350 million during its domestic run; however, the Age of Ultron opening is just days away and I doubt any holdover is going to truly survive that event.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 showed better than expected legs down just 38% to $14.78 million over the weekend for a total of $43.22 million. This is close to what the first film declined during its sophomore stint. That's impressive, given the Sequel Effect, which tends to lead to sharper declines, as well as its reviews, which are among the worst of the year.
The Age of Adaline was also a little stronger than expected earning $13.20 million over the weekend. This is a little bit more than The Longest Ride, which is surprising, because The Longest Ride had Nicholas Sparks attached to it. Its 55% positive reviews are only mixed and the competition will be brutal next week. That said, it should match its production budget domestically, so if it can find any significant audience internationally, it will break even sometime during its initial push into the home market.
Home remained in fourth place with $8.01 million over the weekend for a total of $153.49 million after a month of release.
Unfriended rounded out the top five with $6.16 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $25.08 million. This is very likely more than it cost to make and advertise and is possibly enough to cover its combined budget after taking into account the theater owners' share.
Ex Machina was close behind with $5.35 million over the weekend for a total of $6.83 million, including two weeks of limited release. Its per theater average is $4,263, which suggests it won't expand significantly, but it also suggests theater owners won't be too quick to drop it either. Add in the reviews and it should have no trouble getting to $10 million or $15 million and $20 million isn't out of reach.
The final new release of the week, Little Boy, only managed 13th place with $2.75 million in 1,045 theaters. This is a terrible result and given its equally bad reviews, its legs will likely be very short.
The only sophomore film not in the top five was Monkey Kingdom, which landed in ninth place with $3.44 million over the weekend for a total of $10.15 million after ten days of release. It fell just 25%, which is great, but it is also too little, too late.
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, The Age of Adaline, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Home, The Longest Ride, Furious 7, Little Boy, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, Monkey Kingdom, Ex Machina, Unfriended, Nicholas Sparks