Friday Estimates: Friday was a Happy, Happy Day as Death Pulled in $11.6 million
October 14, 2017
Happy Death Day topped expectations by earning $14.3 million on Friday. Even with short legs, it will still make $25 million over the weekend, possibly a little more. This is likely more than it cost to make and advertise, at least initially. I suspect Universal will up their ad buy after this result and will also increase the initial print run for the DVDs / Blu-rays as well. The film’s reviews are 68% positive, while it earned a solid B from CinemaScore. Earning a B would be bad for most movies, but horror films routinely fall in the C range, as horror fans tend to be very negative. For example, gorehounds will hate anything without enough blood, but torture porn will turn off even more fans. Pleasing even half of the opening day audience is impressive.
The Foreigner opened in second place with $4.75 million on Friday. This is almost exactly as predicted, so I’m happy with that result. Its reviews are 56% positive, but it earned an A minus from CinemaScore, so audiences are liking it more than the critics did. That said, it won’t remain in second place for long and a $12 million opening isn’t enough to be even a midlevel hit here. Fortunately, it will break even just on its international numbers.
Blade Runner 2049 was right behind with $4.32 million on Friday. This is 66% lower than its opening Friday and a sharper drop than anticipated. It will still earn second place, but with $14 million. It is doing better internationally, so it could still break even, eventually.
Marshall matched expectations with $1.04 million on Friday and will finish the weekend with close to $3 million. It is only playing in 821 theaters, so its average for the weekend will be between $3,000 and $4,000. That’s not enough to really expand further, not even with its 86% positive reviews.
Professor Marston & The Wonder Women, on the other hand, bombed hard. It only managed $248,000 on Friday and will finish the weekend with well under $1 million. It did earn the best reviews of the four new releases, but clearly audiences were not interested. Hopefully it will have better luck on the home market.
- Happy Death Day Comparisons
- The Foreigner Comparisons
- Professor Marston and The Wonder Women Comparisons
- Marshall Comparisons
Filed under: Friday Estimates, Blade Runner 2049, Marshall, Happy Death Day, The Foreigner, Professor Marston & The Wonder Women