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FRIDAY EVENING: Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love remains on uppers at the weekend box office with a $3.6M Friday, and a 3-day of $13.4M at 3,597 theaters, -53% which will get the Reinaldo Marcus Green directed title to $71M by Sunday. That’s a great piece of counterprogramming business in a struggling marketplace. Say what you will, S&P Global about putting Paramount Global on “credit watch negative,” but the film studio has a vibrant theatrical release schedule this year with Gladiator 2, Quiet Place: Day, If and Smile 2 to name a few.
Sony
Sony/Crunchyroll’s Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Hashira Training which is not a movie, but “is the last episode (episode 11) of the Swordsmith Village Arc and the first episode of the Hashira Training Arc” is looking at $9M-$10M after a $5M Friday (including those $1.8M previews) at 1,949 locations. I’m told that some of the fanboys here were also customers of Sony’s Madame Web last weekend.
Right now, the Spider-Man clairvoyant is showing a -67% second frame drop (which is bad though not as atrocious as Marvels -78% second weekend freefall) with $5M in 4th place at 4,013 theaters. She’ll stand at $34.4M by Sunday.
Third goes to Lionsgate/Kingdom Story’s Ordinary Angels, which despite solid reviews at 80% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and a 100% RT audience score — isn’t overperforming –yet. Right now a $2.3M Friday is yielding a $6M result in third place. The reason why some believed this could beat its $5M-$7M projection is because faith-based audiences often fly under the radar of tracking services.
Universal’s tenth weekend of Illumination’s Migration continues to nest in the top five at 2,422 theaters with a $700K Friday, $3.5M weekend, -8%, $121M by Sunday. Given the lack of family animated movies, many are betting big on Uni/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 when it hits in the post Dune 2 slot of March 8. A $50M opening wouldn’t be shocking.
And in the dust is Focus Features’ Ethan Coen directed title Drive-Away Dolls at 2,279 theaters with a $1M Friday (including previews) for a $2.5M opening. That start is lower than Focus Features’ Lisa Frankenstein ($3.69M), and that Zelda Williams-directed movie cost less ($13M) than what Drive-Away Dolls was acquired for. I hear that Lisa Frankenstein (with a gross of $8.8M through yesterday), will wind up making a little profit for Focus at the end of the day. Sure, there’s a big difference in demand when two Coen Brothers’ names show up in the trailer instead of one. It’s not often that a Coen Brothers movie goes wide in its first weekend, and in the case of when a studio doesn’t platform a title, it means they have to segue a movie quick from theatrical into home ancillary markets so that it makes money. With a 66% RT critic score and current 37% audience score, you can see why Focus went wide and fast with this one.
FRIDAY AM: Sony/Crunchyroll’s Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Hashira Training had the most action among three wide entries last night in previews with $1.8M from 1,870 locations that started showtimes at 4PM. That was boosted, in standard Sony/Crunchyroll fashion, by PLFs and Imax. The movie is only suppose to do in the high single digits this weekend, much lower than other Demon Slayer movies as it’s a TV episode that’s been streamed on Crunchyroll, just shown on the big screen for the first time. In sum, it’s not a movie. 2021’s Demon Slayer movie posted $3.8M in previews.
Hilary Swank in ‘Ordinary Angels’
Allen Fraser
Lionsgate/Kingdom Story’s faith-based Hilary Swank drama Ordinary Angels saw $285K off previews that began at 6PM. While that’s low, there’s hope that this movie could over exceed its $5M-$7M projection given its pretty good reviews of 78% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. We’ll see.
Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan in ‘Drive-Away Dolls’
Working Title / Focus Features
Focus Features has the Ethan Coen directed comedy caper Drive-Away Dolls. They moved the movie out of the fall due to the actors strike so that it has a shot at some livelihood. Despite a NYC premiere and reviews at 68% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes — it has none. So much, that the distributor isn’t reporting preview grosses today. That means the movie made less than the $700K they did report for Lisa Frankenstein on its previews, however that included previews outside Thursday. Oy. Industry estimates are figuring around $450K. Lisa Frankenstein with its fresh face cast opened to $3.6M; and Drive-Away Dolls could be lower or about the same. How is that possible? Coen Brother=hip. Margaret Qualley, Beanie Feldstein, Geraldine Viswanathan and Matt Damon=hip. Tracker Quorum reports, “Sadly, Focus struggled to build awareness for the film. Dolls arrives in theaters with only 20% awareness. Of the 17 films over the past two years with awareness of 20% or lower, none opened above $4M. That’s a challenging trend to buck.”
‘Bob Marley: One Love,’ and ‘Madame Web’
Everett
As we told you, it’s Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love which will keep everyone together at cinemas this weekend with around $15M, -45%. The pic had a great Thursday hold, -4% from Wednesday with $1.6M ending its running total through nine days at $57.6M at 3,539 theaters. That’s 25% ahead of Rocketman through nine days, and that movie ended its domestic run at $96.3M.
Sony/Marvel’s Madame Web eased 9% on Thursday with $786K at 4,013 ending its nine-day run with $29.4M. If the panned femme superhero movie is lucky, it will only ease -55% this weekend for a $6.8M. That would be mindboggling.
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