As a seasoned film enthusiast and industry observer who has witnessed the ebb and flow of cinema trends for decades, I must say that this year’s box office performance has been nothing short of perplexing. The release strategies employed by some of the major arthouse studios leave me scratching my head more often than not.
Over the past weekend, another horror sequel claimed the top spot at the domestic box office. The new film, titled “Smile 2“, garnered a respectable $23 million during its opening weekend. I initially expected that the follow-up would outshine its predecessor in terms of ticket sales, much like how Pitch Perfect 2 surpassed the initial film’s debut. However, this did not occur. Nevertheless, a $23 million debut (a slight increase of 4% compared to the first movie’s opening weekend) is still an impressive figure. Given the numerous sequels this year and in 2023 that have underperformed, Paramount Pictures would surely be celebrating any growth from the original “Smile“.
In a strategic move, Paramount’s promotions for the movie “Smile 2” highlighted a completely new cast to avoid the perception that it was merely repeating previous elements. The film generated buzz with posters and trailers featuring a popular music star as the protagonist, capturing the attention of many. Interestingly, “Smile 2” wasn’t heavily promoted day by day during its weekend release, which is unusual for a horror sequel. This could be a positive sign for word-of-mouth in the upcoming weeks and might indicate a North American total as high as $65-70 million. Considering it was made with a budget of $29 million, this would make quite a few Paramount executives smile today.
The movie “The Wild Robot,” directed by Chris Sanders, is doing exceptionally well at the domestic box office, earning $10.1 million this weekend. This represents only a modest 28% drop from the previous week, which is quite impressive given that the last frame was during a holiday period. Interestingly, “The Wild Robot” was also released on premium video-on-demand services recently, but it seems to be sailing smoothly at the box office without any noticeable issues. Currently, it has amassed $101.7 million, leaving plenty of potential for further success.
Despite initial fears that it might plummet after an impressive debut weekend, Terrifier 3 has defied expectations by maintaining its momentum. It dropped only 51% to bring in another $9.3 million, pushing its domestic total to $36.2 million. Contrary to initial concerns that it would be a short-lived success, Terrifier 3 appears poised to surpass $50 million domestically and potentially reach as high as $55 million by the end of its run. Given its budget of just $2 million, this film has proven to be an extremely profitable venture for everyone involved.
As a devoted cinema enthusiast, I can’t help but feel thrilled as I share that over its seventh weekend in theaters, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” continued to impress with an additional $5 million earnings. This represents a minor decrease of just 32% compared to the previous week. With this consistent performance, it’s edging ever closer to surpassing the $300 million mark domestically. Should it manage another solid weekend-to-weekend hold, we’ll be witnessing a remarkable achievement – only the 18th movie since March 2020 to exceed $300 million in North America. What an incredible journey this film has been on!
In a broad release, the film “We Live in Time” garnered impressive earnings, raking in $4.1 million from only 985 cinemas. This translates to an outstanding average of $4,250 per theater. As a romantic drama featuring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, “We Live in Time” had a natural advantage over fall 2024 arthouse releases like “The Apprentice” and “Megalopolis,” which cater exclusively to an older audience. Additionally, the marketing strategy for “We Live in Time” stood out, generating buzz not only by emphasizing its acclaimed or important status, but also through creative elements such as memes about a peculiar horse on the poster and Garfield posing with a Pugh cardboard cutout on the red carpet. This unique approach effectively caught the attention of audiences for an arthouse film without a franchise label.
Over the weekend, the box office earnings for “Joker: Folie a Deux” fell again, this time by 69%, earning only $2.18 million. With a total of $56.4 million after 17 days in theaters, and “Venom: The Last Dance” poised to become the top comic book movie, it appears that “Folie a Deux” will find it challenging to reach $60 million domestically.
The movie “Piece by Piece” saw a decrease of 46% over the weekend, earning an extra $2.1 million. This brings its total to $7.6 million after ten days, making it possible that it could become only the second documentary of 2024 to surpass $10 million. In simpler terms, this performance is average for this title. On the other hand, “Transformers One” dropped by 47% and made an additional $2 million, bringing its domestic total to $56.6 million. Lastly, “Saturday Night” experienced a 45% decrease in its second weekend of wide release, earning another $1.8 million. At the moment, it’s uncertain if this movie will manage to surpass $10 million domestically, as it currently stands at $7.6 million.
Over the weekend, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” saw a 53% decrease and earned an additional $1.12 million, bringing its total domestic earnings to approximately $92.4 million across multiple re-releases. On the other hand, the success of “The Substance” persisted with only a 21% drop this weekend, earning another $878,611, and now boasting $13.38 million overall. Meanwhile, “Hocus Pocus” made its debut this weekend, raking in $841,000 from 1,480 locations. Its lifetime domestic gross has now reached $49.8 million.
Over the weekend, “The Apprentice” took a massive 58% drop and managed to earn only $680,000, bringing its total domestic gross to a disappointing $3.25 million over ten days. Disney decided to reintroduce “Deadpool & Wolverine” into 1,525 theaters this week, likely as a strategy to surpass the earnings of “Barbie” in this specific frame.
Everyone’s favorite independent distributor was back this weekend…Ketchup Entertainment! This time, Ketchup launched the Michael Keaton/Mila Kunis movie Goodrich. This thing’s flying so under the radar that Keaton didn’t even mention Goodrich while hosting Saturday Night Live over its opening weekend. Lackluster marketing (what was with this poster, what plot is it trying and failing to communicate?) and a lack of buzz capsized this title. Goodrich opened to only $625,000 at 1,055 locations for a $592 per theater average. Better luck next time Ketchup Entertainment. Watch me make all these jokes now and then these Ketchup folks launch some sleeper hit YA-novel adaptation in 2025. Stranger things have happened in Hollywood…
Despite the recent struggles of arthouse films at the box office, you might want to reconsider that assumption after hearing about the success of Sean Baker’s latest film, titled “Anora“. Debuting at six cinemas, it generated an impressive $540,000, resulting in a per-theater average of $90,000. This places it as the third highest opening weekend average since theaters were closed due to COVID, trailing only behind Licorice Pizza and Asteroid City. However, its per-theater average is not just impressive among post-March 2020 releases; it would have ranked among the very best (if not the best) in 2018, 2017, 2011, or 2010, even in pre-COVID times. In essence, “Anora” is off to a strong start, defying expectations set by current box office trends.
In comparison to the opening weekends at cinemas of Neon’s last two October releases, “Triangle of Sadness” and “Anatomy of a Fall”, as well as surpassing the openings of all previous Sean Baker films (including “The Florida Project” from seven years ago), “Anora” has achieved an impressive start. However, it remains unclear if “Anora” will gain mainstream appeal, much like how “Steve Jobs”, “Beau is Afraid”, and “The Master” had massive openings in limited release but failed to capture widespread audience interest. For now, this debut is extraordinary and a promising sign for art house theaters. Here’s to hoping that “Anora” marks the beginning of several successful independent films over the next two months.
2024 has seen some disappointing wide-release debuts with an unusual shared factor: distributor Bleecker Street. As Bleecker Street approaches its tenth anniversary, their practice of releasing art-house films in over 600 theaters has led to lackluster box office performances. This past weekend, Guy Maddin’s “Rumours” was released in 630 theaters and earned $314,083 for a theater average of $499. Only five other wide-release opening weekends this year have been worse, one being another Bleecker Street title, “Treasure.” It’s hard to comprehend how such an eccentric, niche film like this would be launched in over 600 theaters so quickly. Distributors like Bleecker Street, IFC, Sony Classics, it might be time for a reevaluation of your strategies for launching art-house titles.
Discussing independent films released by art houses that seemingly meet their demise, Roadside Attractions introduced “Exhibiting Forgiveness” in 774 cinemas this weekend. You might recall that only five movies from 2024 had worse opening weekends in wide release than “Rumours”? “Forgiveness” is one of those five films. It earned a meager $275,000, averaging $355 per theater. Despite being an excellent film with outstanding performances, “Exhibiting Forgiveness” tackles heavy topics such as trauma and family abuse, making it less suitable for immediate distribution across numerous theaters. Instead, this movie required a more delicate release strategy, which Roadside Attractions unfortunately did not execute effectively.
It’s increasingly frustrating to observe that these prominent art house studios persist in following this particular release pattern, despite it seemingly defying logic: repeating the same actions repeatedly while expecting a change in outcomes.
Over the past weekend, “Look Back” added another $92,892 to its domestic tally, now standing at $1,830,000. On the other hand, “It Ends With Us” mysteriously re-entered 433 cinemas and managed to collect only $55,000, averaging $127 per theater. It seems Sony is struggling to push this film beyond $150 million domestically, as it has currently earned $148.4 million. However, given its already substantial profits, they might as well let it be.
This past weekend, the top-earning films managed only $60 million collectively, which is incredibly low for late October. It’s hard to believe that even with the release of movies like Smile 2 and Terrifier 3, the industry can’t rely solely on them to boost sales. Films from major studios are necessary, as new releases such as Rumours and Goodrich from smaller labels with limited promotional budgets or publicity won’t suffice. We need a wider variety of films to choose from. Fortunately, the last two months of the year, especially the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, have great prospects for box office success.
Despite efforts to boost it, the upcoming October in 2024 is unlikely to set the box office alight, having only earned around $300 million domestically so far. The current ticket sales for Venom: The Last Dance are leaning more towards those of Ant-Man, rather than matching the figures seen in Venom: Let There Be Carnage. This suggests that October 2024 may not end with a blockbuster finale, instead struggling to reach the $469 million earned by October 2022. If October 2024 falls short of this figure (which seems likely), it will mark one of the weakest post-2020 Octobers at the domestic box office. This disappointing performance can be attributed, in part, to Joker: Folie a Deux‘s underperformance, as well as Hollywood studios’ reluctance to compete against Todd Phillips’ directorial effort. As a result, the film industry is suffering, and cinema employees are bearing the brunt of these misjudgments. There remains a glimmer of hope that the final weekend of October 2024 might offer more rewards than challenges for the box office.
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2024-10-22 01:15