I don’t understand what it is about Labor Day that draws so few people to their local cinemas. The similar holiday Memorial Day, located at the beginning of summer, brings hundreds of million of dollars worth of revenue. So why is it that so few visit theaters on Labor Day? It’s estimated the Top 12 movies this weekend collectively earned only $83.7 million.
At the top of this week’s underwhelming list was the PG-13 horror flick ‘The Possession‘. Budgeted at only $14 million, its $17.7 million opening total, combined with the fact that this marks Lionsgate’s third consecutive weekend in the #1 spot, must have studio execs ecstatic.
After a soft Wednesday opening, the Weinstein’s gritty Prohibition gangster piece ‘Lawless‘ nabbed the #2 spot with a sad $9.6 million. Considering the large ensemble cast, its five-day $11.8 million total isn’t great. No word has been reported on the movie’s budget.
‘The Expendables 2‘ may have been dethroned, but it still only fell to third place with a 34.4% drop in attendance. That doesn’t look great when you realize that it’s still $16 million behind the first ‘Expendables’ movie. However, for a half-assed action flick with a bunch of washed-up B-movie stars in its congested roster, you have to give it credit for the $66 million it has pulled in over the last 17 days.
‘The Bourne Legacy‘ slipped to fourth place, but only dropped 22% in attendance and pulled in another $7.2 million. It’s expected to cross the $100 million mark by the end of the week. In fifth place, ‘ParaNorman‘ also barely dropped off (24%) and earned another $6.5 million.
The funniest statistic of the week belongs to the 2,160-screen opening of ‘Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure‘, which earned only $448,000 in total. The weight of this terrible per-screen average is perfectly conveyed by the following Box Office Mojo statement: “To put that in perspective, if each location played Oogieloves five times a day on one screen at an average ticket price of $7, that would translate to fewer than two people per showing.”
On 23 screens, ‘For a Good Time, Call …‘ featured the second-best per-screen average of the weekend ($6,130) after ‘The Possession’, and earned a total of $141,000. The third-best per-screen average went to ‘Little Birds‘ which brought in $5,400 in three days on just one screen.
Top 10:
1. ‘The Possession’ (Lionsgate) – $17,725,000
2. ‘Lawless’ (Weinstein) – $9,674,000
3. ‘The Expendables 2’ (Lionsgate) – $8,800,000
4. ‘The Bourne Legacy’ (Universal) – $7,248,000
5. ‘ParaNorman’ (Focus) – $6,551,000
6. ‘The Odd Life of Timothy Green’ (Buena Vista) – $6,055,000
7. ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ (Warner Bros.) – $5,880,000
8. ‘The Campaign’ (Warner Bros.) – $5,445,000
9. ‘2016: Obama’s America’ (Rocky Mountain) – $5,103,000
10. ‘Hope Springs’ (Sony) – $4,700,000
Drew
This weeks box office figures are utterly boring to me.
I’m too preoccupied with my excitement for ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ in IMAX this weekend!
I literally can’t temper my enthusiasm! I’m going twice, including getting to take my six-year-old son with me on Saturday. I’m so happy that he has the opportunity to see the first, and best ‘Indy’ in the theater.
Why is the studio not advertising ‘Raiders’ in IMAX?! I don’t understand! I feel like it could be #1 at the box office this week with IMAX showings alone.
Thulsadoom
I couldn’t be less interested in Lawless… seen the trailer on the front of a couple of movies so far and it looks utterly boring and just another ‘oh look how cool the gangsters are’ movie.
I think Expendables 2 has sticking power. A lot of guys want to see it, but movies that are basically just for men mean that the men who get to see them have to wait for gaps of time when they can, in between girlfriend/wife/family commitments. Chick flicks don’t have the same problem, ‘cos most guys will either go along to keep the lady happy or get dragged regardless of choice anyway. Men’s movies just get comments of “why would you want to waste money on that?” 😉
Chad Rouch
“I don’t understand what it is about Labor Day that draws so few people to their local cinemas. The similar holiday Memorial Day, located at the beginning of summer, brings hundreds of million of dollars worth of revenue. So why is it that so few visit theaters on Labor Day? ”
It’s not because people don’t want to go, it’s because studios put put crap. They don’t release big stuff because with September being so slow, there’s no chance for any legs to develop and the overall gross would be low. Memorial Day has the advantage of a few months of high volue attendance following it. Labor Day has a month of going back to school, football , etc.