Weekend Box Office (March 11 - 13, 2016)

by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND For a second straight frame, Disney's latest animation sensation Zootopia led the North American box office and showed the kind of strength that indicates a long spring run ahead. The PG-rated toon grossed $51.3M this weekend, according to final studio figures, dropping only 32% lifting the cume to a stellar $144M. Zootopia is only the third March film in history to reach $50M on its second weekend joining The Hunger Games and Alice in Wonderland which both were coming off of opening weekends that were well over $100M.

Compared to other March toons, Zootopia's decline was much better than the 45-50% range that other films like Home, The Lorax, and Horton Hears a Who fell into. Parents and kids alike are loving the animal-filled film and word-of-mouth has been sparkling. A final domestic haul of $260M+ seems likely.

The international run has also been red hot. China has been a stand-out performer with the sophomore frame more than doubling the opening weekend with $56.5M pushing the local cume to a stunning $109M in ten days beating all past Disney and Pixar toons there. Zootopia grossed $83.1M from 45 markets pushing the offshore total to $288.7M and the global gross to $432M. China will continue to sizzle and several major territories are still to open including Australia, Brazil, the U.K., and Disney-loving Japan. With Easter school holidays coming soon around the world, the global tally for Zootopia should be able to reach an eye-popping $900M or more.

Paramount enjoyed a nice launch for its sci-fi thriller 10 Cloverfield Lane which debuted to $24.7M this weekend in the number two spot. The PG-13 film averaged a sturdy $7,292 from 3,391 locations. $3.1M, or 12% of the gross, came from IMAX screens. Those large format venues will get busy very fast with the arrival this Thursday night of The Divergent Series: Allegiant followed a week later by the highly-anticipated Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice which opens day and date in China and features special scenes shot with IMAX cameras.

As a franchise film, 10 Cloverfield Lane did not match up to the $40.1M bow of 2008's Cloverfield which entered the marketplace with a mysterious marketing campaign that ignited fan interest. It delivered the biggest January opening of all-time then. Lane attracted terrific reviews from film critics which helped drive in audiences this weekend. But paying crowds felt differently as evidenced by the lackluster B- CinemaScore grade. Still, with a budget under $20M this will be a profitable project regardless of how international numbers fare. Studio data showed the opening day audience to be 60% male and 68% over 25.

Deadpool fared well in its fifth weekend taking in $10.9M, off 35%, pushing Fox up to $328.2M in North America. Hitting $350M seems likely which would triple the final gross of Green Lantern, the last super hero film anchored by Ryan Reynolds. Overseas, Deadpool saw its total zoom to $380M giving the naughty comic book character $708M worldwide which sets the bar high for Batman v Superman which opens in less than two weeks.

More R-rated action followed with London Has Fallen which fell a reasonable 50% in its sophomore round to $10.8M. Focus has banked $39M to date and should finish with around $60M. The Gerard Butler sequel is currently running 29% behind the pace of 2013's Olympus Has Fallen which also opened in March. Following a soft bow, the Tina Fey comedy Whiskey Tango Foxtrot held well in its second weekend dropping 37% to $4.7M. With $14.6M overall, Paramount looks to reach $25-30M.

Three new releases followed with $3-5M openings. The relationship film The Perfect Match debuted to respectable results in moderate national release with $4.3M from 925 locations for a $4,642 average. The R-rated pic starring Terrence Jenkins, Paula Patton, and Donald Faison earned mixed reviews.

Faith-based audiences had little interest in the new drama The Young Messiah which opened poorly in seventh place with $3.3M. Averaging a weak $1,871 from 1,761 locations, the PG-13 entry suffered a sharp fall on Saturday and faces a difficult road ahead.

Sacha Baron Cohen hit a new career low with his latest raunchy comedy The Brothers Grimsby which was met with a pitiful opening weekend grossing $3.3M from 2,235 theaters for a horrific $1,458 average. The R-rated pic was utterly ignored by U.S. audiences and the three-day figure did not even beat the $4.2M Wednesday opening day of 2012's The Dictator. That film had the actor's worst opening ever as a lead with $17.4M over the Friday-to-Sunday session in May of that year. Reviews were bad for Grimsby, but the CinemaScore was a decent B+. Its final domestic gross is likely to be a miserable $8M.

Dropping 51% in its third fight was the big-budget adventure Gods of Egypt with $2.5M pushing the domestic cume for Lionsgate to $27.4M. China opened with a strong $20M this weekend pushing the international haul to $80.5M and the global tally to $108M with domestic accounting for only one quarter of that gross. Sony's Risen fell 42% to $2.3M for a new total of $32.4M.

The top ten films grossed $118.2M which was up 2% from last year when Cinderella opened at number one with $67.9M; and up 19% from 2014 when Mr. Peabody & Sherman stayed in the top spot with $21.8M.


Compared to projections, 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Perfect Match opened close to my respective forecasts of $23M and $5M. The Young Messiah and The Brothers Grimsby debuted below my predictions of $7M and $8M.

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Watch the NEW trailer for Captain America: Civil War.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Allegiant and Miracles from Heaven open.

# Title Mar 11 - 13 Mar 4 - 6 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Zootopia $ 51,339,887 $ 75,063,401 -31.6 3,827 2 $ 13,415 $ 143,955,013 Disney
2 10 Cloverfield Lane 24,727,437 3,391 1 7,292 24,727,437 Paramount
3 Deadpool 10,942,304 16,725,929 -34.6 3,331 5 3,285 328,219,729 Fox
4 London Has Fallen 10,836,078 21,635,601 -49.9 3,492 2 3,103 39,018,130 Focus
5 Whiskey Tango Foxtrot 4,665,013 7,443,007 -37.3 2,413 2 1,933 14,636,916 Paramount
6 The Perfect Match 4,294,232 925 1 4,642 4,294,232 Lionsgate
7 The Young Messiah 3,294,876 1,761 1 1,871 3,294,876 Focus
8 The Brothers Grimsby 3,258,327 2,235 1 1,458 3,258,327 Sony
9 Gods of Egypt 2,546,473 5,198,091 -51.0 2,306 3 1,104 27,359,362 Lionsgate
10 Risen 2,282,208 3,906,484 -41.6 2,095 4 1,089 32,427,969 Sony
11 The Revenant 2,056,262 3,402,675 -39.6 1,303 12 1,578 179,199,399 Fox
12 Kung Fu Panda 3 1,707,494 3,572,683 -52.2 1,650 7 1,035 136,465,362 Fox
13 Eddie the Eagle 1,571,915 3,128,815 -49.8 1,568 3 1,002 13,489,719 Fox
14 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 1,297,752 1,864,704 -30.4 760 13 1,708 930,757,012 Disney
15 The Witch 1,005,067 2,485,035 -59.6 945 4 1,064 22,914,150 A24
16 Spotlight 931,412 1,766,212 -47.3 847 19 1,100 43,187,686 Open Road
17 How To Be Single 924,034 2,117,076 -56.4 767 5 1,205 45,108,811 Warner Bros.
18 Race 731,411 1,511,530 -51.6 689 4 1,062 17,832,893 Focus
19 The Other Side of the Door 689,577 1,211,210 -43.1 585 2 1,179 2,300,357 Fox
20 The Lady in the Van 573,241 717,445 -20.1 363 9 1,579 8,058,191 Sony Classics
Top 5 $ 102,510,719 $ 126,066,029 -18.7
Top 10 118,186,835 142,561,721 -17.1
Top 20 129,675,000 155,685,397 -16.7
Top 10 vs. 2015 129,675,000 127,395,041 1.8

Last Updated: March 13, 2016 at 2:50PM ET

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