Weekend Box Office (September 13 - 15, 2013)
THIS WEEKEND In April 2011, Insidious opened to respectable and not large numbers but became a fright hit by displaying sensational legs for a horror flick. Now the next installment is ready to take the grosses higher with the arrival of Insidious Chapter 2 on Friday the 13th. All eyes point to a massive debut, one of the best ever for a scary movie in September thanks to the lethal combination of a popular brand, a creepy release date, and a hot director just coming off of the horror blockbuster The Conjuring. The first chapter bowed to a decent $13.3M but had remarkably low drops of under 30% for each of the next three weekends leading to an impressive $54M final.
The cast and director are back so the brand's value will be in play this time. Plus Conjuring has been the only major horror title to connect with audiences over the past few months so they should be in the mood for something else now. Direct competition will be low. A PG-13 rating will make it a popular choice for teens now getting back to school and looking to go out on the weekend with new and old friends. Solid marketing by FilmDistrict will do the trick and shaky reviews should not deter too much. The target audience just wants to go out and see a scary movie and this should satisfy - in the short-term. Haunting 3,049 theaters, Insidious Chapter 2 might gross about $27M this weekend starting with 10:00pm Thursday night shows.
Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer head up the action-comedy The Family which Relativity releases Friday as the first of many mature-skewing films to hit multiplexes this fall. The R-rated film about a mob family relocated to France in the witness protection program has earned lackluster reviews which will not be powerful enough to convince older adults to take a chance. Live football will be a major distraction for De Niro fans this weekend and the film does not have the level of excitement around it to make it a must-see. Older women may contribute some cash. Opening in 3,091 locations, The Family may debut to around $9M this weekend including shows starting at 8:00pm Thursday night.
Among holdovers, the only film to be doing over $1M of daily business during the week was Vin Diesel's chart-topper Riddick. The action thriller should fall hard with its fan base coming out upfront so a 60% tumble may occur. That would put the Universal release at around $8M for the frame and push the ten-day tally to $32M.
Get earlier box office updates and analysis by following BoxOfficeGuru.com on Twitter.
Watch the trailer for Gravity.
LAST YEAR New 3D movies took over the box office as the action sequel Resident Evil: Retribution debuted at number one with $21.1M while the upgraded re-release of Finding Nemo debuted in second with $16.7M. Final grosses were $42.3M for Sony and $41.1M for Disney. Holdovers followed with The Possession taking in $5.8M, Lawless getting $4.3M, and The Expendables 2 grossing $3.1M.
This column is updated three times each week: Thursday (upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday (post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday night (actuals). Opinions expressed in this column are those solely of the author.
Last Updated: September 12, 2013 at 4:25PM ET
Watch Gitesh Pandya's weekly box office preview on CNN International airing live each Thursday at 6:40pm ET.
©1997 - 2013 Box Office Guru