It’s been a while since we had a tie and had to wait until Monday for actual numbers, but in a bit of a surprise, the Jennifer Lawrence thriller House at the End of the Street and the intense cop thriller End of Watch have come together at the top of the box-office with an estimated $13 million each.
Budgeted only at $10 million, it’s a good start for House at the End of the Street, which certainly didn’t impress critics who buried it to a 14% rating at RottenTomatoes. Audiences weren’t over the moon either, but a “B” CinemaScore matches the other recent thriller to top the weekend, The Possession, which has so far amassed $45.6 million at the box-office. Will House manage the same?
As for End of Watch, the budget there was only $7 million and it was playing in 353 fewer theaters than House (2,730) and enjoyed an “A-” CinemaScore, which means it could be around for a little while. It nearly doubled what Laremy predicted it would do as his $7.5 million prediction sold the film dramatically short. RopeofSilicon reader Gerberzy, however, was almost right on the money with a $12.6 million prediction.
When it comes to predictions on House, Laremy was really close with his $12.35 million prediction, but reader John Debono was closer with a spot-on $13 million guess. Very nice, now we’ll wait for actuals to see who was actually closest.
With the tight race at the top, however, things could still change and, who knows, maybe another contender could sneak into #1. The estimates seem to largely be based on who is going to see these movies. House and End of Watch hold a slim $300,000 lead over Clint Eastwood‘s Trouble with the Curve, which was expected to win the weekend, but as Gitesh Pandya points out, teen girls and young women are the driving force behind House‘s numbers making up 61% of the audience, 70% of which are under 25. As such it’s expected to take a smaller hit due to football. We’ll see.
Audiences that went to Trouble with the Curve gave it a “B+” CinemaScore as it pulled in an estimated $12.7 million this weekend from 3,212 theaters. It’s far from what Warner Bros. expected and you can bet people will be pointing to Eastwood’s Republican Convention conversation with a chair as a potential reason why it did so poorly. In all honesty, I don’t know what happened, but maybe RopeofSilicon reader Rach knows as her $13 million prediction was the closest on the board on Thursday.
The weekend’s other new wide opener, Dredd 3D, opened to very poor results bringing in only $6.3 million. Audiences gave it a “B” CinemaScore, but this one actually did very well with critics, earning a 77% rating at RottenTomatoes. The test here is going to be its international dollars and I have to assume that was Lionsgate’s thinking all along when they greenlit the $50 million-budgeted feature. As far as predictions on it go, Laremy was way over with a $14.4 million prediction as he hoped this would be the film to challenge Trouble at top and a lot of readers followed his lead, but chriscarmichael held his own and with a $6.5 million prediction is looking very smart this morning.
Outside of the wide releases, The Master expanded to 788 theaters and brought in $5 million for a $6,345 per theater average.
The best news of the weekend, however, comes from The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which took home the per theater crown, amassing $244,000 from only four theaters for a $61,000 per theater average. This is one of the best films out there right now and I implore you to seek it out once it arrives in your town. It’s probably the best teen dramedy to come out in the last ten years if not longer.
I felt I would also mention that The Dark Knight Rises has finally fallen out of the domestic top twelve, coming in with $1.2 million this weekend with a domestic cume of $443.1 million and a worldwide tally of $1.06 billion, seventh all-time at the worldwide box-office not accounting for inflation.
Now we come to a look at next weekend where Hotel Transylvania, Looper and Won’t Back Down are the weekend’s new wide openers. Anyone care to take a guess at which one will finish #1? Looper is getting good buzz, but it’s a sci-fi film that may confuse audiences. Hotel Transylvania is getting bad buzz, but it’s an animated film with fart jokes. Won’t Back Down will probably appeal to middle-aged women and as a result may be able to surprise. I’ll let you guess because I have no clue.
