Weekend Estimates (4-day): TL 41.7 M | PP II 38.5 M | MM: FR 32.1 M | A:AOU 27.8 M | POLTERGEIST 26.5 M

[Boxofficerules]

Wasn't there something else originally here instead of Poltergeist? I recall Fox swapped it with something.

[DAR]

With the money they're going to make on their other films this will be like finding ten bucks in a jacket you wore last year. It went add to much but you can get some lunch

[CoolioD1]

Wasn't there something else originally here instead of Poltergeist? I recall Fox swapped it with something.

Yeah, I think it was Spy. 

[Deep Wang]

Maybe it's just me, but if I was a director, my "vision" would be for as many people to see my movie as possible.

That's some of the best spin I've seen.

[DAR]

Do most directors have a say in how a movie is distributed?

[CoolioD1]

Do most directors have a say in how a movie is distributed?

[CJohn]

Yeah, I think it was Spy. 

Poltergeist was in July, Spy in May and Paper Towns in June originally.

[Avatree]

Maybe it's just me, but if I was a director, my "vision" would be for as many people to see my movie as possible.

That's some of the best spin I've seen.

If I were a director, I wouldn't care how many people saw the film, I'd just want to make the film I want to make.

[John Marston]

WB should have released San Andreas over this weekend

[Hatebox]

 

Makes me laugh every time. Especially Tarantino in the back there.

[Bishop54]

If I were a director, I wouldn't care how many people saw the film, I'd just want to make the film I want to make.

You wouldn't get much work.

[babz06]

So many major films could have launched over the weekend this year. Very strange none took the slot.

San Andreas was my first thought. 

[Avatree]

You wouldn't get much work.

I know lol. Fortunately I am not a film director!

But yea I would want creative control, otherwise I just wouldn't see the point.

[grim22]

So many major films could have launched over the weekend this year. Very strange none took the slot.

This weekend was originally kept empty because everyone thought Episode 7 would be in this slot, and that AoU would dominate May till this point.

[Jake Gittes]

San Andreas was my first thought. 

 

WB likely didn't want to release three movies, two of them big-budget tentpoles, three weeks in a row.

[Jandrew]

Wasn't the BSG question $1.5 for Poltergiest?

 

SHIT.

[Avatree]

I'm glad I put no in BSG for that question...

[grim22]

Disney's spin is out of control lol.

This is the best one since Deadline's comment about the correlation between Cinemascore and legs

Now the question is, how high can these superheros fly? Avengers turned around a 3x multiple of its bow for a final stateside cume of $623.4M — and that’s off an A+ CinemaScore which typically carries an average 4.8x multiple. Ultron earned an A, which typically translates into a 3.6x multiple, which would put the sequel well north of $650M using that B.O. yardstick.

And my all time favorite "threequelitis"

Yes, Mockingjay doesn’t have the IMAX uptick like CF did a year ago. Paramount needed those hubs to show off the jawdropping space and tidal wave scenes in Interstellar. Back out the $12.2M IMAX bow from CF‘s opening weekend of $158.07M and you’re left with largely a 2D take of $145.87M. Bad weather? Nah, Buffalo, NY was never a B.O. fountainhead. The soft domestic box office is a factor: Mockingjay and Transformers 4 are the only films to open past $98M this year; while 2013 boasted three $10oM-plus openers and 2012 had four.

Mockingjay’s lower than franchise-record opening simply boils down to threequel-itis, a common, cyclical trend that effects a franchise’s third installments at the domestic B.O. without any major reason other than that they’re the third chapter. When Threequelitis strikes, as in the supposed case of Mockingjay, does it mean the franchise is broken? No. Does it mean that fans are put off? Hell, no.

[Avatree]

Threequilitis was very poorly explained in that article but it is a real thing. Most franchises do not grow domestic from #2 to #3, a lot of threequels take big hits from the predecessor. If you release a film and it becomes a hit, almost all of the growth it has will be in the sequel. Release another sequel and the same level of excitement and novelty isn't there.

[grim22]

Meanwhile in China

Gewara presales:

I, Frankenstein 5,550

Tomorrowland 490

Both open on Next Tuesday