Weekend Thread - Freaky 1.45M Friday

[Eric Wilson]

https://deadline.com/2020/11/freaky-weekend-box-office-opening-blumhouse-universal-coronavirus-covid-19-1234615828/

 

Quote

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Refresh for updates: Universal/Blumhouse’s genre body swap comedy Freaky starring Vince Vaughn took in $1.45M yesterday, including Thursday night previews ~$200K, on what looks to be a $4M opening at 2,472. Universal, the only major Hollywood studio putting out consistent fresh wide product during the pandemic, can claim a three-week streak at No. 1 between Focus’ Come Play over Halloween, that label’s Let Him Go last weekend and the parent studio’s Freaky this weekend.

 

Let Him Go at 2,458 (+4) locations drew $560K yesterday, -62%, for what is looking like a weekend 2 of $1.8M, -55%, for a 10-day of $6.9M.

 

101 Studios’ The War With Grandpa in weekend 6 is in play at 2,145 sites (-203) with a Friday of $336K, -16%, on its way to a 3 day of $1.2M, repping a 19% dip and a running total of $15.1M. I hear the movie is being primed further to play through Thanksgiving in an effort to capitalize on family crowds.

 

Come Play is in 4th place in weekend 3 at 1,966 (-247) with $330K yesterday, -39%, and a 3-day of $1.08M, -40% and running total of $7.3M.

 

Open Road’s Honest Thief in weekend 6 saw a Friday around $239K, -33%, in what looks like a 3-day of $775K, -32% for a running tally stateside of $12.3M.

 

Warner Bros.’ Tenet may upset the current top 5 here once the studio reports tomorrow. Last weekend Tenet ranked 5th earning $905K, +2%, for a running total of $55.1M. Box office analysts believe the Christopher Nolan movie has a shot at $60M domestic, which based off its 11-day opening of $20.2M, is a near 3x multiple at the domestic B.O. (6x if you figure the movie earned $9.7M over its first 3-days; we don’t know as Warners still isn’t sharing the box office figures in Comscore with other distributors).

 

[filmlover]

In a normal climate this likely would've easily pulled a $10M+ opening day with its release date gimmick. At least it was cheap to make, and will easily turn a profit on VOD in a few weeks.

 

Movies are just completely unsellable in the current climate where daily case numbers are rapidly approaching 200K. Freaky looks fun, but no one's gonna risk catching the highly contagious and deadly disease to see a movie even if there's an infinitesimal chance of getting it at a theater. No one will be surprised in a few weeks when The Croods 2 sees one of the ugliest sequel drops ever as it heads off to a VOD release in time for Christmas.

[DAJK]

That seems pretty low. The fact that Come Play posted similar numbers is baffling to me

[Cap]

A Weekend Thread. What is this?

[EarlyDeadlinePredictions]

Whoa a weekend thread.

[filmlover]

13 minutes ago, DAJK said:

That seems pretty low. The fact that Come Play posted similar numbers is baffling to me

This had better reviews and the (Freaky) Friday the 13th marketing gimmick but both were basically dumped with barely any promotion. Such is life when it comes to releasing a movie in the midst of a pandemic that's ravaging the country.

[TwoMisfits]

2 hours ago, DAJK said:

That seems pretty low. The fact that Come Play posted similar numbers is baffling to me

Few open theaters with few showings on Fridays (and many theaters not even open Thursday) and few people allowed per screening...

 

I mean, $10M might be the cap for all sell outs for a 3 day OW right now b/c theaters are also saving 1/3 of screens for private showings of any type...and many of those are likely not for the opening weekend movie...

 

That's domestic cinema as it stands...

[filmlover]

1	N	Freaky	Universal	$3,710,000		2,472		$1,501	$3,710,000	1
2	(1)	Let Him Go	Focus Fea…	$1,800,000	-55%	2,454	n/c	$733	$6,887,465	2
3	(3)	The War with Grandpa	101 Studios	$1,326,303	-12%	2,145	-203	$618	$15,229,006	6
4	(2)	Come Play	Focus Fea…	$1,100,000	-39%	2,213	n/c	$497	$7,316,540	3
5	(4)	Honest Thief	Open Road	$800,000	-30%	1,843	-517	$434	$12,382,126	5
-	(-)	Guardians of the Galaxy	Walt Disney	$406,000		1,560		$260	$333,578,112	329
-	(6)	Toy Story	Walt Disney	$222,000	-56%	1,360	-742	$163	$192,523,233	1,304
-	N	Fatman	Saban Films	$107,958		259		$417	$107,958	1
-	N	Ammonite	Neon	$85,000		280		$304	$85,000	1
-	(7)	The Empty Man	20th Cent…	$81,000	-72%	506	-737	$160	$2,921,887	4
-	(11)	The New Mutants	20th Cent…	$80,000	-37%	215	-112	$372	$23,736,495	12
-	(16)	2 Hearts	Freestyle…	$18,000	-68%	148	-231	$122	$1,337,749	5
-	(15)	After We Collided	Open Road	$17,000	-72%	141	-405	$121	$2,377,465	10

 

https://www.the-numbers.com/weekend-box-office-chart

[charlie Jatinder]

is it what they say nostalgia?

[SnokesLegs]

22 hours ago, TwoMisfits said:

Few open theaters with few showings on Fridays (and many theaters not even open Thursday) and few people allowed per screening...

 

I mean, $10M might be the cap for all sell outs for a 3 day OW right now b/c theaters are also saving 1/3 of screens for private showings of any type...and many of those are likely not for the opening weekend movie...

 

That's domestic cinema as it stands...

Not only that, but people seeing the infection numbers skyrocketing across the country are surely thinking “I’ll wait for VOD”, $3.7 million isn’t that bad all things considered. I know they were going for the “Freaky Friday the 13th” marketing thing, but I’m sure this would have opened stronger than Come Play did over Halloween.

[Webslinger]

Freaky is definitely a “what could have been” case. Under normal circumstances, I think it definitely would have been a big breakout between the clever concept, the well-played ad campaign, and the solid reviews. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it does on PVOD in a few weeks.

[lorddemaxus]

19 hours ago, Webslinger said:

Freaky is definitely a “what could have been” case. Under normal circumstances, I think it definitely would have been a big breakout between the clever concept, the well-played ad campaign, and the solid reviews. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it does on PVOD in a few weeks.

This would've done badly anyways if it had the same release date. No clue why studios keep releasing horror films during November and December when the only time it's worked in the past two decades was with Krampus, which was had some novelty to it due to the fact that it was a Christmas horror movie.

Edited November 16, 2020 by lorddemaxus

[SnokesLegs]

2 hours ago, lorddemaxus said:

This would've done badly anyways if it had the same release date. No clue why studios keep releasing horror films during November and December when the only time it's worked in the past two decades was with Krampus, which was had some novelty to it due to the fact that it was a Christmas horror movie.

It was the same with Doctor Sleep last year, getting a horror film out a week or so before Halloween would’ve helped that film and Freaky massively. Mid-November is when everyone’s attention starts turning to Christmas themed films or the big blockbusters that normally come out, not the lower budgeted horror films, it’s baffling why studios are so blind to this.