7TH & 6TH UPDATE, Monday 4:30PM after 6:30 AM post with chart: Universal/Legendary’s Straight Outta Compton steamrolled its initial $40M-$50M projections this weekend with a $60.2M opening, easily making it the fifth-highest August opener ever. Rival distributors always knew that the F. Gary Gray-directed-film was going to overperform; it was a similar vibe they had during the weekend that American Sniper went wide.
Even more impressive, the musical biopic about hip-hop group N.W.A posted a FSS in tentpole territory, pegging ahead of such August openings as M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs ($60.1M), Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes ($54.8M) and G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra ($54.7M). Compton‘s weekend also outstrips the first weekends of such 2015 summer tentpoles as Ant-Man ($57.2M) and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation ($55.5M), which were playing in close to 1,200 more venues than the biopic’s 2,757-theater count. Compton attributes its success to a marketing campaign that married an aggressive social media campaign by the film’s talent and prolific producers along with recording industry tie-ins from Dr. Dre’s Beats and Interscope Records. During the 1980s and 1990s, music was always a key ancillary and marketing tool, particularly with song tie-ins. We occasionally see this nowadays, but Uni clearly has not forgotten about how powerful recording industry tie-ins are: Remember, the studio strategically used Beyonce’s Instagram to tease the first trailer, which yielded 100M views across all platforms.
As reported yesterday, Compton reps record openings for producer-director Gray and producers Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Scott Bernstein and EP Will Packer. Legendary co-financed Compton, which carries an estimated cost of $29M before distribution and marketing expenses. UTA packaged Compton with its clients Gray, Ice Cube, Packer, producer Matt Alvarez; thesps Paul Giamatti, Jason Mitchell, O’Shea Jackson Jr.; and DP Matthew Libatique. Disney/Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy owns the title as the biggest August opener of all time with $94.3M. Industry estimates originally figured that Compton would be off 20% from its Saturday B.O. of $19.4M, however it only slipped 13% yesterday, raking in $16.5M. Compton had the second biggest theater average among all films this weekend with $21,835, just behind Fox Searchlight’s Mistress America which minted $23.302 at four venues or a FSS of $93,206.
Paramount/Skydance’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation foiled Warner Bros.’ The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’s chances at second place, $17.2M to $13.4M. Any producer considering a big screen adaptation of CBS’ 1980s spy series Scarecrow and Mrs. King may want to think twice or at least learn from the U.N.C.L.E. misfire. What didn’t go wrong here? Stars without social media traction (extremely important when teasing a prolific action film, particularly during production — look no further to what all those Marvel movie stars do), Bond redux in the ads, and U.N.C.L.E.‘s opening B.O. wasn’t high enough stateside vs. pic’s estimated $84M production cost. Oh, and Compton was in the house. Critics didn’t hate U.N.C.L.E. at 67%, but audiences gave it an overall B CinemaScore. The 50-and-up crowd, who actually watched the show, hit U.N.C.L.E. on top of its head with their canes, giving it a C+ CinemaScore.
Even more taxing on U.N.C.L.E. is the following: According to iSpot.tv which tracks movie ad spend on TV, Warner Bros. shelled out an estimated $31.3M on national TV spots for U.N.C.L.E. since July 14. Universal spent $23M placing national TV ads for Compton since it was first teased on February 8th. Warners ran 47 different creatives/variations of the U.N.C.L.E. ads. The studio spent over $4M on both Fox and ABC. Compton, on the other hand, had 29 different ads/creative variations. Uni expended $2M each on ABC, Comedy Central and CBS as well as during the 2015 NBA Finals.
After raising 5% Saturday over Friday ($4.8M to $5M), Warner Bros.’ The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was down 29% on Sunday from yesterday with $3.58M, putting its opening at $13.46M.
All films this weekend grossed $148M per Rentrak, up 3% over the same frame a year ago. 2015 is at a whopping $7.3B, up 6.4% over the Jan. 1-Aug. 16 frame in 2014.
Top 20 weekend actuals per Rentrak for the weekend of Aug. 14-16:
1). Straight Outta Compton (UNI), 2,757 theaters / 3-day cume: $60.2M / Per screen average: $21,835 / Wk 1
2). Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation (PAR), 3,700 theaters (-288)/ 3-day cume: $17.2M (-40%)/ Per screen: $4,645 / Total Cume: $138.3M/ Wk 3
3). Man From U.N.C.L.E (WB), 3,638 theaters /3-day cume: $13.4M / Per screen: $3,689 / Wk 1
4). Fantastic Four (FOX), 4,004 theaters (+9)/ 3-day cume: $8.2M (-68%)/ Per screen: $2,040 / Total Cume: $42.1M /Wk 2
5). The Gift (STX), 2,503 theaters (0) /3-day cume: $6.5M (-45%)/ Per screen: $2,601 / Total Cume: $23.6M /Wk 2
6). Ant-Man (DIS), 2,306 theaters (-604) / 3-day cume: $5.5M (-31%)/ Per screen: $2,382 / Total cume: $157.5M / Wk 5
7). Vacation (WB), 3,088 theaters (-342)/3-day cume: $5.2M (-42%) / Per screen: $1,679 / Total cume: $46.7M /Wk 3
8). Minions (UNI), 2,640 theaters (-483)/ 3-day cume: $5.1M (-31%)/ Per screen: $1,950 /Total Cume: $312.9M / Wk 6
9). Ricki And The Flash (SONY), 2,064 theaters (+461) / 3-day cume: $4.6M (-31%)/ Per screen: $2,207 / Total cume: $14.6M / Wk 2
10). Trainwreck (UNI), 1,998 theaters (-527)/ 3-day cume: $3.8M (-38%)/ Per screen: $1,920 / Total cume: $98M/ Wk 5
11). Pixels (SONY), 2,176 theaters (-688) /3-day cume: $3.4M (-38%)/ Per screen: $21,547 / Total cume: $64.5M/ Wk 4
12). Shaun The Sheep Movie (LGF), 2,360 theaters (+40)/3-day cume: $2.9M (-29%) / Per screen: $1,221 / Total cume: $11.1M/ Wk 2
13). Southpaw (TWC), 1,727 theaters (-547) / 3-day cume: $2.4M (-49%) / Per screen: $1,398 / Total cume: $45.6M / Wk 4
14). Inside Out (Dis), 1,019 theaters (-339) / 3-day cume: $2M (-24%) / Per screen: $2,008 / Total cume: $339.4M / Wk 9
15). Jurassic World (UNI), 738 theaters (-381) /3-day cume: $1.2M (-36%) Per screen: $1,680/Total cume: $638M/ Wk 10
16). Mr. Holmes (RSA), 589 theaters (-189) / 3-day cume: $837K (-34%) / Per screen: $1,422 / Total cume: $14.3M / Wk 5
17). Paper Towns (FOX), 599 theaters (-685) / 3-day cume: $589K (-60%) / Per screen: $983 / Total cume: $30.4M / Wk 4
18). The End Of The Tour (A24), 133 theaters (+97)/ 3-day cume: $406K (+65%) / Per screen: $3,050 /Total cume: $944K / Wk 3
19). Irrational Man (SPC), 425 theaters (-500)/ 3-day cume: $405K (-52%) / Per screen: $952 /Total cume: $3.1M / Wk 5
20). Brothers: Blood Against (FIP), 164 theaters /3-day cume: $357K / Per screen: $2,179 /Wk
Notables
Amy (A24), 131 theaters (-18)/ 3-day cume: $211K (-22%) / Per screen: 1,607/ Total cume: $7.4M / Wk 7
Mistress America (FSL), 4 theaters /3-day cume: $93K / Per screen: $23,302 /Wk 1
Meru (MUSIC), 7 theaters /3-day cume: $91K / Per screen: $13,040 /Wk 1
Go Away Mr. Tumor (CLE), 15 theaters /3-day cume: $50K / Per screen: $3,336 /Wk 1
People Places Things (TFA), 19 theaters /3-day cume: $31K / Per screen: $1,619 /Wk 1
Paulette (CMG), 1 theaters /3-day cume: $9K / Wk 1
Night Of The Shooting Stars (CMG), 1 theaters /3-day cume: $2.5K / Wk 1
The Great Man (IND), 1 theaters /3-day cume: $9K / Wk 1
Teen Lust (eONE), 5 theaters /3-day cume: $436 / Per screen: $87/ Total cume: 16K /Wk 1
5TH UPDATE, final Sunday AM report after 7 AM post: Universal/Legendary’s Straight Outta Compton raised the roof this weekend for a dramatic biopic, on track for a $57.4M opening weekend per industry estimates. Universal figures have it lower at $56.09M at 2,757 theaters. Astounding numbers in any case for a summer drama. Consider the fact that Compton is beating the openings of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation ($55.5M) and potentially Ant-Man ($57.2M) and that’s with nearly 1,200 fewer theaters! Among August opening records, Compton is sixth. However, its FSS beats the first weekends of such August tentpoles Rise of the Planet of the Apes ($54.8M), G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra ($54.7M) and Rush Hour 3 ($49.1M).
Compton’s first weekend is also the best ever for a musical biopic. Many are saying Compton‘s opening beats Fox’s Johnny Cash bio Walk the Line which made $22.3M. I’m of the mindset that Compton bested the first frame of Universal’s 2002 Eminem hip hop headliner 8 Mile ($51.2M). As pointed out by critics at the time, 8 Mile was arguably a semi-biopic as Eminem played a white Detroit rapper with a similar storyline to his own. Compton also marked record openings for director F. Gary Gray, and producers Ice Cube, Scott Bernstein and Will Packer.
Compton’s success can be attributed to, among other things, a synergistic marketing campaign driven by social media (where Universal has just been kicking ass this year) and the recording industry, with producer Dr. Dre’s Beats, Interscope music, Apple and Uni as big players. Heading into the weekend, Dr. Dre’s companion album “Compton” sold 258K copies, the second highest on the charts last week.
Beams Universal domestic distribution chief Nicholas Carpou about Compton’s success, “F. Gary Gray, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre have delivered an extraordinary film that records an important piece of American culture. It stands on its own from a historical standpoint. As the summer box office heads into August, and a fatigue sets in for certain types of tentpole films, audiences look for thought-provoking titles like Straight Outta Compton.”
It’s no surprise to hear that Compton played big on the west coast, particularly in Los Angeles where that market owns nine out of the top 10 grossing engagements for the film. Compton also overindexed in a slew of cities including, but not limited to Jackson, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Fresno, Atlanta, Baltimore, Palm Springs, and Detroit.
Both males (59%) and females (41%) gave Compton an A. 68% were 25 and up and they gave the film an A. The following demos gave Compton an A+: under 25 (32%), 18-24 (19%) and under 18 (13%). The demo breakdown for Compton’s audience was as follows: 46% African American, 23% Caucasian, 21% Hispanic and 4% Asian.
Compton’s premium large-format screens numbering 323 grossed $5.1 million, which repped close to 9% of the pic’s weekend. Cinemark XD led all exhibitors with a chart topping $1.8 million in 94 runs representing a sensational 35% of the total PLF gross.
Saturday’s tally for Compton is $19.5M, 20% off from its opening Friday of $24.3M. Many predicted the front-loaded fan trajectory for the N.W.A. biopic throughout the weekend. Sunday should be off 30% from Saturday.
According to industry estimates, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation always owned No. 2 over The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in the showdown between 1960s TV spy movies this weekend. M:I5 is set to make $17.3M at 3,700 runs taking its three-weekend cume to $138.4M. Par is calling the film’s third weekend this morning at $17M.
Warner Bros. is reporting U.N.C.L.E. at $13.5M which is just slightly above where the town sees it at $13.4M. Guy Ritchie made a beautiful movie for a younger audience, but they were slow to embrace the film because they don’t have any context for it. The over-25 crowd came out at 86% and overall weren’t amused.
It’s not a crazy idea to bring another 1960s TV series to the big screen. Look, Tom Cruise launched the first Mission: Impossible film 23 years after the TV show’s exit in 1973, and it largely catered to a young audience in 1996, not the original fans. The difference between the first Mission: Impossible and U.N.C.L.E. is the obvious fact that Mission had a big star behind it, and Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer unfortunately aren’t enough to blast U.N.C.L.E. off.
Cruise was wise to exit U.N.C.L.E. as it would have been old hat for him, not only because of his involvement in Mission Impossible, but also because he’s already tied his shoelaces together at the B.O. with spy-lite films like Knight & Day.
If U.N.C.L.E. was looking to hook the youngins’ (who were obviously watching Compton), it would have helped if it had some social media stars promoting the film, and it was completely void of that with its sexy cast of Cavill, Hammer and Alicia Vikander. Costar Hugh Grant has 215K Twitter followers and he wasn’t talking about it on his handle. Guy Ritchie has 78k Instagram followers on a three-month old account and another 17k on Twitter, but those are beginners’ numbers. Social Media Monitor RelishMix reports that U.N.C.L.E.‘s social media video footprint is average with 43M. Facebook reach is at 9.6M for video reposting, Twitter reach at 6.2M, and YouTube views at 26.1M. Repost video rate is at the ho-hum range of 7 to 1.
https://instagram.com/p/6NOwo-iRE-/?taken-by=guyritchie
U.N.C.L.E. found some family on Saturday, with a 5% uptick with $5.1M vs. the studio’s $4.87M Friday. 52% males gave Ritchie’s film a B-, 48% females gave it a B CinemaScore. The 50-and-up crowd, who actually watched the show, slapped U.N.C.L.E.’s face with a C+ CinemaScore. That’s not good considering they repped 39% of all U.N.C.L.E. ticket buyers. The under-18 crowd was the only group to give U.N.C.L.E. a kiss with an A- CinemaScore, but they only repped 7% of the crowd. The long-term prospects for U.N.C.L.E., which I now hear cost around $84M before marketing and distrib expenses, are quite dim. RatPac has a sliver of this, financing-wise, as they do on all Warner releases, but the onus of U.N.C.L.E.‘s budget rests largely on the Burbank studio. No big co-financiers here to cover any bruises. Also, at this point it looks like the film doesn’t have medical insurance in its overseas B.O. Given Cavill, Grant and Vikander, Warner Bros. intentionally built U.N.C.L.E. to cover their butts abroad.
The top 12 films per studio estimates for the weekend of Aug. 14-16 as compiled by Deadline’s Amanda N’Duka. Industry weekend calculations included:
1). Straight Outta Compton (UNI), 2,757 theaters / $24.2M Fri.* / $19.3M Sat. (-20%) / $12.6M Sun. (-35%) / 3-day cume: $56.1M / Wk 1
*includes Thursday previews of $4.96M
Industry weekend: $57.4M
2). Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation (PAR), 3,700 theaters (-288) / $4.9M Fri. /$7.3M Sat. (+48%) / $4.8M Sun. (-34%)/ 3-day cume:$17M (-40%)/ Total Cume: $138.1M/ Wk 3
Industry weekend: $17.3M
3). Man From U.N.C.L.E (WB), 3,638 theaters / $4.9M Fri.** / $5.1M Sat. (+5%) / $3.6M Sun. (-30%) /3-day cume: $13.5M / Wk 1
**includes Thursday previews of $900K.
Industry weekend: $13.4M
4). Fantastic Four (FOX), 4,004 theaters (+9)/ $2.4M Fri. / $3.3M Sat. (+37%) / $2.3M Sun. (-30%) / 3-day cume: $8M (-69%)/ Total Cume: $42M /Wk 2
Industry weekend: $8.1M
5). The Gift (STX), 2,503 theaters (0) / $1.9M Fri. / $2.7M Sat. (+41%) / $1.9M Sun. (-30%) /3-day cume: $6.5M (-45%)/ Total Cume: $23.6M /Wk 2
Industry weekend: $6.5M
6). Ant-Man (DIS), 2,306 theaters (-604) / $1.5M Fri. /$2.3M Sat. (+50%) / $1.7M Sun. (-25%) / 3-day cume: $5.5M (-30%)/Total cume: $157.6M / Wk 5
Industry weekend: $5.46M
7). Vacation (WB), 3,088 theaters (-342)/ $1.5M Fri. / $2.2M Sat. (+47%) / $1.6M Sun. (-30%) /3-day cume: $5.3M (-40%) / Total cume: $46.9M /Wk 3
Industry weekend: $5.27M
8). Minions (UNI), 2,640 theaters (-483)/ $1.4M Fri./ $2.1M Sat. (+48%) / $1.6M Sun. (-25%) / 3-day cume: $5.16M (-31%)/Total Cume: $312.9M / Wk 6
Industry weekend: $5.17M
9). Ricki And The Flash (SONY), 2,064 theaters (+461) / $1.3M Fri. /$1.9M Sat. (+44%) / $1.3M Sun. (-30%) / 3-day cume: $4.6M(-31%)/Total cume: $14.7M / Wk 2
Industry weekend: $4.5M
10). Trainwreck (UNI), 1,998 theaters (-527)/ $1.2M Fri. /$1.6M Sat. (+36%) / $1M Sun. (-35%) / 3-day cume: $3.8M (-38%)/Total cume: $98M/ Wk 5
Industry weekend: $3.85M
11). Pixels (SONY), 2,176 theaters (-688)/ $956K Fri. / $1.4M Sat. (+46%) / $1M Sun. (-25%) /3-day cume: $3.4M (-38%)/Total cume: $64M/ Wk 4
Industry weekend: $3.36M
12). Shaun The Sheep Movie (LGF), 2,360 theaters (+40)/ $797K Fri./ 1.2M Sat. (+48%) / 873K Sun. (-26%) /3-day cume: $2.85M (-29%) /Total cume: $11.1M/ Wk 2
Industry weekend: $2.8M
Notables:
The End Of The Tour (A24), 133 theaters (+97)/ 3-day cume: $399K / Total cume: $938K / Wk 3
Brothers: Blood Against (FIP), 164 theaters / $113K Fri. / $137K Sat. (+21%) / $89K Sun. (-35%) / 3-day cume: $339K / Wk 1
Amy (A24), 131 theaters / 3-day cume: $199K / Total cume: $7.4M / Wk 6
Mistress America (FSL), 4 theaters / $30K Fri. / $36K Sat. (+18%) / $28K Sun. (-22%) /3-day cume: $94K / Per Screen: $23.5K /Wk 1
Meru (MUSIC), 7 theaters / $33K Fri. / $33K Sat. (+2%) / $27K Sun. (-20%) / 3-day cume: $93K / Wk 1
Once I Was A Beehive (PUR), 19 theaters / $30K Fri. / $17K Sat. (+43%) / $12K Sun. (-30%) / 3-day cume: $59K / Wk 1
Walt Before Mickey (IND), 1 theater / $7K Fri. / $5K Sat. (-25%) / $4K Sun. (-20%) / 3-day cume: $16K / Wk 1
Turbo Kid (IND), 8 theaters / $8K Fri. / $4K Sat. (-49%) / $3K Sun. (-35%) / 3-day cume: $14K / Wk 1
4TH & 3RD UPDATE, Saturday 7am after Midnight post: How massive is Straight Outta Compton? Let’s start with its Friday haul of $24.3M. That’s the fourth highest opening day for an August release, beating the first days of Rush Hour 2 ($23.1M) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra ($22.2M), Signs ($20.9M) and Rise of the Planet of the Apes ($19.5M).
Straight Outta Compton is touching a cultural nerve, and to say it crossed over is an understatement. Opening weekend for Compton is now looking like it will be north of $59M.
Rentrak’s PostTrak reports that audiences gave the Universal/Legendary title a 5 out of 5 stars which is largely unheard of for their polls; typically the best films coming out of PostTrak land 4 or 4.5 stars. And not just guys, but women are giving the F. Gary Gray-directed biopic a respective 74% and 76% definite recommend – very high marks per Rentrak. 38% of those watching Compton came out because of the subject matter and the plot. CinemaScore is a resounding A. Given Compton’s fast-beat rhythm this weeekend, Uni is officially launching an Oscar campaign for the film and will start Academy screenings today.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. big screen version of the 1960s TV spy show The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is looking like Man From N.E.P.H.E.W. in its grosses with a $13.6M $14.5M estimated opening weekend and a $4.8M $5M Friday. Keep in mind, that is off a reported $80M production cost.
And if there’s a theme running through the box office report this weekend, it’s irony: Ironic that Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (estimated third weekend at $17M) star Tom Cruise was once attached and later untangled himself from U.N.C.L.E; ironic that Compton was the second picture that Warner Bros./New Line had put into turnaround and ended up at Universal. What was the first one? That would be another Ice Cube/Will Packer combo by the name of Ride Along (opening $41.5M, final cume $134.9M).
On Friday we heard that Los Angeles theaters were over-indexing New York. Deadline’s Anita Busch headed out to Rave Baldwin Hills in the evening and discovered that every Compton show was sold out. PostTrak also reports that Compton is popular among older men with 60% males and 52% over 25. When it came to box office comps for Compton, distribution chiefs scratched their heads, however, one tonight suggested Ride Along. Even though it was a comedy, it pulled in a similar older guy demo as well as an A CinemaScore. That film yieled a 3.25x multiple from its opening with a total cume of $134.9M. If you think long and hard, you’ll remember that 8 Mile was another hip hop (loosely based) biopic from Universal that popped out a $51.2M opening. However, that film was released during the height of Eminem’s career and drew an under-25 crowd of 60%. That percentage has flipped toward the over-25 crowd with Compton as 70% of Friday’s ticket buyers were over 25.
So what went right here? During the 1980s and 1990s, music was an essential component to a film’s marketing campaign: It was essential for a studio to have the No. 1 film at the B.O. and the No. 1 song or album on the charts (read the Whitney Houston headliner Waiting to Exhale). During the millennial age, this feat happens occasionally. As such, it would have been bonkers for Universal to ignore the music opp with Compton, and so they teamed up with Interscope Records label, Apple and Compton producer/N.W.A. alum Dr. Dre’s Beats company. In addition to N.W.A.’s June 27 reunion BET Experience concert with Ice Cube, MC Ren and DJ Yella, Dre released a companion album to the film; his first in 16 years. Compton sold over 258K copies last week, becoming the No. 2 album on the sales chart and the No. 1 album on iTunes. Per social media monitor RelishMix, the hashtag for Dre’s album #COMPTON blew up on Twitter at 62k listings.
One of the most staggering pieces of marketing for Compton EP Will Packer? That Straight Outta …Your Hometown meme, which was hatched by Beats and has generated 6M+ downloads.
Giving Uni props on their marketing, Packer told Deadline at TCA, “Their marketing chain is a monster. They get it and they listen. I’m someone who came up as a grassroots marketer. That’s a lot of what I do. I want to connect with real people. I don’t want to just rely on television spots, billboards and ads.”
I’m told in regards to producing Compton, Ice Cube and Scott Bernstein spent 250 hours in the editing room with Gray. They were also on the set everyday along with Dre. Ice Cube has been involved in the film for 13 years and has been on the road promoting the film with Bernstein. Ice Cube has also appeared on a number of TV outlets promoting the film. Between Gray, Ice Cube, Packer, producer Matt Alvarez, and thesps Paul Giamatti, Jason Mitchell, O’Shea Jackson Jr. along with DP Matthew Libatique, Straight Outta Compton is a UTA packaged film.
Similar to Furious 7, Uni reaped the spoils of having talent with huge SMUs attached to Compton. Dre counts 13.8M likes on Facebook and 2.66M Twitter followers. Ice Cube has been adding 8K fans a day on Facebook totaling toward 9.8M.
RelisMix counts the film’s SMU at 80.1M including FB reach of 33M with a heavy boost from Dr. Dre and his album release last week. Twitter reach is 7.7M and YT views are just over 40M. Compton’s movie page has exceptional reach for a one-off on Facebook with 1.8M fans. Instagram stands at 53K. #StraightOuttaCompton hashtags are building, popped to 17k at the time of the premiere and are now cycling back up at 15k.
Man From U.N.C.L.E. is a head shaker. It looks so gorgeous in its ads, yet seems so derivative of Bond, especially when there’s already a great trailer for a new 007 film out there. In a year of too many spy films, should Warner Bros. have moved the film to a different date? Some insiders think so, especially in the wake of Kingsmen: The Secret Service and the third week of M:I5.
However, Rentrak’s box office guru Paul Dergarabedian says that there’s no better time than the present: “In any given August, a film like The Man From U.N.C.L.E. would fare well. It makes sense that the film was dated during this month. August is a month where edgy mass-appealing films like Inglourious Basterds and District 9 have launched. But there’s a film that is totally dominating the conversation and that film is Straight Outta Compton.”
Dergarabedian points out that U.N.C.L.E.’s 52% definite recommend isn’t shabby, “but hopefully people can find the film in the weeks to come.” Audiences gave U.N.C.L.E. a B Cinemascore.
I hear U.N.C.L.E. plays like Guy Ritchie at 47, not Ritchie at 30, when he made Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. “If you’re gonna make this film, you gotta make it campy,” said one rival studio executive while another looked at the stars on the poster and asked “Who the hell are these guys?” He was specifically referring to Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, two young male leads who unfortunately don’t have enough wattage to pull out the over/under 25 crowd. U.N.C.L.E. drew older males at 67% over 25 and 57% guys per Rentrak’s PostTrak. Other sources tell Deadline that Cavill and Hammer didn’t register high in regards to why audiences turned out tonight.
Is Fantastic Four’s anticipated 69% 68% second frame drop the worst ever for a Marvel-branded film? Many fanboys would love that to be the case, however, those goat horns go to 2003’s Hulk which dropped 70% in its second frame. Fantastic Four joins other Fox Marvel titles Elektra and X-Men Origins: Wolverine as runner ups to Hulk. Those two titles also posted a -69% second weekend decline. Other second weekend holdovers, STX’s The Gift and Lionsgate’s Shaun The Sheep posted declines that weren’t steeper than -50%.
Sony’s Meryl Streep aged rocker pic Ricki and The Flash — not to be confused as a sequel to the Carol Burnett-Alan Arkin 1981 comedy Chu Chu and the Philly Flash — rose its theater count to 2.064 and is poised to make $4.4M this weekend, down 33%.
Deadline’s Anita Busch contributed to this report
The top 10 films per industry estimates for the weekend of Aug. 14-16 as compiled by Deadline’s Amanda N’Duka:
1). Straight Outta Compton (UNI), 2,757 theaters / $24.3M Fri.* / 3-day cume: $59.4M / Wk 1
*includes Thursday previews of $4.96M
2). Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation (PAR), 3,700 theaters (-288) / $4.89M Fri. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $17M (-40%)/ Total Cume: $138.1/ Wk 3
3). Man From U.N.C.L.E (WB), 3,638 theaters / $4.8M Fri.**/ 3-day cume: $13.6M / Wk 1
**includes Thursday previews of $900K.
4). Fantastic Four (FOX), 4,004 theaters (+9)/ $2.4M Fri. (-79%)/ 3-day cume: $7.9M (-69%)/ Total Cume: $41.8M /Wk 2
5). The Gift (STX), 2,503 theaters (0) / $1.92M Fri. (-53%) / 3-day cume: $6.15M (-48%)/ Total Cume: $23.2M /Wk 2
6). Ant-Man (DIS), 2,306 theaters (-604) / $1.5Fri. (-34%) / 3-day cume: $5.35M (-32%)/Total cume: $153.6M / Wk 5
7). Vacation (WB), 3,088 theaters (-342)/ $1.5M Fri. (-45%) / 3-day cume: $5.1M (-43%) / Total cume: $46.6M /Wk 3
8). Minions (UNI), 2,640 theaters (-483)/ $1.4M Fri. (-36%)/ 3-day cume: $4.8M (-35%)/Total Cume: $312.6M / Wk 6
9). Ricki And The Flash (SONY), 2,064 theaters (+461) / $1.3M Fri. (-42%) / 3-day cume: $4.4M (-33%)/Total cume: $14.4M / Wk 2
10). Trainwreck (UNI), 1,998 theaters (-527)/ $1.18M Fri. (-38%) / 3-day cume: $3.8M (-38%)/Total cume: $97.9M/ Wk 5
11). Pixels (Sony), 2,176 theaters (-688)/ $956K Fri. (-41%)/ 3-day cume: $3.26M (-40%) /Total cume: $64.4M/ Wk 4
12). Shaun The Sheep Movie (LGF), 2,360 theaters (+40)/ $785K Fri. (-36%)/ 3-day cume: $2.6M (-35%) /Total cume: $11.1M/ Wk 2
NOTABLES:
Meru (MUSIC), 7 theaters / $33K Fri. / 3-day cume: $104K / Wk 1
Once I Was a Beehive (PURE), 19 theaters / $30K Fri. / 3-day cume: $96K / Per screen avg: $21K /Wk 1
Mistress America (FSL), 4 theaters / $30K Fri. / 3-day cume: $99K / Per screen avg: $24K /Wk 1
Walt Before Mickey (IND), 1 theater / $6K Fri. / 3-day cume: $20K / Wk 1
2ND Update, 1:30PM: While Straight Outta Compton is playing to a completely different demo than American Sniper did, there’s that similar vibe in the air that the F. Gary Gray-directed biopic about N.W.A. will overperform to great heights. It has that kind of momentum where studio executives around town can’t guess just how high Compton will go. Friday’s ticket sales per industry estimates are between $24M-$25M for the Universal/Legendary title. Bare minimum for FSS: $55M, however, many think this film can rise to $60M.
Those projections are barring feared disturbances that led to Universal paying for extra security at some theaters. Sources tell me the film is over-indexing in Los Angeles area theaters, N.W.A.’s home turf; and besting New York metro ticket sales.
Two films based on 1960s properties are in a spy vs. spy showdown for spots 2 and 3, and Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is expected to slot second with a third weekend take of $16M, down 45%, raising its cume through Sunday to $137.1M. Warner Bros.’ The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is estimated at a $5M Friday, with a weekend of $14M-$15M. 20th Century Fox’s Fantastic Four is looking at a 61% decline with approximately $10M in its second weekend, for an estimated 10-day cume of $44M.
1st Update, 6:48AM: Universal/Legendary’s Straight Outta Compton collected $4.96M last night at 2,264 theaters from previews that began at 8 PM. That’s an amazing number for a drama biopic, outstripping the $4M that Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation chalked up in its Thursday preview at 2,764. Compton was easily the No. 1 film of the night, beating M:I5 which made an estimated $2.6M among all holdovers for a two-week running domestic cume of $121.1M.
The film goes wide today at 2,751 theaters. Yesterday, Fandango reported that 70% of their advance ticket sales this weekend were coming from Compton, easily making it the top-selling musical biopic in the online company’s history. Industry estimates believe that the F. Gary Gray film can do north of $40M, possibly even $50M. Earlier this week, tracking showed that men under 25 were making Compton their first choice this weekend at 18%, followed by men over 25 (11%) and women under 25 (10%).
Comps have been challenging for some distributors. Previous critically acclaimed African American films that crossed over in August, read The Help and The Butler, skewed older, while Compton is much younger.
Warner Bros.’ The Man From U.N.C.L.E. took in $900K last night. Industry estimates see this Guy Ritchie-directed film based on the 1960s MGM TV show making $17M-$18M this weekend off a reported budget of $80M. U.N.C.L.E. has an 8% first choice among guys under 25, however, its total awareness at 70% is strongest among men over 25. U.N.C.L.E. marks the first film for Henry Cavill since 2013’s Man Of Steel and Armie Hammer’s first lead since Disney’s 2013 expensive blunder The Lone Ranger (not counting his appearance in Entourage where he played himself).
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