Kung Fu Panda 3will secure a second weekend in first place, thanks largely to a lack of enthusiasm for the three new releases the box office has put up against this year’s Super Bowl. OnlyHail, Caesar!, the period comedy from theCoen Brothers, will hit double digits through Sunday, whileThe ChoiceandPride and Prejudice and Zombiesboth seem destined to open well below expectations.
After debuting in first placelast weekend, Dreamworks’Kung Fu Panda 3earned an estimated $5.2 million yesterday and is expected to top $20 million by Sunday. That would mark a sophomore drop of more than 50%, which is a bit steep when compared to similar animated titles. For example,Hotel Transylvania 2dropped 31.5% in its own sophomore frame last October though, to be fair, the Sony sequel did not have to compete with America’s favorite sporting event.
In second place on Friday, Universal’sHail, Caesar!took in an estimated $4.3 million from 2,232 locations. That indicates an opening weekend of about $11 million, or about what the industry expected.Hail, Caesar!is one of just a handful of Coen Brothers films to get an initial release in more than 2,000 theatres, includingBurn After Reading. LikeCaesar!,BurnstarredGeorge Clooneyand an all-star ensemble, but it opened closer to $20 million back in 2008. Though the Super Bowl makes a convenient scapegoat forCaesar!, the film’s discouraging C- CinemaScore may be the bigger factor in determining its final box office future.
In third place yesterday wasThe Choice, the latest in a seemingly endless series of film adaptations ofNicholas Sparks’ novels. The romance pic took third place with an estimated $2.48 from 2,631 locations on Friday. Sparks has a history of successfully counterprogramming the Super Bowl: in 2010Dear Johnopened with $30.4 million, or the second-highest Super Bowl debut of all time. Clearly,The Choicewill not come close to that figure. In fact, it should wind up as the lowest debut ever for a Sparks novel with just over $5 million over three days.
The final new release of the weekend is also a literary adaptation:Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, based onSeth Grahame-Smith’s 2008 bestseller. The horror riff on theJane Austenclassic took in an estimated $2 million from 2,931 locations on Friday. That should make topping $5 million difficult forZombies– a film that was projected to open closer to $10 million.
As we told you yesterday, the biggest box office news of the week is the fact thatStar Wars: The Force Awakenshas now earned over $900 million in North America. Compared to that incredible achievement, evenThe Revenantlooks like an underachiever on Friday’s top five chart, though these things are all relative… We’ll have full details on the weekend box office tomorrow.
Kung Fu Panda 3
$5,200,000
Hail, Caesar!
$4,310,000
The Choice
$2,480,000
The Revenant
$2,080,000
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
$2,035,000
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
$1,760,000
