FRIDAY PM: Disney‘s Tron: Ares is looking at $15M today, now set for a 3-day in the mid-to-high $30 million range at 4,000 theaters. It will take a very big Saturday and Sunday to put the Jared Leto movie back in the $40M range.
Here’s some upside: It’s Indigenous People’s Day weekend, hence a 4-day stretch. If MLB and NFL steal the guys away Sunday, here’s to hoping they find the movie on Monday. Comscore reports that 45% of K-12 schools are off Monday along with another 22% colleges.
Currently, No. 2 is between Warner Bros’ One Battle After Another and Paramount/Miramax’s Roofman, each with about $7M-$7.5M. Roofman is booked at 3,362 while One Battle After Another has 3,127 theaters in its third weekend. On the high end for the Paul Thomas Anderson directed-Leonardo DiCaprio starring movie, that’s a -32% ease from its second weekend. Running total by Sunday could stand at $55.3M, which would be +6% ahead of DiCaprio’s Killers of the Flower Moon at the same 17-day mark.
Universal’s Gabby’s Dollhouse is fourth at 3,039 sites with a Friday of $1M, third weekend of $4.2M, -21%, and a running total of $27.2M.
Filing fifth is Sony Affirm’s Soul on Fire at 1,720 with a Friday of $1.4M for a 3-day of $2.5M-$3M.
Ideally in regards to the overall marketplace, it’s bright and sunny when the 3-days of your Columbus Day frame cracks $100M, but it’s clear we won’t have that this weekend. Post Covid, the second weekend of October posted its best in 2023 when all movies totaled $132.9M per Box Office Mojo thanks to the opening of Taylor Swift: Eras Tour. Even if Taylor Swift: Showgirl was around this weekend, yeah, sure, it would’ve dropped, but it would have still provided some more depth to the weekend box office.
FRIDAY AM: Disney is reporting that Tron: Ares previews are coming in at $4.8 million. That includes limited Wednesday early shows and previews that began Thursday at 2 p.m.
Knock on wood this one opens to its tracking, meaning north of $40M; we don’t need any movies underperforming. The fall, though ahead of last year by 2% at around $674M, is OK but not vibrant with myriad starry adult movies such as Dwayne Johnson’s The Smashing Machine and Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell’s A Big Bold Beautiful Journey not working. The male-heavy Tron: Ares faces competition from MLB playoffs this weekend as well as NFL. Good news: The pic’s Rotten Tomatoes audience score stands at 86%, better than the previous installment, 2010’s Tron: Legacy, which did 64% fresh.
Tron: Ares previews certainly are ahead of Tron: Legacy‘s preview cash, which was $3.6M, but that was back in the era of the midnight preview. Right now, it’s look like Tron: Ares will file under such fanboy reboots as last year’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes ($6.6M total previews) and Alien: Romulus ($6.5M). It’s also under that of Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes ($5.8M). Advance ticket sales we told you for Tron: Ares were at $7M, on par with Alien: Romulus, which opened to $42M. Songbirds & Snakes bowed to $45M.
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Previews for the Joachim Rønning-directed movie movie are ahead of The Equalizer 3, which yielded a $3.8M preview and a $35M three-day opening in 2023. Tron: Ares, produced by its star Jared Leto and former Disney Head of Production Sean Bailey, cost $180M before P&A.
Miramax and Paramount’s Channing Tatum-Kirsten Dunst romance caper Roofman collected $1M from 2,800 locations Thursday. Showtimes started at 7 p.m. Audiences gave the pic 4 out of 5 stars on PostTrak. No audience score yet, but reviews are at 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. The $19M production goes wide today at 3,362 sites. Tatum’s Dog did $1.26M in Valentine’s Day sneaks and previews before earning a $5M Friday and $14.8M 3-day driven by his female audience. However that movie was PG-13, and Roofman is rated R. The 3-day on Roofman is around $10M.
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Sony/Affirm’s Soul on Fire made $575,000 from showtimes that began at 4 p.m. at 1,450 sites. The film received an A CinemaScore and 5-star PostTrak rating. The movie is from Soul Surfer filmmaker Sean McNamara. Logline for faith-based film: After suffering an accident, a young boy ends up relying on his family, his faith and his community in his fight for survival.
Here’s the rest of the top 5 for the week
1) Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl (AMC) Wk $34M/Wk 1 (remember, it didn’t play the weekdays)
2) One Battle After Another (WB) 3,634 theaters, Thu $1M (-22%) Wk $16.2M (-49%), Total $47.8M/Wk 2
3) The Smashing Machine (A24) 3,345 theaters, Thu $316K (-34%), Wk $7.7M/Wk 1
4) Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie (Uni) 3,507 theaters, Thu $298K (-1%), Wk $6.6M (-60%)/Total $23M/Wk 2
5) The Conjuring: Last Rites (NL/WB) 2,753 theaters, Thu $370K (-3%), WK $5.76M (-37%), Total $169.5M/Wk 5
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