Weekend Wrap-Up: Post-Holiday Slump Sinks Box Office
June 4, 2013
As per usual, the post-holiday weekend suffers a slump, but it was worse than expected with nearly every film failing to live up to predictions. Fast and Furious 6 fell very far, but it still came out on top. Meanwhile, Now You See Me topped expectations and topped After Earth over the weekend. Now You See Me was the one lone bright spot on an otherwise soft weekend, and the overall box office fell 35% to $164 million. On the other hand, this was still 15% higher than the same weekend last year. 2013 was able to pull out the win thanks to a much deeper box office. Six films earned more than $10 million this weekend compared to just three earning more than $10 million last year.
Fast and Furious 6 had the worst week-to-week decline in the top ten plummeting 64% to $35.16 million over the weekend for a total of $171.00 million after two. The film will have no trouble getting to $200 million, likely by this time next week, while it will top Fast Five shortly after that becoming the biggest hit in the franchise. Unless it cost more than $250 million to make and market, it will break even before it reaches the home market.
Now You See Me opened in second place with $29.25 million over the weekend. This is significantly higher than predictions. On the other hand, it only has mediocre reviews, so its legs likely won't be very strong. It should still hang around in theaters long enough to become a solid midlevel hit, but it won't get to $100 million.
After Earth is a bomb. I don't think it is unfair to describe it as such. The film opened in third place with $27.52 million, which isn't a bad start, except for the fact that it cost $130 million to make. With reviews that are among the worst of any wide release of the year, its legs will likely be very short. It might not earn half as much domestically as it cost to make, so it will have to rely on international numbers to break even. I'm not sure that's going to happen. Maybe it will have a run like Battleship, which earned only $65 million domestically, but nearly $250 million internationally. If After Earth does the same, then it could break even.
Star Trek into Darkness landed in fourth place with $16.78 million over the weekend for a total of $181.54 million after three. It should get to $200 million soon, perhaps as early as this time next week.
Epic rounded out the top five with $16.62 million over the weekend. The film has made $65.38 million after ten days of release, but it will need to recover a little bit this weekend to keep $100 million within reach.
The Hangover III fell 61% during its sophomore stint to $16.39 million over the weekend for a total of $88.54 million after eleven days of release. It will reach $100 million during the upcoming weekend, but that's a lot lower than the previous installments in the franchise and not enough to earn a profit in the near future.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Star Trek Into Darkness, Fast and Furious 6, Epic, After Earth, Now You See Me, The Hangover 3, Fast and the Furious, Hangover