Weekend Estimates: Three-Way Tie on Another Slow Weekend
September 23, 2012
Moviegoers have delivered a split verdict this weekend, with any one of three films in the running for top spot as of Sunday morning. End of Watch and House at the End of the Street are tied at $13 million, according to projections from Open Road and Relativity, but Trouble with the Curve is right behind them with a projected $12.72 million, according to Warner Bros., and the eventual winner is still anybody's guess. In fact, Trouble with the Curve may have a slight edge, since it is likely to have better legs on Sunday. For all the intrigue at the top, September continues to be a very sluggish month at the box office, and there's little that this weekend's new releases will do to change that.
Looking a little further down the chart, Dredd is a bust for Lionsgate with $6.3 million projected for the weekend -- a very disappointing number considering its good reviews. The Master, meanwhile, makes an impressive jump into the top 10, with Weinstein projecting $5 million for the weekend from 788 theaters. Good as that is, the $6,345 projected per theater average is perhaps a little lower than anticipated and suggests that the film may have more niche art-house appeal than broad interest. Perhaps some awards buzz will help it in the next month or two.
Two limited releases stand out this weekend. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is projected to earn $244,000 from just four theaters for Lionsgate/Summit, and Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel is set for around $64,000 from 3 venues. The latter film will almost certainly play to good audiences for a while, although it will have limited cross-over appeal (Bill Cunningham New York is most likely a good model for its eventual performance). The Perks of Being a Wallflower will almost certainly go a lot wider though, and is one to watch over the next few weeks.
Bruce Nash bruce.nash@the-numbers.com
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, House at the End of the Street, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Dredd, Trouble with the Curve, End of Watch, The Master