The month of September continues to be a decent if light month on films depending on your interests as I’ve only managed to get enthused enough once to use my Regal Unlimited card. But that’s how this period goes!
The latest box office numbers are coming in and it looks like it was a fantastic weekend for Focus Features with Downton Abbey. With an expectation of older audiences heading out for it and some continued good will toward the TV run, the film did a $31 million debut to become the top of the weekend but also the largest opener for the studio ever. The film was just under 75% female and 60% older than thirty-five so it certainly skewed in an area that often doesn’t turn out in such numbers, especially for an opening weekend. With an “A” CinemaScore, it’ll be interesting to see if it can hold or get repeat business.
Second place is likely going to shift up when the final numbers come in as Ad Astra and Rambo: Last Blood are about $200k apart. Ad Astra won’t fare well in the long run with its supposed $100 million production and a “B-” CinemaScore won’t generate much word of mouth. It did skew largely down the line but heavily over twenty-five.
Rambo: Last Blood was made for $50 million so it’ll handle the take better with its “B” CinemaScore and skewing more male as expected.
Not on the chart but something that’s worth talking about is the GKIDS release of Promare over the weekend in 31 screens, coming in at 28th. The film did about $80k over the weekend after its main weekday showings where on Tuesday it did $256k and Thursday where it did $467k. That brings it up to $805k this past week which is definitely good for a film that didn’t get a lot of promotion overall and had such a limited roll-out.
The final weekend of September next week has Universal serving up Abominable in 4,100 screens as the main new feature. Vertical has The Curse of Buckout Road, IFC has The Day Shall Come, Well Go USA has First Love, Strand has The Golden Glove, Roadside Attractions has Judy, Cinedigm has Prey, while Rialto has Serie Noire.
| # | Title | Distributor Name | Weekend Total | # of Locs | Loc Avg | Cume Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Downton Abbey | Focus Features | $31,000,000 | 3,079 | $10,068 | $31,000,000 |
| 2 | Ad Astra | 20th Century Fox | $19,210,000 | 3,460 | $5,552 | $19,210,000 |
| 3 | Rambo: Last Blood | Lionsgate | $19,015,000 | 3,618 | $5,256 | $19,015,000 |
| 4 | IT Chapter Two | Warner Bros. | $17,245,000 | 4,156 | $4,149 | $179,165,563 |
| 5 | Hustlers | STX Entertainment | $17,000,000 | 3,525 | $4,823 | $62,545,213 |
| 6 | Lion King, The | Disney | $2,572,000 | 1,978 | $1,300 | $537,592,304 |
| 7 | Good Boys | Universal | $2,510,000 | 2,025 | $1,240 | $77,305,605 |
| 8 | Angel Has Fallen | Lionsgate | $2,400,000 | 2,505 | $958 | $64,689,679 |
| 9 | Overcomer | Sony | $1,500,000 | 1,818 | $825 | $31,567,203 |
| 10 | Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw | Universal | $1,460,000 | 1,391 | $1,050 | $170,613,810 |
| 11 | Dora And The Lost City Of Gold | Paramount | $1,220,000 | 944 | $1,292 | $58,364,429 |
| 12 | Brittany Runs A Marathon | Amazon Studios | $1,044,379 | 1,033 | $1,011 | $5,284,566 |