James Bond and Charlie Brown are showing solid staying power at North American multiplexes, heading for respective weekends of $35 million for “Spectre” and $27 million for “The Peanuts Movie”, early estimates showed Friday.
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Of course, the dashing super spy wasn’t exactly facing off against Ernst Stavro Blofeld. It’s flawless counter-programming to Bond, but more importantly families continue to bring the kids out in moderate droves and it has the nostalgia factor built into it. Like Mockingjay Part 2’s looming release that will look to dethrone Bond, the only kids movie competition that The Peanuts Movie has to worry about is a few weeks away when Pixar unleashes their second movie of 2015, The Good Dinosaur, just before Thanksgiving weekend on November 25. “Skyfall”, its immediate predecessor, slid 53% in its second weekend to $41 million on its way to a $304 million domestic total. The weekend represents a 49% drop from its opening. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Eon Productions film carries a $250 million price tag and has to gross at least $650 million to break even. It was on track to deal $24.2 million in tickets this weekend, and $82.5 million over 10 days.
Not even two of the biggest stars in the world could keep “By the Sea” afloat.
The same can’t be said for the Angelina Jolie passion project, “By the Sea”. But the pleasures of voyeurism extend only so far. Universal, the studio behind the picture, pegs the budget at $10 million, but industry figures believe the cost of the picture is higher, citing its extended shoot in Malta.
In a slight upset, the top new film on Friday is the holiday ensemble comedy Love the Coopers, with $2.8 million. With “Our Brand Is Crisis” underperforming, the lack of traction for “The 33” gives Warner Bros. the dubious distinction of releasing back-to-back flops of films set in South America.
And then there was “My All American”, a true story about college football player Freddie Steinmark whose career is derailed due to medical setbacks. It played well in Texas and other markets throughout the South, earning an A CinemaScore, but it failed to break out like other faith-based hits like War Room.
“Spectre” looks likely to decline about 50% from its opening weekend and should close out the weekend near $135 million.
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Expanding to 60 theaters, Tom McCarthy’s acclaimed “Spotlight”, about the Boston Globe investigation into Catholic priest sex abuse, pulled in $1.4 million with a per-screen average of $23,307 for Open Road Films.
