Need for Speed would seem to be your big winner, though I suppose “big” is all relative when you consider this might not break $25 million. I don’t know anyone who wants to see it, not friends, family, or foes, but it will only need one out of every 100 Americans to bite. Which means 99 of us are still pretty solid decision-makers. Silver lining?
Tyler Perry’s latest Tyler Perrry movie, The Single Moms Club, sounds like one of his fantasy fiction ideas that was somehow greenlit. I wasn’t able to find tracking for this weekend, but only getting 1,800 theaters isn’t going to get it done. The argument I’ve heard from distributors would go something like, “well, those 1,800 theaters are where the audience is”, but that only proves my point. Why isn’t there a larger audience for this? And have we artificially segmented audiences down to the nth possible degree? We’re not going to answer those questions today, so let’s just give this a paltry $10 million and move on.org.
Last weekend all the families let both myself and Mr. Peabody & Sherman down. Where was the love? I know it wasn’t a sequel, but I still thought it looked cheeky enough to be a real contender. Well, hey, at least they didn’t spend $145 million on it! Cue the cricket noises. Luckily, it’s doing okay overseas and it won’t face the sort of prodigious drop our next film is looking forward to.
The “B” CinemaScore, also known as the “I will say I hated this later” grade, means the ship be sinking for 300: Rise of an Empire. I’ve got a scathing 57 percent dip scheduled for this woefully misguided “sea-pre-quel” (because it’s on the ocean, see?). That equals $19.3 million, go higher at your own peril.
I leave it to you my noble predictors, but first I’d like to offer a caveat about my record against the crowds. I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to only win 33 percent, not 50 percent, because of the (slightly confusing) “Let’s Make a Deal” math conundrum. Because I’m laying out the “first” door, you’re all getting to pick the next one, which gives you a 2/3rds shot, not the expected 50 percent one. It makes my head hurt to think about it, but it’s my best guess as to what’s going on around here. Naturally, I’m performing below 33 percent this year, but I’ve still got time to turn things around. But enough equivocating!
Current Record: 7-29 against the wisdom of the crowds.
Major Theater Chain (MTC) Tracking
- Need for Speed: N/A
- Tyler Perry’s Single Moms Club: N/A
SIDE NOTE: Some of the theater numbers below are estimates. We’ll have the actual counts in Sunday’s wrap-up article.
