Saturday Update: Disney reports this morning that Beauty and the Beast earned a huge $63.787 million on opening day Friday, including Thursday night’s $16.3 million debut. The overall first day take nearly doubles the $32 million of last year’s The Jungle Book and stands as the best opening day in history for a PG-rated film.
Looking at the Thursday share itself, that represented 25.6 percent of Friday’s total, meaning the film was less top-heavy during early shows than current March record holder Batman v Superman (34 percent), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (35 percent), and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (36 percent). For reference, The Jungle Book and Cinderella owned 13 and 10 percent shares, respectively.
Comparisons remain challenging, but this is a Disney film with considerable appeal across the age spectrum — particularly among women. That sets it up to still potentially enjoy a strong internal multiplier, especially thanks to its encouraging word of mouth thus far (85 percent on Flixster and an “A” CinemaScore).
At this stage, based on reports that pre-sales had been quite strong for the weekend as a whole compared to more front-loaded franchises, weekend projections still range between $154 million (if it follows the trajectory of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Mockingjay finale), $167 million (based on Cinderella‘s post-Thursday run), and $185 million (using Jungle Book‘s post-Thursday legs). BoxOffice is currently sticking with its projection that the film will best BvS‘ $166 million March record opening weekend with around $175 million by the end of Sunday.
On the international front, Beast tallied $40.3 million on Friday. The global cume since release on Thursday stands at $115.6 million. China accounted for $12.6 million on Friday, while the U.K. posted $6.1 million and Mexico totaled $2.4 million. The film is open in all major markets except France, Australia, and Japan.
Our key weekend projections are below. Updated estimates from the studios will be published on Sunday.
# | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Beauty and the Beast | $175,000,000 | — | 4,210 | — | $41,568 | $175,000,000 | 1 | Disney |
2 | Kong: Skull Island | $25,600,000 | -58% | 3,846 | 0 | $6,656 | $106,875,294 | 2 | Warner Bros. |
3 | Logan | $16,800,000 | -56% | 3,687 | -384 | $4,557 | $183,326,885 | 3 | Fox |
4 | Get Out | $13,000,000 | -37% | 2,979 | -164 | $4,364 | $132,868,145 | 4 | Universal |
5 | The Shack | $6,000,000 | -40% | 2,825 | -63 | $2,124 | $42,484,630 | 3 | Lionsgate / Summit |
6 | The LEGO Batman Movie | $5,400,000 | -29% | 2,735 | -568 | $1,974 | $168,123,352 | 6 | Warner Bros. |
7 | The Belko Experiment | $3,500,000 | — | 1,341 | — | $2,610 | $3,500,000 | 1 | BH Tilt |
8 | Hidden Figures | $1,500,000 | -46% | 1,162 | -259 | $1,291 | $165,559,069 | 13 | Fox |
9 | John Wick: Chapter 2 | $1,100,000 | -59% | 1,065 | -966 | $1,033 | $89,690,804 | 6 | Lionsgate / Summit |
10 | Before I Fall | $1,000,000 | -67% | 1,551 | -795 | $645 | $11,260,677 | 3 | Open Road |
# | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lion | $710,000 | -46% | 621 | -339 | $1,143 | $49,976,614 | 17 | Weinstein Company |
2 | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | $630,000 | 201% | 179 | 13 | $3,520 | $530,875,532 | 14 | Disney |
3 | A Dog’s Purpose | $585,000 | -47% | 594 | -428 | $985 | $63,040,030 | 8 | Universal |
4 | La La Land | $505,000 | -72% | 585 | -993 | $863 | $149,739,184 | 15 | Lionsgate / Summit |
5 | Split | $500,000 | -60% | 604 | -377 | $828 | $136,859,225 | 9 | Universal |
6 | Moana | $475,000 | 10% | 264 | -12 | $1,799 | $248,176,698 | 17 | Disney |
7 | Fist Fight | $440,000 | -66% | 533 | -752 | $826 | $31,517,748 | 5 | Warner Bros. / New Line |
8 | The Sense Of An Ending | $425,000 | 971% | 282 | 278 | $1,507 | $477,597 | 2 | CBS Films |
9 | Badrinath Ki Dulhania | $420,000 | -51% | 156 | 4 | $2,692 | $1,586,509 | 2 | FIP |
10 | Fifty Shades Darker | $415,000 | -75% | 607 | -891 | $684 | $113,991,485 | 6 | Universal |
11 | Rock Dog | $370,000 | -64% | 444 | -932 | $833 | $9,211,353 | 4 | Summit Premiere |
12 | A United Kingdom | $290,000 | -45% | 257 | -60 | $1,128 | $3,148,253 | 6 | Fox Searchlight |
13 | Table 19 | $114,000 | -86% | 202 | -666 | $564 | $3,489,156 | 3 | Fox Searchlight |
# | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | T2: Trainspotting | $185,000 | — | 5 | — | $37,000 | $185,000 | 3 | Sony |
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Friday Report: Beauty and the Beast kicked off what we’ve been expecting to be a massive weekend for quite awhile with a reported $16.3 million from Thursday night shows. That includes earnings from premium fan event screenings that were charging $30 per ticket in roughly 600 theaters. Still, among Disney’s live action fairy tale remakes, this in an entirely new league of its own: Beauty soared past their previous top performer in that genre, The Jungle Book‘s $4.2 million, as well as Cinderella‘s $2.3 million. Impressively, this also comes in ahead of the $16.0 million earned by The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, which is quite a telling feat given the expectation that Beauty should play to less front-loading over the three-day weekend proper.
Also opening last night, The Belko Experiment cornered $305,000 in its selective distribution strategy from BH Tilt. That’s a bit ahead of The Green Inferno‘s $275,000 and The Darkness ($206,000).
We’ll have key Friday estimates directly from the studios, along with weekend projections, on Saturday.
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