Think like, really profitable.
Here are the projections:
1. Think Like A Man (Screen Gems/Sony) NEW [2,015 Theaters] PG13
Friday $12.2M, Saturday $13.4M, Weekend $33.3M
2. The Lucky One (Warner Bros) NEW [3,155 Theaters] PG13
Friday $9.1M, Saturday $8.9M, Weekend $23.4M
3. The Hunger Games (Lionsgate) Week 5 [3,752 Theaters] PG13
Friday $4.0M, Saturday $6.9M, Weekend $14.9M, Cume $357.2M
4. Chimpanzee (DisneyNature) NEW [1,563 Theaters] G
Friday $3.5M, Saturday $3.9M, Weekend $10.5M
5. The Three Stooges (Fox) Week 2 [3,482 Theater] PG
Friday $2.3M, Saturday $4.8M, Weekend $10.1M (-41%), Cume $30.2M
[Numbers courtesy of Deadline]
“…the only super big release is the romance “The Lucky One,” with Zac Efron. “Think Like a Man” opens in 1800 theaters, with, I guess, hopes that word of mouth will help it break out to general audiences as a romantic comedy. We’ll discuss that one more in the next week or two. But meanwhile, yeah, “The Hunger Games” can remain settled in that number one spot pretty comfortably for another week.”
Wow, what idiot wrote that? Oh, I did. So yeah, I suck at predictions.
To be fair, the success of “Think Like a Man,” playing in considerably fewer theaters than other big films, came as a surprise to almost everyone. The film had a couple of mountains to climb. Yes, it knew it would have a certain built in audience, African American women, so the problem was to try to get African-American men to go to a romantic comedy, and audiences of other races to go to what looked like a movie geared towards African-Americans. That is, can we get people to see that this is a rom-com that crosses racial lines?
Well, it worked–the movie played well to box sexes and crossed over from African-American audiences to general audiences. Moreover, audiences gave it an A+ Cinemascore, so chances are strong word of mouth will help it next week, too. How did it happen? Well, basically they just marketed it really well, with NBA promotions to get the attention of men, Steve Harvey (who wrote the book the film is based on), and Kevin Hart, the popular comedian who stars in the film, all getting the job done. Good for them. I like seeing a success story.
“The Lucky One,” meanwhile, is the latest in a long string of Nicholas Sparks’s adaptations that do well enough at the box office, a little better than expected in this case. Sparks’s work is super sappy, but he gets the job done for his core audience.
Meanwhile, how nice to see “Chimpanzee,” the Disney nature doc debut at number four, with big matinee numbers. I hope lots of kids saw it and were inspired to get interested in science.
Next week: “The Five Year Engagement” with Jason Segel and Emily Blunt which, despite the Judd Apatow imprimatur, does not have strong word of mouth; “Pirates! Band of Misfits” for the kids; and “The Raven,” for Poe and Cusack fans. After last week’s bad prediction, I’m not even going to try.
