Universal’s campy R-rated genre pic Cocaine Bear from Elizabeth Banks lifted $2M last night from previews at 3,000 theaters that began at 5 p.m.
The $30M-budgeted movie, in a weekend that easily will be dominated by Disney/Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania with an estimated $40M (-62%), is set to do in the high teens, pulling in guys (62% last night) and the 18-34 crowd (who showed up at 72%) at 3,534 theaters.
Any overindexing would be a surprise. The pic already has alright exits with 82% from Rotten Tomatoes’ audiences and four stars on ComScore and Screen Engine’s PostTrak and 72% fresh from critics. Uni/Blumhouse’s winter horror hit M3GAN was 94% certified fresh from Rotten Tomatoes critics, 78% with the aggregator site’s audiences, a B CinemaScore and 3 1/2 stars on PostTrak. Last night’s ticket sales are higher than the $1.1M previews of Universal’s Violent Night (which opened to $13.4M in December and legged out to $49.8M stateside) and they’re just under M3GAN‘s $2.75M, which turned into an $11.7M Friday, $30.4M opening.
Cocaine Bear (read the review) is inspired by a 1985 true story when cocaine went missing in a Georgia forest after a drug runner’s plane crash, with a black bear gobbling the goods. In the movie, the beast goes on a rampage, taking out cops, criminals and hikers. WETA was involved in the CG creation of Cokey the bear, the main protag here.
Lionsgate is opening wide its faith-based title, Jesus Revolution (read the review) which already has five stars and 85% definite recommend on PostTrak. We heard that the studio pulled in an estimated $2M from Wednesday previews alone, largely from Cinemark venues. Lionsgate is reporting $940K from last night’s previews for a lump sum of $3.3M since Wednesday. Tracking had this Kingdom Story Company movie in the single digits, but it potentially could hit $10M at 2,475 locations.
Logline: In the 1970s, young Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney) is searching for all the right things in all the wrong places — until he meets Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie), a charismatic hippie street preacher. Together with Pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer), they open the doors of Smith’s languishing church to an unexpected revival of radical and newfound love, leading to what Time magazine called a “Jesus Revolution.”
While Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (read the review) got juice from the Presidents Day Monday with $14.2M, discount Tuesday wasn’t so robust, with only $7M this past week. Wednesday was $3.8M, but yesterday eased only 3% for $3.7M getting the Peyton Reed-directed sequel to a first week of $135M at 4,345 theaters.
20th Century Studio/Disney/Lightstorm’s Thursday for Avatar: The Way of Water (read the review) was around a half-million, +2% for a 10th week of $9.7M at 2,675 and running total of $660.6M.
Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Oscar-nominated Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (read the review) saw an estimated $432K ninth Thursday, +3% and a week of $8.5M for a $169.3M running total.
The second Thursday of Warner Bros.’ Magic Mike’s Last Dance (read the review) posted $405K, -3% from Wednesday for a second week of $7.6M and running total of $20.2M at 3,034 venues.
Paramount’s 80 for Brady (read the review) booked at 3,199 theaters, grossed $409K in fifth place on Thursday for a near $6M third week, $34.6M running total.