Whoever wrote that the theatrical business is dead may want to run a correction as Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2 is potentially headed to a historic second weekend for an animated movie, topping Illumination/Universal’s Super Mario Bros Movie‘s $92.3M.
Rival projections see $95 million for the second frame of the Kelsey Mann-directed sequel, while insiders see $85M-$90M+ after a $28M-$30M Friday at 4,400 locations. Today’s till alone will propel the sequel to become the highest-grossing movie YTD leaving Dune: Part Two in the dust ($282.1M domestic).
At that level, Inside Out 2 looks to post the best second weekend for any Disney animated release, besting Frozen 2‘s $85.9M and Incredibles 2‘s $80.3M.
Inside Out 2 ended its first week with $254.7M, and after this weekend its running total will shoot to $339.7M-$344.7M. Yesterday’s cash repped a Thursday record for Pixar at $19.2M, ahead of Finding Dory ($17.4M) and Incredibles 2 ($16.3M). The worldwide running total for Inside Out 2 through yesterday is $481.1M.
Sony’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die holds on to second place with $16M, -53%, for a running total of $144.1M. That hold is in the vicinity of Bad Boys for Life‘s third weekend of -48%. By Sunday the Will Smith and Martin Lawrence fourthquel will be trailing about $4M behind Bad Boys for Life at the same point in time. Friday’s take is $4.6M at 3,781 venues.
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Focus Features
Third goes to Regency/Focus Features’ The Bikeriders at 2,641 theaters with a $3.8M Friday, including $1.45M advance screenings and Thursday previews for a $9M opening. Focus covered 50% of the $30M-$40M production cost and is on the hook for P&A. The Jeff Nichols-directed movie is expected to open between $8M-$10M. Focus took over distribution of the movie after Bikeriders was parked at Disney; the pic dated for the first weekend of December. Disney fumbled the brilliant, sci-fi movie The Creator, releasing the Gareth Edwards-directed epic during the actors strike where it finaled at $40.8M with Regency driving Bikeriders over to Uni’s classic label which released Nichols’ Loving to a Cannes Film Festival premiere and Lead Actress Oscar nom for Ruth Negga. Bikeriders is 82% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with critics, and currently 77% with audiences.
Sony’s The Garfield Movie at 3,013 theaters is seeing a fifth Friday of $1.3M and fifth weekend of $4M, -16% and a running total by Sunday of $85.5M.
20th Century Studios/Disney’s The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes at 2,410 theaters is posting a seventh Friday of $1M, seventh weekend of $3.75M, -32%, and running total of $164.5M. As we reported, the Wes Ball-directed new iteration already surpassed Matt Reeves’ previous chapter, War for the Planet of the Apes which ended its U.S./Canada run at $146.88M.
Russell Crowe in ‘The Exorcism’
Vertical
Outside the top 5 is Vertical Entertainment’s widest release ever, the Russell Crowe genre movie The Exorcism, financed by Miramax, at 2,240 theaters. Slammed with a 32% Rotten Tomatoes critics score and 50% audience, the movie is looking at an $800K Friday, $1.85M 3-day per industry estimates. I hear in regards to the economics of the pic for Vertical, it’s a low threshold, nothing to lose their shirt over. I understand those polled believed it was a sequel to Crowe’s genre movie from last year, The Pope’s Exorcist, however, he’s not playing a priest in this movie, but a troubled actor.