Friday Box Office Analysis
By Tim Briody
August 22, 2015
Sinister 2
The summer movie season ends with a thud as the best of a lousy slate of releases is Sinister 2 in second place on Friday with $4.6 million. Since you probably forgot, much like I did, the first Sinister film opened in October 2012 where it opened in first place on Friday with $7.4 million but ended up in third place on the weekend with $18 million and finished with $48 million. But it was made for loose change found underneath some couch cushions, so here we are with a sequel. Horror success ebbs and flows, and there has yet to be a true breakout hit this year. Sinister 2 won’t do anything to change that narrative, as it will have a weekend of $11.4 million.
Hitman: Agent 47
A reboot of the film based off the video game franchise, Hitman: Agent 47 musters just $3.1 million on Friday. In 2007, Hitman was released over Thanksgiving weekend and earned $21 million of its $39.6 million total in five days, a total this film would absolutely, uh, kill for. Let’s give it a weekend of $7.8 million and never talk about it again.
American Ultra
American Ultra is the biggest flop on the weekend with just $2.1 million on Friday. The Jesse Eisenberg/Kristen Stewart comedy is likely destined to be a cult hit with the target audience on DVD and Netflix, a weekend of $5.4 million is bad enough that we’ll all have completely forgotten this movie happened when we stumble upon it in the queue.
Straight Outta Compton
Since it was straight outta competition this weekend, it’s an easy second week at the top for the NWA biopic, despite a 66% decline from last Friday to $8.2 million. It will actually pass $100 million today, which is a pretty big deal. A second weekend of $24.6 million for Straight Outta Compton crushes all comers this weekend and probably next weekend as well.
Projected Estimates for the Top Ten (Three-Day)
|
Projected Rank |
Film |
Estimated Gross |
1
|
Straight Outta Compton
|
24.6
|
2
|
Sinister 2
|
11.4
|
3
|
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
|
11.3
|
4
|
Hitman: Agent 47
|
7.8
|
5
|
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
|
6.3
|
6
|
American Ultra
|
5.4
|
7
|
The Gift
|
4.4
|
8
|
Ant-Man
|
4.2
|
9
|
Minions
|
3.9
|
10
|
Fantastic Four
|
3.6
|
|
|
|
|