‘The Post’ soars for Fox, ‘Jumanji stays atop box-office
THE Post registered a 10-fold increase in weekend box-office sales over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, with the awards contender from 21st Century Fox Inc. outdrawing three new releases.
The drama about the Pentagon Papers generated US$18.6 million in revenue from North American theatres over the first three days of the long weekend, researcher ComScore Inc. estimated in an email Sunday. Coming in second, it placed ahead of Paddington 2, Proud Mary and The Commuter. Sony Corp.’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle retained the top spot with US$27 million.
Fox expanded screenings of Steven Spielberg’s film about the Washington Post’s battle over First Amendment rights to more theatres to exploit publicity from last weekend’s Golden Globe awards. The movie features Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks as publisher Katharine Graham and executive editor Ben Bradlee. It was nominated for five Golden Globes, but didn’t win any.
With The Post, Fox has at least three potential contenders for the best picture Oscar, along with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Shape of Water. While such films are often lowrevenue, art-house features, a savvy release strategy can boost public interest and tickets sales.
The Post opened on Dec. 22 and had taken in just US$4.3 million in sales heading into the weekend, including US$1.7 million during Jan. 5-7. But Fox added more than 2,000 new locations this weekend. The movie still has a way to go to break even, given a production budget estimated US$50 million by Box Office Mojo and the usual marketing costs.
Jumanji was expected to collect US$34 million over the four-day holiday weekend, while The Post was projected at US$21 million, according to analysts at BoxOfficePro.com.
Liam Neeson’s new action film, The Commuter, opened with weekend sales of US$13.5 million for Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., placing third. The film split critics, with 54 per cent delivering positive reviews. Neeson stars as a businessman lured into a criminal scheme while on a train. The film was expected to bring in US$13.5 million over four days.
Paddington 2, a sequel to the Warner Bros. 2015 liveaction film based on the classic British children’s book, opened in seventh place with US$10.6 million. It was forecast to take in US$16 million over three days and US$20 million over four, according to Box Office Mojo. The movie scored 100 per cent positive reviews, according to RottenTomatoes.com.
In this instalment, the Peruvian bear with a passion for marmalade saves up for a special present for Aunt Lucy’s 100th birthday, only for the gift to be stolen. Time Warner Inc.’s film division bought the movie from the Weinstein Co. for US$32 million, as the embattled producer sold assets to raise cash late last year.
Taraji P. Henson, best known for her role in the Fox TV drama series Empire, stars as a hitwoman in Proud Mary, which collected US$10 million and placed eighth for Sony Pictures. BoxOfficePro was predicting US$17.5 million over four days. The film cost an estimated US$14 million to produce, not including marketing costs, according to BoxOfficeMojo. Critics were mostly negative, with just 27 per cent positive at RottenTomatoes. — WP-Bloomberg