Jordan Peele’s horror-thriller “Get Out” is dominating the box office with an opening weekend of as much as $28 million at 2,773 North American locations, early estimates indicated Friday.
“Get Out,” which opened with an impressive $1.8 million at 2,240 sites on Thursday night, will finish far ahead the closest contender, Warner Bros.’ third weekend of “The Lego Batman Movie” with about $18 million.
The second weekend of the historical saga “The Great Wall,” which carries a $150 million price tag, is dropping sharply from its $21 million opening over the four-day Presidents Day weekend, and will finish with about $8 million. Matt Damon stars in “Wall,” financed by Legendary and several Chinese partners. The film grossed over $170 million in China
Lionsgate Premiere’s “Rock Dog” will open with about $5 million at 2,077 sites, while Open Road’s actioner “Collide” is likely to finish with a diminutive $2 million at 2,045 sites.
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Universal-Blumhouse’s “Get Out,” a thriller about a young African-American man’s visit to his white girlfriend’s estate, is coming into the market amid strong critical support — with a rare 100% “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film, starring Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, and Bradley Whitford, is the feature directorial for Peele, best known for his Comedy Central series “Key & Peele.”
“Get Out” is blowing through recent estimates from Universal, which had pegged the opening weekend in the $18 million range. It’s heading for a $10 million opening day on Friday.
Fandango reported that “Get Out” was accounting for a leading 32% of its Friday sales. The film should be highly profitable, given its modest $4.5 million price tag. It’s the second hit in a row for low-budget horror specialist Blumhouse, which also released M. Night Shyamalan’s “Split” and saw grosses hit $126 million in five weeks. “Split” earned $40 million in its opening weekend in January.
Warner Bros.’ “The Lego Batman Movie” should easily take the runner-up spot during Oscar weekend after coming in first for two consecutive frames. Universal’s third weekend of “Fifty Shades Darker” will probably finish third in the $10 million range.
Open Road’s “Collide,” an action thriller starring Nicholas Hoult and Felicity Jones, was originally set to open in 2015. IM Global partnered with China’s DMG on financing the film and limited its financial exposure through foreign pre-sales. The movie was originally set up at Relativity Media, but left the company during its financial collapse.
The animated “Rock Dog” centers on a Tibetan Mastiff who dreams of making it in the music world. It’s a Chinese-American co-production with backing from Huayi Brothers, and carries a $60 million price tag.
Fox’s “Hidden Figures,” with a trio of Academy Awards nominations, is the top performer among awards season contenders with $146 million domestically. The historical drama will take in as much as $7 million this weekend.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore, noted that the 2017 domestic box office has totaled $1.576 billion as of Feb. 22.
“With a 7% year-to-date deficit versus last year, 2017 needs a serious infusion of cash and audience excitement to get the box office train going in the right direction,” he said. “This weekend ‘Get Out’ could spark the fire that gets the year back on track with the very real chance for another Blumhouse-style expectation-obliterating performance. Look for ‘Get Out’ to ride a wave of social media momentum and great reviews to much better than expected results over Oscar weekend.”
Dergarabedian noted that the top earners this year (during the period between Jan. 1 and Feb. 22), “Hidden Figures” and “Split,” have earned a combined $270.4 million. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” had earned $270 million by itself at this same period a year ago. March, however, should see a surge in moviegoing with “Logan,” “Kong: Skull Island,” and “Beauty and the Beast” opening over the next three weekends.
