SUNDAY AM UPDATE: There’s plenty to be happy about at the Presidents Day weekend box office with many truths proven as Sony’s Uncharted overperforms to $51M over 4-days, and MGM/UAR’s female skewing Dog rises to $18M.
Among them, a frosh videogame IP proved to work, again, in February. Sony deserves a lot of applause in backing a videogame feature adaptation, which are often risky projects, and casting it up with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. Next, Holland is an actual star who can put people in seats. And as we’ve all known, it’s not stars so much which were driving the box office in pre-pandemic times and today, rather prolific IP and brands.
And in regards to the thrifty priced $15M Dog: Yes, we made a big to-do about older women not showing up at the box office last weekend for Death on the Nile and Marry Me as Covid continued to linger, however, this Channing Tatum movie, wound up pulling in a consistent amount of that demo, if not more, at least when compared to Death on the Nile. Dog skewed 54% women, 73% over 25, 53% over 35 and 37% over 45 vs. Death on the Nile‘s 49% females, 77% over 25, 47% over 35 and 28% over 45. Marry Me brought in 67% women, but a low $7.9M start, 46% were over 35, and 26% over 45.
“It’s the first time two movies have overperformed in the same weekend in a long time,” beamed UAR Distribution Boss Erik Lomis, “This speaks to the health of the market and shouldn’t be overlooked. The marketplace can sustain more than one overperformer.” Lomis also praised Gerry Rich and the UAR marketing team as well as Dog filmmaker Reid Carolin and Tatum for propelling the movie’s success.
Said Josh Greenstein, President, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, about Uncharted, “This result is yet another extraordinary testament to the appetite for the theatrical experience that Sony Pictures bet on. Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg are brilliant together. Thank you to our sister company, PlayStation, for their incredible partnership, and all the many people who worked so hard to bring this film to life in a big, theatrical way.”
With over $100M WW, the possibility of a franchise starter for Uncharted looks promising. The movie’s Saturday business clocked $16.3M up 6% over Friday+Thursday previews’ $15.4M. With movie theaters reopened in Ontario, Canada rushed back to the B.O. delivering 8% of Uncharted‘s ticket sales. PLFs and Imax drove 32% of the pic’s weekend to date. Top venues were AMC Burbank, AMC Disney Springs, Harkins Estrella Falls in Goodyear, AZ, The Warren OKC in Moore, OK, and the AMC Thoroughbred in Franklin, TN.
To raise this movie’s profile, Sony eventized the launch of ticketing with custom talent videos timed to the final Uncharted trailer which dropped over NFL Championship weekend. They surrounded the Winter Olympics with campaigns on TV, online and featured “The Race To Uncharted,” an online treasure hunt. There was a 360-marketing campaign surrounding Super Bowl LVI with pre-game stunting, digital extensions, signage around SoFi Stadium, fan screenings around the globe, all culminating in a global influencers activation, “Uncharted Waters,” which was a skydiving experience.
Nate and Sully would be proud. Take a look at our ultimate #UnchartedMovie experience. Get your rush of action by seeing the movie exclusively in theaters now! pic.twitter.com/v12lQ22oWT
— Uncharted (@unchartedmovie) February 19, 2022
Overall, iSpot measured that Sony spent close to $20M in TV spots, that generated 1.12 billion. This compared to the near $26M that Warner Bros. has already spent on The Batman. Top networks Uncharted advertised on were NBC, CBS, ESPN, ABC and Fox across shows such as NFL football, Super Bowl LVI Pregame, SportsCenter and the Winter Olympics and the NBA.
Social media firm RelishMix spotted online promo power from Holland with 68.4M across his social media handles, and that doesn’t even include Facebook. Wahlberg engaged his 45.9M fans as well as Antonio Banderas who counts 9.1M fans. Holland’s Instagram views for Uncharted posts ranged from 6M all the way up to 15M, this being his highest:
Of course, Sony also leveraged PlayStation which had a console reach across 24 countries and 26 languages, including several ‘firsts’ being shown on the PS5/PS4 from the pic, exclusive content drops, and a Fortnite/PlayStation Themed Event.
Among Uncharted‘s promo partners, Hyundai Motors touted a global push, promoting the TUCSON in an add that starred Holland and was directed by the film’s director Ruben Fleischer. The spot ran on last week’s pre-game Super Bowl, while another unique and specially created co-branded spot was seen dominating the largest digital billboard in Piccadilly Circus, London.
RelishMix notes that online frenzy 24 hours after the Big Game reached 522.3M for Uncharted across Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, far exceeding the awareness for an action-adventure movie social reach by 4X. Cross-promotions from the Sony PlayStation social channels were at 104.5M before weekend opening, while the film’s social channels at 407K built strong momentum from 42 Facebook videos at 40.9M and 24 YouTube videos at 104.6M . The campaign also reaped 12.5M off of its two Super Bowl spots.
G Fuel was also a promo partner, creating a new flavor Fortune Blend inspired by the pic. Customers could buy a standalone 40-serving tub and a Collector’s Box, which included one 40-serving tub and one 16 oz Shaker Cup. The first 2,500 Fortune Blend Collector’s Boxes contained a secret treasure: a replica of Nathan Drake’s ring from the pic. ASUS computers served as a global partner on the Fleischer directed movie, and even made a cameo in the film.
Tatum worked it in promoting Dog. He launched the trailer exclusively on the The Kelly Clarkson Show. Did a USO tour with Carolin and Brett Rodriguez, visiting military bases in San Antonio, TX and Columbus, GA and participated in demonstrations and discussions with active military members and vets. There was a 100 Thieves Esports partnership Tatum participated in, appearing in a special video with Carolin sharing their experience working with a trained military dog, who in turn attacks the gamers as they wore bite suits. The experience was shared across the 100 Thieves and influencer social channels and DOG accounts reaching over 200M.
DraftKings, one of the pic’s promo partners, hosted a free-to-play game on their site, where consumers bet on a pre-recorded race between Tatum and the canine from the pic.
iSpot clocked that UAR shelled out $16.3M in TV ads for Dog yielding 1.17 billion impressions across Fox News, CBS, TLC, NBC and ABC, and on such shows as the Winter Olympics, NFL, Friends re-runs, and Hannity. UAR also aired Dog spots during the NFC Divisional and Championship games, the Puppy Bowl, Nascar Daytona 500, and Busch Clash, over 15 national NBA matchups.
RelishMix reports that Dog‘s social digital awareness hit 81.9M across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram before opening. Tatum reps 91% of the cast awareness with 45.6M fans and 55% of the entire film. The digital efforts honed in on moviegoers, fans of Tatum and dog movies, along with military and faith audiences while broadening out to high impact takeovers across social including TikTok TopView Video and a Snapchat Lens.
Other promo partners for Dog included 5.11 Tactical, which produced a video showing Tatum delivering a video to a chosen veteran. They promoted the video on social media with paid media and produced a backpack to be sold at all their stores with all proceeds benefiting K9 for Warriors. Red Roof Inn was another partner along with Nylabone, USAA and GSTV, the latter touted a greeting from Tatum at over 15K gas stations which reached over 100M impressions.
There was also an extensive outdoor campaign in Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and San Diego for the film.
In theaters, Dog trailered on movies such as Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Licorice Pizza, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Matrix Resurrections, Sing 2, The King’s Man, Scream, Jackass Forever among others. There was a custom silence your cell phone PSA with Tatum and Lulu on screen at select circuits.
UAR screened Dog extensively, not just at military bases, but promo screenings in 30 markets as well as previews for digital creators and dog influencers including Bandit the Husky, Chewie the Pomeranian, artist & veteran Samantha Juan, Twitch streamer & veteran Nathan Thomas, and off-roader & veteran Brad Kowitz (Trail Recon).
LD Entertainment’s updated re-telling of the werewolf legend, The Cursed, released via Decal, NEON and Bleecker Street’s joint home entertainment distribution venture in a service deal, is seeing a $1.7M 3-day and $1.9M 4-day.
EntTelligence reports that Uncharted pulled in 3.5M people over the weekend, and repped 44% of the moviegoing public on Saturday. Dog drew 1.4M moviegoers over three days with 65% of attendees coming out before 7PM. The box office analytics firm also observed that “moviegoing was nicely spread out over Saturday with 30% of the moviegoing public attending a cinema before 4PM, 50% of the audience attending between 4PM-8PM and 20% of the audience coming after 8PM.”
1.) Uncharted (Sony) 4,275 theaters, Fri $15.4M/Sat $16.3M/Sun $12.5M /Mon $6.8M/3-day $44.1M/4-day $51M/Wk 1
2.) Dog (UAR) 3,677 theaters, Fri $5M/Sat $5.6M/Sun $4.4M/Mon $2.9M/3-day $15.1M/4-day $18.05M/Wk 1
3.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 2,956 (-344) theaters, Fri $1.7M (-11%)/Sat $3.1M/Sun $2.4M/Mon $1.6M/3-day $7.2M (-4%)/4-day $8.8M/Total $771.7M/Wk 10
4.) Death on the Nile (Dis) 3,280 theaters, Fri $1.76M (-65%)/Sat $2.76M/Sun $1.72M/Mon $934K/ 3-day $6.25M (-51%)/ 4-day $7.18M/ Total $25.9M/Wk 2
5.) Jackass Forever(Par) 3,071 theaters (-582), Fri $1.47M (-49%)/Sat $2.1M/Sun $1.6M/Mon $960K/3-day $5.2M (-35%)/4-day $6.2M//Total: $47.7M/Wk 3
6.) Marry Me (Uni) 3,643 (+1), Fri $1.08M (-64%)/Sat $1.5M/Sun $1.07M/Mon $590K/3-day $3.68M (-54%)/4-day $4.27M/Total $17.4M/Wk 2
7.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 2,476 (-355) theaters, Fri $600K (-12%)/Sat $1.22M/Sun $1.02M/Mon $970K/3-day $2.84M (-8%)/4-day: $3.8M/Total: $148.3M/Wk 9
8.) Scream (Par) 1,907 (-712) theaters Fri $515K (-37%)/Sat $845K/Sun $595K/Mon $320K/ 3-day $1.96M (-34%) /4-day $2.2M/Total: $77.3M/Wk 6
9.) Blacklight (Briar) 2,772 theaters Fri $470K (-62%)/ Sat $750K/Sun $550K/Mon $290K/3-day $1.77M (-49%)/4-day $2.06M/Total $7.36M /Wk 2
10.) The Cursed (LD) 1,687 theaters Fri $600K/Sat $667K/Sun $453k/Mon $226K/ 3-day $1.7M/4-day $1.9M/Wk 1
MORE…
SATURDAY AM: See, streamers, people do like to go to the movies: Sony’s Uncharted is overperforming past its mid $30M projections over 4-days with a $45M take. Even though the movie stars Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s Tom Holland, this videogame adaptation was never expected to be a Marvel movie. Rather, what Sony has here is a nice franchise start and buddy movie. Some rivals are even seeing a $50M 4-day for Uncharted.
Box office analytics firm EntTelligence spots 1.2M admissions for Uncharted, with 50% of the audience coming during prime hours of 6PM to 9PM on Friday and over 17% seeing the movie after 9PM.
The PG-13 movie is coming in ahead of the previous Presidents Day action film, Kingsman: The Secret Service, which, even though it was R-rated, did $41.7M over the four-day holiday in 2015. On a 3-day basis at $40M, Uncharted is under 2001 videogame feature adaptation, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider ($47.7M), an IP that Paramount was able to squeeze another sequel out of with Angelina Jolie.
Audiences like Uncharted better than critics on Rotten Tomatoes, 88% to 39% Rotten. CinemaScore stands at a respectable B+, while Comscore/Screen Engine shows 79% overall positive score and a 61% recommend, while kids under 12 say the movie was well worth their time, with a huge 96% and a 57% recommend. Guy-skewing title here, natch, at 65%, with 48% under 25, 75% under 35, with the diversity demos showing 43% Caucasian, 26% Latino and Hispanic, 15% Black, and 16% Asian/other. Imax and PLF rep 37% of the Ruben Fleischer-directed movie so far, with Imax charting seven out of the top ten runs. Best markets of play were West, Southeast, and Canada. Last weekend, Uncharted made $22M in 15 offshore territories.
Holland’s other movie on the box office charts, Spider-Man: No Way Home, is looking at a solid 10th weekend of $9.1M over 4-days, taking its total to $772.1M in 3rd place. Already the third-highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office after Star Wars: Force Awakens ($936.7M) and Avengers: Endgame ($858.3M), some industry estimates believe this Jon Watts-directed MCU title ends its run at $800M.
Everett
MGM/United Artists Releasing’s Channing Tatum movie Dog, with an A- CinemaScore and PostTrak 82% positive/66% recommend, is also coming in ahead of projections, with a $14.4M start over 4-days in 2nd. EntTelligence shows Dog pulling in 360k moviegoers yesterday, with 52% of patrons coming before 7PM. Pic is leaning toward 55% female, 69% over 25, 47% over 35, and 32% over 45. The 3-day of $12.3M is just under last weekend’s older female-skewing movie, Death on the Nile. West, Midwest, and South are strong markets here, with smaller cities like St. Louis, Austin, Nashville, Portland, Cleveland, Charlotte and more popping.
While the top of the box office is great, which has been typical during the latter part of the pandemic, total tickets sales for the 4-day holiday are estimated to be at $107M, which is 41% off from the last Presidents Day weekend when the business was truly alive in February 2020.
That’s when Sonic the Hedgehog led with a $70M start. What’s missing from the box office is the middle, which means more counter-programming and movies. That overall low weekend number may be more indicative of a lower number of titles in theaters because of studios spacing them out, as opposed to overall audience demand, which is present during the pandemic for the right film. Compared to two movies this weekend doing over $13M over 4-days, there were five movies grossing over $13M during Presidents Day holiday 2020: Sonic ($70M), Birds of Prey ($19.7M, weekend 2), Fantasy Island ($13.7M, weekend 1), The Photograph ($13.2M, weekend 1), and Bad Boys for Life ($13.1M, weekend 5). The 10th- ranked movie that weekend was the Will Ferrell and Julia Louis Dreyfus Searchlight comedy, Downhill, opening to $5.1M, whereas in 10th this weekend it’s LD Entertainment horror movie The Cursed, with a $1.8M opening. The movie is being handled by Decal, NEON and Bleecker Street’s joint home entertainment distribution venture, in a service deal.
EntTelligence notices that compared to last year’s Presidents Day weekend, when NYC and LA were closed, this year there are approximately 4x more showtimes, 5.5x more seats for the public to purchase, a dramatic reduction in blocked seats, and the average available ticket price up by $1.
The Cursed, written and directed by Sean Ellis, is set in rural 19th-century France, where a mysterious, possibly supernatural menace threatens a small village. John McBride, a pathologist, comes to town to investigate the danger – and exorcise some of his own demons in the process. Boyd Holbrook, Kelly Reilly, and Alistair Petrie star. The movie made its world premiere at Sundance under the title 8 for Silver. That’s where LD acquired it. Rotten Tomatoes is at a 74% fresh critics’ rating, but audiences don’t agree with a 58% positive, 36% recommend on PostTrak. Men at 58% showed up, with 18-34 moviegoing core repping 62%. Diversity demos were 57% Caucasian, 20% Latino and Hispanic, 11% Black, and 12% Asian/other. Any business for Cursed came from the South and the coasts.
1.) Uncharted (Sony) 4,275 theaters, Fri $15.4M/3-day $40M/4-day $45M/Wk 1
2.) Dog (UAR) 3,677 theaters, Fri $5M/3-day $12.3M/4-day $14.4M/Wk 1
3.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 2,956 (-344) theaters, Fri $1.7M (-11%)/3-day $7.46M (-1%)/4-day $9.1M/Total $772.1M/Wk 10
4.) Death on the Nile (Dis) 3,280 theaters, Fri $1.76M (-65%), 3-day $6.5M (-49%)/ 4-day $7.6M/ Total $26.3M/Wk 2
5.) Jackass Forever(Par) 3,071 theaters (-582), Fri $1.47M (-49%)/3-day $5.2M (-36%)/4-day $6.1M//Total: $47.6M/Wk 3
6.) Marry Me (Uni) 3,643 (+1), Fri $1.08M (-64%)/3-day $3.64M (-54%)/4-day $4.2M/Total $17.3M/Wk 2
7.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 2,476 (-355) theaters, Fri $590K (-12%)/3-day $3.05M (-1%)/4-day: $4.09M/Total: $148.6M/Wk 9
8.) Scream (Par) 1,907 (-712) theaters Fri $515K (-37%)/ 3-day $2M (-31%) /4-day $2.4M/Total: $77.4M/Wk 6
9.) Blacklight (Briar) 2,772 theaters Fri $470K (-62%)/ 3-day $1.86M (-46%)/4-day $2.1M/Total $7.46M /Wk 2
10.) The Cursed (LD) 1,687 theaters Fri $594K/3-day $1.6M/4-day $1.8M/Wk 1
FRIDAY AM: Sony’s Uncharted, based on the 15-year-old Sony PlayStation video game created by Amy Hennig and Naughty Dog, grossed $3.7M in Thursday night previews that began at 4 p.m.
That’s a solid number that bests the pre-pandemic previews of such mid-February hits as Sonic the Hedgehog ($3M, from showtimes that began at 5 p.m.), Kingsman: The Secret Service ($1.5M, 7 p.m.) and even with March PG-13 adventure movie Kong: Skull Island ($3.7M). Industry projections earlier this week had the PG-13 Tom Holland-Mark Wahlberg pic in the mid-$30Ms over the four-day Presidents Day weekend, possibly $40M, but these preview figures provide great hope for better returns.
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes have thumbed down Uncharted at 39% Rotten, but it’s not a movie for them: It’s a pure, breezy, fun popcorn film. If all goes well for Sony, the studio might have a new franchise on it hands from this Ruben Fleischer-directed film. Uncharted, which took Fleischer around two years to make from pre-production to finish, carried a production cost of $120M before P&A.
‘Uncharted’ Trailer: Tom Holland And Mark Wahlberg Are Game In Latest Look
Kingsman: The Secret Service, which was R-rated, played over the Presidents Day/Valentine’s Day weekend in 2015 and minted $41.7M over four days and $36.2M over three. Sonic the Hedgehog, a long-awaited PG movie based on a classic Sega character, greatly soared in its 2020 Presidents Day frame debut with $58M over three days, $70M over four, but no one is expecting Uncharted to do those types of numbers.
There’s plenty of optimism at the pandemic box office this weekend with 22% K-12 schools off today and another 8% of colleges, heading toward 87% K-12 on break Monday along with 32% colleges off, according to Comscore. The U.S. now is averaging 136,100 new Covid cases daily, per Johns Hopkins University, which reps a 44% decline from last week. New Covid cases have dropped to about a sixth of the peak of more than 800K daily cases a month ago.
MGM/UAR
MGM/United Artists Releasing has the buddy canine comedy Dog, starring Channing Tatum, which saw $1.26M in Valentine’s Day sneaks and Thursday previews starting at 4 p.m. The movie, which Tatum also co-directed, is 80% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and has an outlook of $12M over four days with an eye on women and Latino and Hispanic audiences.
Film Review: Channing Tatum In Road-Trip Buddy Comedy ‘Dog’
Disney
Among movies in regular release, 20th Century Studios/Disney’s Death on the Nile won the week with an estimated $18.7M after a $726K Thursday, -25% from Wednesday at 3,280 theaters. Universal’s Jennifer Lopez-Owen Wilson romantic comedy Marry Me ended week 1 with $13.1M, boosted earlier in the week by a No. 1 lead over Valentine’s Day with $3M at 3,642. Thursday was close to $500K, down 18% from Wednesday. Paramount’s Jackass Forever took second at 3,653 theaters with a $12.1M second week, after $676K on Thursday, -10% from Wednesday, for a running total of $41.5M. Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home ended its ninth week with $11M after a $590K Thursday, -5% from Wednesday, sending its total domestic cume to $762.9M at 3,300. Briarcliff Entertainment’s Liam Neeson action movie Blacklight saw a first week of $5.3M at 2,772 theaters after a $223K Thursday, -26%.