FRIDAY AFTERNOON: As we told you, once a Disney princess movie gains momentum, it’s roaming free at the box office. Such is the case of The little Mermaid, What next $10.3 million in the previews you are viewing $38 million for Friday, which will result in a $105 million 3 days and a $125 million 4-day premiere in 4,320 theaters by sources. Again, a great result for a predominantly female skewed tent; they are the smaller films aimed at women that the market is still undecided on. Little MermaidThe success here among female cinephiles also paves the way for another great summer: Warner Bros. Barbie at the end of July.
If the Rob Marshall-directed musical keeps up, Little Mermaid will rank as the fourth-highest Memorial Day opening in history Top Gun: Maverick ($160.5 million), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End ($153 million), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($152 million). Hands down, Little Mermaid on land AladdinThe $116.8 million 4-day start over the holidays, to be the best for a live-action take on a Disney cartoon.
That $10.3M preview figure is included in Friday’s figure and also counts $850K from Wednesday’s special fan times. Overall, Ariel’s preview number is the seventh best for a PG/G rated title.
After Little Mermaid, May Tent Holders, Universal’s x fast and Disney guardians of the galaxy vol. 4, give a backbone to the holiday weekend. Counterprogramming though: Legendary/Screen Gems’ Machinethe lionsgate comedy sebastian maniscalco about my fatherand Gerard Butler’s Open Road/Briarcliff film, Kandahar, they’re for nothing. We’ll make sense of the fate of these photos as they go through the weekend. See the numbers below.
1) Little Mermaid (Dis) 4,320 cinemas, Fri $38 million3 days $105 million4 days $125 million/Week 1
2) x fast (Uni) 4,088 (+42) theaters, Fri $6 million (-79%), 3 days $21.8 million (-67%), 4 days $27.2 millionTotal $112.1 million/week 2
3) guardians of the galaxy vol. 3 (Des) 3,940 (-510) cinemas, Fri $5.4 million (-36%) 3 days $20.6 million (-36%) 4 days $26.6 millionTotal $306 million/week 4
MCU James Gunn’s swan song will cross the $300 million mark on its 24th day of theatrical release on Sunday. GOTG 2 it reached that number in 17 days. The first guardians it took 44 days for the three century mark in America.
4) Super Mario Bros (Uni) 3,148 (-392) cinemas, Fri $1.65 million (-29%) 3 days $6.2 million (-35%), 4 days $8.2 millionTotal $560.8 million/week 8
/ © Screen Gems / Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Aleksandar Letic / © Screen Gems / Courtesy of the Everett Collection
5) Machine (Leg/Sony) 2409 theaters, Friday $2.4 million 3 days $6.3 million4 days $7.8 million/Week 1
It’s right where Sony hoped this service agreement would go. Critics wonder why they didn’t buy it with 33%, but comedian Bert Kreischer has a 96% fan base.
Sebastián Maniscalco and Robert De Niro in ‘About My Father’
lionsgate
6) about my father (LG) 2464 theaters, Friday $1.3 million 3 days $3.8 million 4 days $4.7 million/ Week 1
This is currently slightly below what Liongate expected. You’d think the Sebastián Maniscalco crowd would be showing up. The critics don’t get it at 30% Rotten, the public gets the joke at 75%.
7) Kandahar (OR/Briar) 2105 theaters, Friday $550K 3 days $1.64 million 4 days $2 million /Week 1
The meat and potatoes action movie is a boys game with the plan to get this photo right into his props where he will make a bench. Remember this happened with the Lionsgate/STX Guy Ritchie title Operation Fortune: Rules of War (which opened to $3.1 million, ended at $6.4 million after 21 days in theaters). Critics are at 43% Rotten, audiences are better at 75%.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus in ‘You Hurt My Feelings’
A24
8) you hurt my feelings (A24) 912 cinemas, Friday $300K 3 days $890K 4 days $1.1 million /Week 1
The exclusive comedy directed by Julia Louis Dreyfus, starring Nicole Holofcener, generated plenty of laughs at its Sundance premiere. Rotten Tomatoes critics are 95% certified, but RT audiences not so much at 57%.
EXCLUSIVE, late Thursday PM: Sources tell us that Disney’s Rob Marshall directed The little Mermaid is singing some high notes tonight from $10 million+ in progress. If that number exceeds $10.8 million, it will represent the sixth-highest preview yield among PG and G-rated titles in movie history. The follow-up pegged the Halle Bailey movie at a $120 million 4-day start after Memorial Day.
Remember, the preview money is made up of Wednesday 6pm fan screenings at 500 premium screen theaters and early shows starting at 3pm today.
even more impressive, Little MermaidDisney’s Preview Figure Outperforms That Of Disney’s Live-Action Cartoon, Aladdin, since Memorial Day weekend in 2019; that photo of Will Smith earning $7 million before grossing $31.3 million on his first Friday for $116.8 million from 4 days. Little Mermaid also easily beats the $2.3M (8pm start) previews of 2015 Cinderella, which had a first day of $23 million, a start of $67.8 million. However, Little Mermaid is swimming slower than Disney’s live action Beauty and the Beast from 2017 that made $16.3 million, for a Friday of $63.7 million and an opening of $174.7 million.
Biased female films, such as Twilight for example, they often get a bad rap for being front loaded. However, once a mass-appealing Disney princess movie soars from its release, it doesn’t let go. Beauty and the Beast it was only down about -2% between its Thursday previews/Friday trades and Saturday. frozen 2 was +19% over a similar period while Aladdin, which starred in Princess Jasmine, only decreased -4% between Thursday/Friday night and Saturday.
Although critics of Little Mermaid dropped to 68% fresh, audiences on Rotten Tomatoes are very happy with 95%
We are just getting started here.