Not exactly the flashiest of Thursday night previews as Sony’s feature take of the classic children’s book Lyle, Lyle, crocodile seen $575,000 outside of seasons beginning at 3:00 p.m. at 3,453 locations during New Regency/20th Century Studios/Disney’s Amsterdam baked $550,000 Off-previews that started at 6:00 p.m. in 3,005 locations.
Constance Wu plays Mrs. Primm in LYLE, LYLE, CROCODILE.
Here’s the thing, sometimes studios with family movies don’t even hold previews outside of the summer. Yesterday only 15% of K-12 schools were out. Sony didn’t hold previews for the first Peter Rabbit, which debuted in February 2018, but for Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, which grossed $900,000 in 2,572 theaters on June 10 last year. Lyle, Lyle’s numbers are above those of Paddington 2, which grossed $325,000 in January 2018, another live-action CGI hybrid based on a classic children’s book, and the first Paddington in January 2015. It all adds up Matinee business extends Saturday, and Sony is betting low on Lyle, Lyle at $11-12 million, while industry estimates are much higher at $15-18 million. Sony placed the film here because it’s the Native American holiday weekend and 42% of all K-12 schools have Mondays off, according to ComScore. Lyle, Lyle is 67% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Disney had hoped that David O. Russell’s absurd historical comedy would gross around $10 million. It could be in the high single digits if business doesn’t pick up; and the film has all Imax screens. The thumbnails of the image are the head of Bob Odenkirk’s R-rated action film Nobody, which grossed $410,000 on its Thursday before earning a $6.8 million . Amsterdam suffers from bad reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with 35%. Ouch, this is an $80 million film, twice the price of Russell’s American Hustle, which boasted the star power of Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.
Taylor Swift, who also stars in Amsterdam, is doing her part in getting the Swifties to see the film:
Sosie Bacon (left) and Jessie T. Usher play a Temple Hill production “SMILE” in Paramount Pictures Presents in Association with Paramount Players.
Outstanding to smile had a busy week, averaging over $2 million in weekday earnings from 3,645 theaters. Thursday was $2.1M, down 13% from Wednesday, bringing the horror film’s week-one total to $32.29 million, down 21% from Bullet Train’s week-one gross of $41 million in its first seven days . Yes, weird price, but it just shows you the power of Smile, the fact that it costs $8.7 million less than a Brad Pitt action film. Smile is expected to gross around $11 million over weekend 2.
Those from NewLine don’t worry darling will be second on Thursday with $555,000 in 4,121 theaters, -13% as of Wednesday, a second week of $9.5M and a running total of $34.97M.
TriStars The Woman King in 3,504 cinemas did $506,000-17%, for a third week of $9.1M and a grand total of $48.8M.
Damien Leone landed in 4th place yesterday with a full open in 886 locations horror 2 What did $403.9K. Logline for the Leone-penned film: After being resurrected by a sinister being, Art the Clown returns to the shy town of Miles County, where he preys on a teenage girl and her younger brother on Halloween night. Iconic Events Releasing is overseeing the sequel.
Billy Eichner comedy from Universal brothers did $380,000 in 3,350 theaters on Thursday 5 and $6.74 million in 3,350 theaters in its first week.