Bros, Entourage did poorly this weekend. It’s almost like us hazing Spinach to death last spring was all in vain (RIP, Spinach, RIP Blowjob Stacey). The Entourage movie failed to crack $20 million domestic at the box office this weekend, taking home just $17.8 million (according to early estimates) for the five days. Many analysts are seeing it as a stunning rebuke of Haley Joel Osment. Melissa McCarthy’s Spy, meanwhile, earned $30 million in three days. Both were slightly below expectations. Entourage also had a much lower budget ($27 million to $65 million).
For the most part, it’s a big surprise – my Tuesday night screening of Entourage was packed, and the audience applauded afterward (I ran out of there like my seat was on fire). While based on the previews for Spy, it looked like your average sorta-lame Melissa McCarthy vehicle. However, grosses were more in line with reviews (glowing for Spy, nauseated for Entourage), and that never happens.
Entourage played 64% male, if you can believe that. It received an A- Cinemascore.
[Spy’s $30 million was] a bit lower than the $39m opening weekend for The Heat, but that buddy cop comedy had Sandra Bullock onboard. It’s actually slightly lower than the $34.5m opening frame of Identity Thief, and frankly I have to wonder if the utter mediocrity of that film and The Heat didn’t slightly scare off on-the-fence viewers from Spy. …It played 60% female and 65% over-25. [Forbes]
The marketing for Spy sold it as if it were Heat or Identity Thief, which makes sense considering those were big hits. If it ain’t broke, just let Melissa McCarthy fall on it and whatnot. But according to just about every review I’ve read, Spy was a lot better than it looked. So, do you sell it as the mediocre product you know America loves, or try to do justice to what it actually is? Fox chose the former. Would they have made more money on the latter? Who knows. They certainly put in less work this way, which I appreciate.
Elsewhere, you probably didn’t even remember that Insidious 3 (“THIS TIME THE HOUSE IS EVEN MORE HAUNTED!”) was opening this weekend. I sure didn’t. But it actually beat Entourage for the number three spot (number two was San Andreas), grossing $23 million in US markets.
[Insidious 3] film played 54% female, 69% under 25, and 30% under 18. [Forbes]
Bottom line, if you’re a young filmmaker looking to break into Hollywood, drop the semi-autobiographical mumblecore script about your failed relationship and make a horror movie. You can spend $100 grand on a horror movie with no stars and make $10 million opening weekend. I don’t know how or why it works, but it does. As I tried to tell the judge, people like to be scared.
As for last week’s holdovers, Cameron Crowe’s bizarre whatsit, Aloha, plummeted 66% from its already pretty poor opening. Meanwhile America continued to love San Andreas, a film about a busty girl running from Earthquakes to reunite with her busty father played by The Rock. Expect a sequel. What a country.