‘Cars 3’ Now Traveling At $51M+; How ‘All Eyez On Me’ Is Amazing With $33M+ – Late Night Update

It’s a no brainer that Disney/Pixar’s Cars 3 is leading at the box office, however, the more interesting tale this weekend is the counter-programming, specifically Lionsgate Code Black/Morgan Creek’s Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyez on Me which has willed itself to existence on the big screen after six years and four director attachments to finally open on the late rapper’s 46th birthday for a third place take of $33.5M.

All Eyez on Me is also benefiting from its play in 200 premium large format theaters, which is included in its overall 2,471 theater count.
At this time, it doesn’t look like All Eyez On Me will defeat Warner Bros./DC’s Wonder Woman for second place, now estimated at $37.5M. If that’s the case, we’ll know better on Saturday. Nonetheless, the Tupac movie’s bigger story is how it’s blowing its $15M-$22M projections away.

Disney

Cars 3‘s Friday has simmered down to an estimated $19.1M (including Thursday night’s $2.8M) putting its weekend debut at $51.5M. That lower figure can obviously be attributed to threequel-itis, however, the big picture on all these Cars movies is its merchandising revenue which continues to swell with each installment. Current estimates figure that Cars retail sales stand well north of $10 billion. Audiences loved Cars 3 with an A CinemaScore, which is more than Cars 2 (A-) and as much as Cars (A). That grade marks the 18th A CinemScore in a row for Pixar. There’s a lot of business to be had here from Saturday matinees and Father’s Day Sunday.

Entertainment Studios

Meanwhile, in a reversal of fortune between a major studio and an indie, Sony’s R-rated Scarlett Johansson comedy ensemble Rough Night has been pulled underwater by Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios’ Mandy Moore shark thriller 47 Meters Down, $8.9M to $10.6M. Who would have thought? Audiences loathe both titles giving 47 Meters Down a C CinemaScore, and Rough Night a C+. PostTrak isn’t any better with both movies respectively landing notorious 55% and 66% positive scores.
Fandango had a keen sense that All Eyez on Me was going to blow past its tracking estimates when advance ticket sales began picking up closer to the film’s release date. On Thursday and Friday, All Eyez on Me was the No. 2 ticket seller behind Cars 3 on Fandango. All Eyez is a review-proof movie, something we don’t see that often in the Rotten Tomatoes era (24% Rotten), with audiences embracing the Tupac movie with an A- CinemaScore and an 82% positive score on Screen Engine/ComScore’s PostTrak. Fifty-four percent of All Eyez audience were men with 68% over 25. African Americans repped 47% of the audience, Hispanics 25% and Caucasians 19%. The buzz among audiences is actor Demetrius Shipp Jr.’s uncanny resemblance to the real Tupac.

Lionsgate

To recap All Eyez On Me‘s climb: Morgan Creek announced back in Feb. 2011 that they were developing and financing a Tupac Shakur movie after settling with Amaru Entertainment (the label founded by Tupac’s late mother, Afeni Shakur) to get the rapper’s life rights. Antoine Fuqua was set to direct off a script by Steven Bagatourian, Stephen J. Rivele, and Christopher Wilkinson. Production was to begin in Sept. 2013 with Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films financing and co-producing the $45M production cost. Ed Gonzalez and Jeremy Haft were then attached to write the latest draft. In Feb. 2014, John Singleton boarded to direct and a few months later, Open Road Film would announce that it was taking domestic distribution rights on the title. A year later, Singleton would announce his departure from the project on Instagram saying “The reason I am not making this picture is because the people involved aren’t really respectful of the legacy of Tupac Amaru Shakur.” Carl Franklin was next in line to direct. By late October 2015 Emmett/Furla/Oasis sued Morgan Creek for $10M for breaking their co-production agreement which called for not exceeding a $30M budget, and mutual approval for the lead actor’s selection, budget, production schedule and distribution agreements. All of this said, Emmett/Furla/Oasis didn’t ultimately fund 50% of the movie, while Morgan Creek didn’t sign the long form of their Open Road domestic deal. Morgan Creek was on ticking time clock to make the movie before the end of 2015 or else the music rights would revert back to Afeni Shakur. Even more pressure: Universal’s N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton came out in August 2015 and was an immediate hit amassing $201.6M worldwide. By late November 2015, Morgan Creek selected music video director Benny Boom as the director for the Tupac biopic. Production began in Atlanta in mid-December 2015 and lasted through April 2016 in Las Vegas.
Lionsgate’s Codeblack Films, which has a P&A deal here on All Eyez on Me, launched the teaser trailer on John Wick 2 back in February. The distributor worked with the City of Oakland to have June 16, 2017 declared Tupac Day in celebration of the movie’s opening. Pic is receiving widespread praise from the talent community including Straight Outta Compton and Fate of the Furious director F. Gary Gray, boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, Chance The Rapper, Sean Combs, The Game, 2 Chains, Digital Underground’s Money B and Tupac’s former manager Atron Gregory.

Through its targeted social marketing campaign, Codeblack gathered a pool of 40M highly engaged fans who were the focus of the label’s efforts to drive ticket sales for opening weekend. RelishMix weighs All Eyez on Me‘s social media universe across Facebook, Twitter, Instragram and YouTube views at 100.2M, double a typical drama’s social count which is close to 49M. On Thursday night there were simultaneous promotional screenings held in 28 markets. Each screening included a host and celebrity/social media influencers including Ed Lover, Jeezy, Demetrius Shipp, Jr. Bun B, Benny Boom, 2 Live Crew’s Uncle Luke, and Sway

Sony

It would seem that the confluence of Scarlett Johansson, SNL star Kate McKinnon, and a script by Broad City EPs Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs for a $20M budgeted R-rated comedy would be the quintessential greenlight for any major studio. That’s quite a deal and Sony believed there was potential in Aniello and Downs’ script; that’s why they won it out in a bidding war two years ago.
So, why then is Rough Night having it so tough?
RelishMix’s observation of the negative social chatter: “Moviegoers are confused by the comedy element of actually killing a man – ‘where’s the joke?’, they ask.” No kidding, because many blame Rough Night‘s black comedy set-up of stripper killing as its primary hurdle in hooking more audiences. Not to mention, the whole party hardy movie comedy subgenre has overstayed its welcome at the B.O. in the wake of The Hangover with Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising  ($55.4M) and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates ($46M domestic) both tanking last year. Rough Night‘s 53% Rotten Tomatoes score isn’t unfair: The movie is bogged down in cliche, has a manatee’s comedic pace, and feels like an also-ran hybrid of Bridesmaids meets Weekend at Bernie’s. Rough Night will not leg out because it’s nothing special that female audiences haven’t seen before. Despite the low production cost of $20M, many estimate the pic’s P&A at $35M, and this start doesn’t spell for a breakeven situation down the road. In regards to Johansson’s overseas star power rescuing Rough Night abroad, that’s not definite. As a comedy, Rough Night needs to work in the U.S./Canada first and foremost since the genre at best can only be counted on for 50% of its domestic haul at the overseas box office. Rough Night is also hurt by the fact that Wonder Woman continues to remain the prevailing choice among females. Rough Night is also losing some younger females to 47 Meters Down. Both titles are pulling in close to a third of all women under 25, though Rough Night has more older females (38%) than 47 Meters Down (23%).
By comparison, rivals are more impressed by 47 Meters Down. They expected that movie, which Entertainment Studios picked up from Dimension for high single digits last summer, to completely bomb in the low single digit range. “They will likely make a few bucks at the end of the day,” remarked one rival studio executive tonight about Entertainment Studios’ prospects with 47 Meters Down. 

For the weekend of June 16-18 per industry estimates on Friday night:
1.). Cars 3 (DIS), 4.256 theaters / $19.1M Fri. (includes $2.8M previews) /3-day cume: $51.5M/Wk 1
2.). Wonder Woman  (WB), 4,018 theaters (-147)/ $10.6M Fri./3-day cume: $37.5M (-36%)/Total:$271.3 M/ Wk 3
3.). All Eyez On Me (LG), 2,471 theaters / $13M Fri. (includes $3.1M) /3-day cume: $33.5M/Wk 1
4.). The Mummy (Uni), 4.034 theaters (-1) / $3.8M Fri. (-68%) /3-day cume: $13.2M (-58%)/Total: $55.8M/Wk 2
5.). 47 Meters Down (ENT), 2,270 theaters / $4.2M Fri. (includes $735k) /3-day cume: $10.6M/Wk 1
6.). Rough Night (SONY), 3,162 theaters / $3.4M Fri. (includes $700k) /3-day cume: $8.9M/Wk 1
7.). Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales  (DIS), 2,759 theaters (-920)/ $2.1M Fri. (-30%)/3-day cume: $7.6M (-29%)/Total:$149.2M/ Wk 4
8.). Captain Underpants  (DWA/20TH), 2,968 theaters (-561)/ $2.1M Fri. (-40%) /3-day cume: $7.3M (-40%)/Total: $57.9M/Wk 3
9.). Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2  (DIS), 1,813 theaters (-1,098) / $1.2M Fri.  (-27%)/3-day cume: $4.8M (-23%)/Total:$374.7m/ Wk 7
10.). Megan Leavey (BST), 1,832 theaters (-124)  / $673K Fri (-46%)  /3-day cume: $2.4M (-36%) /Total:$8.3M/ Total: Wk 2