The Rock Rolls Over His Previous Solo Bows With Est. $46.5M ‘San Andreas’ Opening – Late Night Friday B.O.

Update, Friday, 11:20PM: With an estimated $17.5M today, San Andreas marks the highest opening day for a Dwayne Johnson solo project on the B.O. Richter scale, and the pic is bound to quake the action star’s previous opening weekend records outside his thespian duties on the Fast & Furious franchise with an estimated $46.5M.

Today’s B.O. for San Andreas bests the first days and weekends of previous Rock hits, The Scorpion King ($12.6M Friday/$36.1M FSS), Hercules ($11.05M/$29.8M) and even franchise sequel G.I. Joe Retaliation ($15.3M Friday/$40.5M FSS) which is really an ensemble pic for action star, but the pic is just sitting there in the rankings as a border between Dwayne Johnson’s solo efforts and Fast & Furious work. B.O. weather forecast for San Andreas: Completely sunny this summer without any falling rocks crushing its legs thanks to an A- CinemaScore.

Yes, we’ve seen bigger openings for the disaster pic genre, read Roland Emmerich’s 2012 ($65.2m opening) – but San Andreas is also higher than New Line’s last angry mother nature feature Into the Storm which bowed last August to $17.3M stateside and ended its domestic run at $47.6m.

There’s no question about it: Johnson knows what it means to be a mega movie star in this day and age, frequently engaging his 72.8M social media followers. Wherever he goes, they go. Johnson takes his tweeting and Instagram-ing as seriously as a twice-a-day physical workout. Warner Bros. knew he could send out some positve shockwaves and worked with him accordingly in spreading the word about San Andreas. Johnson debuted exclusive videos from the film on his social handles that focused on the action, heroism and the strength of the characters’ familial bond. Castmembers Carla Gugino and Alexandra Daddario were right there with The Rock, supporting a trailer debut stunt on Twitter, an official site launch on Tumblr, in addition to prolific placements on Snapchat and Instagram in an effort to hook younger audiences.

In keeping with the epic nature of San Andreas, all related public events were stunted for maximum effect, including a Hollywood premiere completed with an arrival assisted by local Search and Rescue. There was also a stunted trailer reveal on Jimmy Kimmel Live, an integration on the NCAA Final Four pre-game, and a show-stopping moment on the MTV Movie Awards that included a branded set transformation for the final award of the night.

Risk was mitigated in regards to the production cost of San Andreas with Village Roadshow co-financing the $110M pic and Rat Pac covering a minority share of the budget per their deal with Warner Bros. That cost is a typical summer tentpole spend, but it’s cheaper than Sony’s 2012 ($200M production cost, $166.1M domestic B.O.) and 20th Century Fox’s The Day After Tomorrow (which cost $125M and finaled its domestic B.O. at $186.7M) My breakdown on the monsoon that’s hitting Aloha is coming up…MORE

Disney’s Tomorrowland is weathering the San Andreas earthquake with a projected 56% decline in its second sesh with $14.5M. That’s about where mid-week estimates were figuring the Brad Bird film would land. The pic in terms of its running cume is expected to track ahead of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (final domestic B.O. $90.8M) during its second weekend by 7%. While the comps between the two films are different, Tomorrowland is PG and Prince of Persia is PG-13, its worth the juxtaposition because that film was the last Disney Memorial Day bomb.  The one glimmer of hope that Tomorrowland has in the coming weeks is that it’s one of the only family options on the marquee. Uni’s Pitch Perfect 2 keeps filling its auditoriums and is looking at an estimated $13.9M weekend, while Warner Bros.’ Mad Max: Fury Road keeps trucking with a projected $11.6M third frame.

Which brings us to Cameron Crowe’s Aloha from Sony…

The top 10 pics at the B.O. per industry estimates courtesy of Deadline’s Amanda N’Duka:

1). San Andreas (WB), 3,777 theaters / $17.5M Fri. / 3-day cume: $46.5M / Wk 1

2). Tomorrowland (DIS), 3,972 theaters (0)/ $3.9M Fri. (-60%) / 3-day cume: $14.5M (-56%) / Total cume: $63.9M / Wk 2

3). Pitch Perfect 2 (UNI), 3,660 theaters (+100) / $4.3M Fri. (-55%) / 3-day cume: $13.9M (-55%)/ Total cume: $146.5M / Wk 3

4). Mad Max: Fury Road (WB), 3,255 theaters (-467) /  $3.4M Fri. (-48%)/ 3-day cume: $11.6M (-53%) / Total cume: $113.9M / Wk 3

5). Avengers: Age of Ultron (DIS), 3,228 theaters (-499) / $2.9M Fri. (-46%)/ 3-day cume: $10.5M (-51%) / Total cume: $426.5M / Wk 5

6). Aloha (Sony), 2,815 theaters / $3.4M Fri. / 3-day cume: $10.4M / Wk 1

7). Poltergeist (Fox/MGM), 3,242 theaters (+2)/ $2.7M Fri. (-71%) / 3-day cume: $8.4M (-63%) / Total cume: $39.1M / Wk 2

8). Far From The Madding Crowd (FSL), 902 theaters (+37) / $385K Fri. (-37%)/ 3-day cume: $1.3M (-43%)/ Total cume: $8.2M / Wk 5

9). Home (FOX/DW), 1,088 theaters (-356) / $272K Fri. (-26%) / 3-day cume: $1.14M (-34%) / Total cume: $170.4M / Wk 10

10). Hot Pursuit (WB/MGM/NL), 1,446 theaters (-1,131) / $350K Fri. (-64%) / 3-day cume: $1.13M (-69%) / Total cume: $32.1M / Wk 4

Notables:
Masss (INDI), 100 theaters / $80K Fri. / 3-day cume: $245K /Wk 1

Results (MAG), 3 theaters / $4K Fri. / 3-day cume: $13K /Wk 1

Gemma Bovery (MUSIC), 3 theaters / $2K Fri. / 3-day cume: $6K /Wk 1

Previous, Friday 1:30 PM: Warner Bros.-New Line/Village Roadshow’s San Andreas is looking pretty sturdy. Early industry estimates show an estimated $15M Friday with an opening weekend of $39M-$41M. That’s right above the vicinity of Dwayne Johnson’s solo openers, i.e. The Scorpion King ($36.1M) and Hercules ($29.8M), and on par with the actor’s franchise sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation ($40.5M). Fueling the friction on San Andreas‘ plates are 3,200 3D engagements out of its 3,777 total and Imax showtimes, which the Brad Peyton-helmed film is splitting with Walt Disney’s Tomorrowland.  

Hercules posted a first Friday of $11.05M last July. Scorpion King which bowed 13 years ago in late April, minted $12.6M. According to tracking this morning, San Andreas was the most popular with men over 25 with a 91% total awareness and 16% first choice.

While Sony’s Aloha could take second tonight with an estimated $4.5M at 2,815 venues, it looks to wind up with a weekend of $12.3M which could put it fourth for the weekend behind Tomorrowland in second and Universal’s Pitch Perfect 2 in third. Aloha in tracking is hitting women over 25 at 71%, but with a low first choice for the demo at 6%.

PREVIOUS, 7:13 AM: San Andreas shook $3.1M out of moviegoers’ pockets last night. Sony’s Cameron Crowe romantic comedy Aloha also started hula-dancing with $500K at 2,275 theaters.

The Warner Bros.-New Line/Village Roadshow title is hoping for a $40M launch for the Brad Peyton film, which marks the director’s second outing with star Dwayne Johnson after Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. San Andreas will be sending seismic shocks into 3,777 theaters today, 85% of which are in 3D. Titles in the Roland Emmerich canon, i.e.2012 and The Day After Tomorrrow, are the high points with the disaster film at the B.O., repping the genre’s heyday. 2012 posted a first Friday of $23.4M before raking in a $65.2M weekend, while TDAT, a Memorial Day release, also earned a first Friday of $23.5M followed by a $68.7M FSS.

Per Fandango, San Andreas is far and away the weekend’s top ticket seller. San Andreas is outselling Johnson’s previous actioners Hercules and Journey 2 at the same point in the Fandango sales cycle. Last night’s ticket sales are, of course, rolled into Friday’s results.

On social, Dwayne Johnson, who is quite active, has a reach of 72.8M folks across Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. While the San Andreas Facebook page only has 526K followers according to RelishMix, the page’s videos are driving impressions very well with 65.2M Facebook total views and the top San Andreas trailer from March at 44M views. YouTube views are building well over the last week up to 29M with top daily views on the 70k per day range. Reposting is also strong at an earned, owned ration of 24 to 1.

Other good news for Warner Bros.: Their Mad Max: Fury Road crossed the $100M mark on Wednesday with its current cume at $102.3M.

While this weekend will obviously be down from the holiday frame a week ago, it is certain to be off from the $166.5M ticket sales that the frame rang up a year ago. That’s when Walt Disney’s Angelina Jolie Sleeping Beauty spinoff Maleficent worked its magic at the B.O. with a $69.4M opening.

Aloha is the second widest opener today in 2,815 venues. Crowe’s previous outing, the PG-rated We Bought a Zoo, was quite the Christmas sleeper in 2011 when it bowed to $9.4M and generated a crazy 8x multiple for a final domestic cume of $75.6M. While Aloha is expected to only make $8M-$10M this weekend, the hope is that the star-filled film (with Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams) will stick around as counter-programming throughout the summer.


Source : deadline