Box office success depends on more than the opening weekend, as those who are the most excited to see a film will go see it as early as they can. The real challenge for studios is bringing in the audience that is on the fence – a good film will usually accomplish that with the circulation of positive word-of-mouth. Last weekend, Brave took in over $66 million, and many box office analysts expected it to hold rather well in its second weekend, with two R-rated films opening. While it did not maintain the number one spot, Pixar’s latest was still up to the challenge and brought home an estimated $34 million. After the break, we take a closer look at how Brave is holding up against its Pixar brethren.
Earlier this week, in the Monday-Friday frame, Brave added an approximate $31 million (via Box Office Mojo):
- Monday……….$8,948,171
- Tuesday……….$8,926,775
- Wednesday…..$6,834,139
- Thursday……..$6,641,012
This weekend, the R-rated Ted and Magic Mike appealed to the adult crowd, coming in at 1 and 2, respectively, ahead of Brave. The following are all estimates via Box Office Mojo:
- Ted……………..$54,100,000
- Magic Mike…..$39,155,000
- Brave…………..$34,011,000
If you look at the daily breakdown of the weekend, Brave held strong, its Sunday gross almost matching its Friday gross. Sundays are historically lighter than Fridays, with Monday being a working day. Here are the animated film’s Friday-Sunday grosses (again, estimated):
- Friday………….$10,328,000
- Saturday………$13,275,000
- Sunday………..$10,408,000
With this weekend’s estimated take, Brave is up to an approximate $131,685,000. Out of Pixar’s catalog of 13 films, Brave is tracking ahead of seven of them in box office gross. In their second weekend of wide-release, this is where all of Pixar’s films were sitting:
- Toy Story 3……….$226,889,351
- Finding Nemo……$144,043,789
- The Incredibles….$143,255,844
- Up……………………$137,210,701
- Brave……………….$131,685,000
- WALL-E……………$127,196,028
- Monsters, Inc.……$122,150,373
- Cars 2………………$117,204,002
- Cars…………………$117,055,283
- Toy Story 2……….$116,781,392
- Ratataouille……….$109,531,598
- A Bug’s Life………$68,678,006
- Toy Story………….$64,674,626
After its earliest films, Pixar has coasted on a similar pattern. In over 10 years, only Cars 2 has failed to cross the $200 million mark. After A Bug’s Life, aside from Toy Story 3 and Finding Nemo, all of Pixar’s films have come to rest comfortably somewhere in the low-high $200 million range. That is some serious consistency!
Next weekend, The Amazing Spider-Man arrives, which will be some healthy competition for Brave. We will have to wait and see how each performs. The latest film in the Spider-Man franchise was generating some good buzz a few weeks ago, but has now been garnering a heavy list of criticisms for its story. It will surely be another high grosser for Sony, but whether it can be the powerhouse that Sam Raimi’s films were, is a question it will answer soon. Brave will still be the strongest family-oriented film next weekend, so we could see another healthy hold.
Stay tuned for more on the film’s box office in the next few weeks.
