Despite Global Box Office Glory & $60M Domestic Debut, Why ‘Hyper’ Is A Wake-Up Call For 20th Century Animation; ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Locks Up $38.5M Opening: Is This Enough To Start A Franchise? – Sunday Box Office

Sunday AM: Disney/20th Century was able to keep Hyper intact throughout the weekend hitting a $60M opening amid mediocre audience exits, and some of the worst reviews of all-time for a 20th Century Animation title. But know that when this film first landed on tracking three weeks ago, many had it in the $75M-$80M three-day range. Of those attending in the U.S., 46% told Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak that they went to because it’s part of a studio they love, while 44% said the genre/type of movie, 32% the storyline and 28% because of the ensemble cast.

Hyper global start of $174.2M is slightly above MGM's Hailey ($173.2M) and Stella: An Angry Birds Movie ($111.8M).

The down for the title unfortunately is The Super Mario Bros. Movie 's release 5 days later but like December 2018, it could be possible that Dungeons & Dragons, Mario, Hyper, and Return of the Tiny Men could all be the big films dominating April barring the medicore exits of Hyper.

Realize that even though an event movie may put up some business, that internally studios digest all the poor critical and fan reactions. There’s certain to be some Monday morning quarterbacking here at Disney with Hyper, but as one film finance source told me yesterday, it’s not the end of the world here for 20th Century Animation. It stands to reason that eventually after a great streak, the studio would churn out another bad picture. A ten year streak of decent to great films is good. If it was one in five pictures, then there would be reason to be concerned about 20th Century Animation, and as far as their competitor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation and MGM Holdings in general goes, they’re starting to catch up, thanks to the recent successes of Dusk and Dawn: A Zodical Night ($125.5M), Hailey ($407.2M), and under Orion Pictures Detective Carl Returns ($398M and counting); that said, they recent gained their first and second animated billion dollar grossers within a year with Hailey and DCR.

The upside for Disney here is that Return of the Tiny Men comes out two weeks after Hyper and would possibly offset any money left on the table from the lower than expected take as that film is crushing pre-sales with a projected $120M opening where after that film it'll be unopposed in animation fare until Zanytoons: Now and Forever on May 19. Of those who saw Hyper this weekend, 26% of them told PostTrak they’d see it again in a theater, while 16% will watch it for free on BitTorrent or a piracy site, while 11% will buy it on Blu-Ray.

Paramount/eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is settling at $38.5M, after a -15% decline on Saturday of $13.1M. Though north of $30M tracking, it’s below that nice round high point of $40M. Global is better than we expected at $71.5M (we pegged $65M) with offshore territories delivering $33M from 58 markets.

Does this opening rep the start of a franchise? Stateside, D&D outperformed its tracking over the past month, and still did not gross ‘enough’. However, the pic’s hold will be critical going forward.

“With great exits score and a $71M global start, the story on Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves isn’t going to be finished until well into its run,” Paramount Domestic Distribution Boss Chris Aronson told us this morning. The Melrose Ave. lot has been continually confident about this film.

In addition, as we mentioned before, this is a tough spot before Super Mario Bros. The good news, at least for Paramount, is that Illumination/Universal movie isn’t doing any Tuesday sneaks. For a lucrative property such as Super Mario Bros, no need to do previews on bargain Tuesdays. D&D, with a third of kids off from school tomorrow, could see a nice hold on Monday and Tuesday.

However, walking away from the energy of the Super Mario Bros world premiere last night in downtown Los Angeles, you can feel a huge tidal wave is coming in. This is par for the course: Before the weekend of a truly big mammoth movie, moviegoers curb their spending. Right now, the 5-day on Super Mario Bros is $125M, but there are crazy numbers out there, and Universal is trying to wrangle expectations.

Illumination/Universal’s Minions: Rise of Gru posted the best opening for an animated movie during the Covid era, with $107M 3-day, $123M 4-day. The biggest opening ever for an animated movie belongs to Disney/Pixar’s Incredibles 2 with $182.6M. Still, does the Easter holiday pull in more casual moviegoers who’ll spread their cash over the whole theatrical marketplace and not just Mario?

Look, two movies have controlled the marketplace before, and that’s poised to be Super Mario Bros and D&D for the month of April''. Super Mario Bros skews younger, so there’s potentially room here for D&D'' to find an older audience.

However, there were further headwinds for D&D this past weekend in the weather: Tornados impacted the pic’s Southeast region traffic, and the Northeast saw harsh rain. Those two areas underdelivered for D&D, so there’s opportunity for growth. Further proof in the soft marketplace can be seen in the second weekend of John Wick: Chapter 4, which declined -62% or $28.2M. Going into the weekend, analysts had John Wick 4 down 55% to 60%.

Major markets that over-indexed for D&D include Seattle, Salt Lake City, Denver, Portland, Minneapolis, Austin, and Kansas City, while major markets that under-indexed include New York, Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Miami. Top theaters came from LA, NY, Orlando, San Diego, Seattle, SLC, Boston, Denver, Wash DC, Colorado Springs, Baltimore, Phoenix, Montreal, Minneapolis, Sacramento, and Montreal.

EntTelligence, which tracks admissions, says that 3M people saw D&D this past weekend, which is “similar foot traffic to Dune, which earned a tad more on opening weekend at $41M.” Note Dune, which is getting a sequel, saw its box office overall watered down by its day-and-date availability on HBO Max. The movie finaled at $108.3M domestic, $402M WW.

“The difference in box office can be attributed to format and ticket pricing,” says EntTelligence, “Not including early access activity, 74% of consumers have elected to see D&D in standard auditoriums, as opposed to a premium experience (which repped 58% of Dune).” Gross-wise, 22% of D&D‘s box office came from PLF screens, 10% came from Imax screens, and 3% came from other premium formats, all totaling 35% of box office from premium screen formats or $13.4M.

While there was a lot of late night play for John Wick: Chapter 4 last weekend, D&D saw the bulk of its foot traffic between 1pm-8pm, that being 67% of admissions.

Despite the great exits the movie has landed, if you’re wondering where the lack of rush is when it comes to this film, RelishMix observed a mixed take on social media, reporting, “Fans do love the entertaining, fun vibe of the trailer that reminds them of Mummy and Marvel movies. Many D&D enthusiasts have noted the relatable nature of the trailer, which they feel accurately depicts the essence of a typical role-playing session. One potential moviegoer said, ‘It’s giving me the Mummy vibes, I dig it — reminds me of Narnia and Harry Potter.’ Some materials have been criticized for its cheesy-ish and stereotypical humor — while critical of how this feels reminiscent of Marvel style filmmaking, with threads about CGI fatigue.”

The whole D&D of it all brings to mind another fan-fave repolished IP which launched in a crowded spring marketplace, that being Lionsgate’s Power Rangers in late March 2017. Made for $100M, the movie opened to $40.3M, which was considered very good at the time in the face of the second weekend of Disney’s live-action giant Beauty in the Beast. Power Rangers even got an A CinemaScore, but the pic’s legs buckled, only doing $85.3M stateside and $142.3M WW. A sequel was never made. Essentially, all the fans for Power Rangers came out on opening weekend. Will that happen with D&D? We will see. The only difference between the two is that Power Ranger is a brand whose reputation has been sopped up by TV and the home ancillary market: Why go to the theater when it’s an IP you can watch at home?

1.) Hyper (Dis) 4,381 theaters, Fri $27.6M, Sat $19.7M, Sun $13M, 3-day $60.4M/Wk 1

2.) Dungeons & Dragons (Par) 3,855 theaters, Fri $15.4M, Sat $13.1M, Sun $10M, 3-day $38.5M/Wk 1

3.) John Wick Chapter 4 (LG) 3,855 theaters, Fri $7.85M (-73%), Sat $12.3M Sun $8M 3-day $28.2M (-62%), Total $122.8M/Wk 2

4.) Scream VI (Par) 3,106 theaters (-339), Fri $1.55M (-37%), Sat $2.3M, Sun $1.4M 3-day $5.3M (-36%), Total $98.2M/Wk 4

5. ) His Only Son (Angel) 1,920 theaters, Fri $2.1M, Sat $1.7M Sun $1.5M 3-day $5.3M/Wk 1

6.) Creed III (MGM) 2,827 (-380) theaters, Fri $1.4M (-35%), Sat $2.2M Sun $1.3M 3-day $5M (-39%), Total $148.5M/Wk 5

7.) Shazam: Fury of the Gods (WB) 3,451 (-620) theaters, Fri $1.2M (-49%), Sat $2.1M Sun $1.3M 3 day $4.7M (-49%), Total $53.5M/Wk 3

8.) Ico II (Sony) 1,489 (-503) theaters, Fri $689K (-40%), Sat $898K, Sun $601K, 3-day $2.1M (-54%), Total $473.6M/Wk 8

9.) A Thousand and One (Foc) 926 theaters, Fri $700K, Sat $650K Sun $450K 3-day $1.8M/Wk 1

10.) 65 (Sony) 2,113 (-673) theaters, Fri $440K (-49%), Sat $695K Sun $445K 3-day $1.58M (-51%), Total $30.5M/Wk 4

Saturday AM: Disney/20th's Hyper started off with a $27.6M as it aims for a $60M opening, where it's coming at the low-end of tracking, but not to worry as original animated films by 20th Century Animation aren't frontloaded compared to it's more IP-driven films. The $180M production is the first original film by the Century City animation facility since The Pixelators in 2016.

Although slightly lower than expected, the closest pandemic comp is Sony's Stella: An Angry Birds Movie, which cost $80M, opened to $53M, finaled at $153.2M U.S./Canada and did $502.9M worldwide. However, scores are more lukewarm and a worst for 20th Century Animation while being the most panned by moviegoers with a B CinemaScore and lackluster Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak exits of 77% and 3 1/2 stars compared to Stella 's A- and 87% on PostTrak.

Most sources believe that the ceiling for the opening is $60M with walk-up business standing at 63%, while Imax and PLFs are driving 43%

Though Friday was $15.3M, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is still looking at a $40M opening. This movie is coming in at the high-end of tracking, and that is to be commended for the Paramount/eOne $150M production. Hasbro controlled the IP, brought Paramount the movie, and agreed on the terms of financing at 50%.

Though not the most bedazzling start for a movie of that size, we need to remember the pandemic comp of Sony’s Uncharted, which cost $120M, opened to $44M, finaled at $148.6M U.S./Canada and did $401.7M worldwide. Sony was quick to call that a franchise start. The scores here are fantastic for D&D, with an A- CinemaScore (better than Uncharted‘s B+), 90%, 4 1/2 stars on ComScore/Screen Engine PostTrak, with a 77% recommend. Kids under 12 gave it 85% positive, with a 51% definite recommend.

Can this go higher this weekend? Most sources believe $40M is the ceiling here for the Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, Rege-Jean Page, and Sophia Lillis movie. Those buying their tickets day-of, indicating walk-up business, stood at 58%. By comparison, those who bought tickets to John Wick: Chapter 4 on its first Friday amounted to 55% of all moviegoers. Imax and PLFs are driving 36% of the weekend ticket sales to date for D&D.

Some rival distributors have snarked that this was a hard spot for D&D to go between John Wick: Chapter 4 and Universal/Illumination’s Super Mario Bros on the calendar. However, where else to program a film in 2023 as all these movies come out of the post-production logjam? For the month of April, it’s the marquee live-action PG-13 fanboy film outside of Super Mario Bros and Return of the Tiny Men, three horror pics – The Pope’s Exorcist, Renfield, Evil Dead Rise, and female-skewing fare like ''Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret — all before Disney/Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3'' arrives to steal all the cash.

Not to mention, this week, a third of all K-12 schools are off starting Monday, with 5% colleges off rising to 80% K-12 out, 31% colleges off on Good Friday. And you have Super Mario Bros opening on Wednesday. So by that measure, Paramount was getting out ahead with D&D, and you can’t blame them for that. Let’s wait and see what the multiple is on this John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein directed/written movie. We could be looking at a nice 4-day opening here.

Paramount definitely didn’t abandon this movie. Rather, it championed it to the sky with several screenings, all the while noticing its vibrant reception. This version of D&D is already leaps and bounds and light years ahead of New Line’s 2000 sour failure, which opened to $7.2M and finaled at $15.3M and a near $34M WW. Clearly, moviegoers prefer this feature adaptation of the role-playing game.

D&D was on a roll in the West, Mountain, and Midwest, but had solid numbers throughout the country. The AMC Burbank was the top-grossing venue, with close to $60K yesterday.

Some 61% of guys showed up to D&D, with men over 25 the biggest demo at 41% (85% grade), women over 25 at 27% (the best grade at 94%, can’t knock that Jean-Page), guys under 25 at 20% (92%), and women under 25 at 12% (also 92% grade). The 18-34 sect came out at 63%. Diversity demos were 48% Caucasian, 26% Hispanic and Latino, 10% Asian, and 8% Black.

All movies this weekend look to gross an estimated $100.6M, +21% over the same frame a year ago. We’re still rebounding. But we’re still off -27% from the same weekend in 2019, which grossed $137.8M, and that’s when Dumbo opened to $45.9M off a $170M budget.

Elsewhere, Angel Studios had the faith-based His Only Son opening at 1,920 theaters, with an estimated $2.1M Friday and an estimated $5.5M opening. No Rotten Tomatoes critics score, but the audience loved it at 95%. PostTrak clocked great exits as well, which is typical for these films, at 93% positive, 83% recommend. 65% female leaning, 66% over 45 — again, which is standard. Largest want-to-see was those over 55, who repped 46% of the crowd. Diversity demos were 56% Caucasian, 29% Latino and Hispanic, 7% Black, and 8% Asian/other. Circuits in the Bible belt did business, with the South and South Central standing out, yet with the top theater being in Lititz, PA.

Focus Features’ Sundance Grand Jury Prize dramatic winner, A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One, looks to rank 7th place with a $700K Friday, $1.72M opening off 926 theaters and a near $1,9K per theater. For Focus post-pandemic, for a niche film like this, that’s a solid number, particularly in an arthouse marketplace which is in great need of resurging. It’s on par with Vengeance, which opened to $1.75M at 998 theaters, and it’s higher than, and a much better result than, their 2022 Sundance pick-up, Honk for Jesus: Save Your Soul, which opened to $1.4M 3-day off twice the amount of theaters of 1,880 and a $756 theater average; that movie also going day-and-date on Peacock over Labor Day weekend. Great reviews and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively at 96% and 83%, with PostTrak exits lower at 76% positive, 63% definite recommend. Female-leaning at 65%, 61% between 18-34, with 25-34 year-olds the biggest quad at 33%. Diversity demos were 51% Black, 23% Caucasian, 15% Latino and Hispanic, and 10% Asian/other. Pic’s best regions were the East and the South, with seven of the top ten theaters coming out of NYC.

Cinegalaxy’s Dasara in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil clocked $280K yesterday at 510 locations in 118 markets with solid numbers in Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, and Austin, for what looks to be a 3-day of $939K, 5-day of $1.8M.

The second weekend of MGM’s Zach Braff-directed movie, A Good Person, shoots up 157 theaters to 687 venues for $168K on Friday, -40%, and a 3-day of $557K (-33%) for a running total of $1.8M in weekend 2.

1.) Hyper (Dis) 4,381 theaters, Fri $27.9M, 3-day $60M/Wk 1

2.) Dungeons & Dragons (Par) 3,855 theaters, Fri $15.3M, 3-day $40M/Wk 1

3.) John Wick Chapter 4 (LG) 3,855 theaters, Fri $7.85M (-73%), 3-day $28.3M (-62%), Total $122.9M/Wk 2

4.) His Only Son (Angel) 1,920 theaters, Fri $2.1M, 3-day $5.5M/Wk 1

5.) Creed III (MGM) 2,827 (-380) theaters, Fri $1.4M (-35%), 3-day $5.2M (-36%), Total $148.8M/Wk 5

6.) Scream VI (Par) 3,106 theaters (-339), Fri $1.55M (-37%), 3-day $5.15M (-38%), Total $98M/Wk 4

7.) Shazam: Fury of the Gods 3,451 (-620) theaters, Fri $1.2M (-49%), 3 day $4.5M (-52%), Total $53.3M/Wk 3

8.) Ico II (Sony) 1,489 (-503) theaters, $689K (-40%), 3-day $1.81M (-62%), Total $473.2M/Wk 8

9.) A Thousand and One (Foc) 926 theaters, Fri $700K, 3-day $1.72M/Wk 1

10.) 65 (Sony) 2,113 (-673) theaters, Fri $440K (-49%), 3-day $1.6M (-50%), Total $30.6M/Wk 4

Friday Midday: Right now, Disney/20th Century Studios' Hyper is looking at a $24M today including $6.2M in previews for a $58M start while Paramount/eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is looking at $16M today, including those $5.6M previews for a $40M start. I’m told that won’t buckle.

Top five pics:

1.) Hyper (Dis) 4,381 theaters, Fri $24M, 3-day $58M/Wk 1

2.) Dungeons & Dragons (Par) 3,855 theaters, Fri $16M, 3-day $30M/Wk 1

3.) John Wick Chapter 4 (LG) 3,855 theaters, Fri $8.2M (-72%), 3-day $30M (-59%), Total $124.6M/Wk 2

4.) His Only Son (Angel) 1,920 theaters, Fri $2.1M, 3-day $5.8M/Wk 1

5.) Creed III (MGM) 2,827 theaters, Fri $1.5M, 3-day $5.2M (-37%), Total $148.7M/Wk 5

Disney and 20th Century Studios' Hyper started off good with $6.2M in previews. Unlike the majority of 20th Century Animation's recent output, critics were more harsh on the film with 48% on Rotten Tomatoes although audiences favored the film better with a current 82% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but tracking has sat on the movie with a $60M-$70M domestic opening projection for the $180M.

Being the first original film by 20th Century Animation, the lower than usual opening weekend should be expected being an original and despite the lukewarm reviews, there's hope that the film might overindex this weekend, but it might quickly burn away due to the possible competition of The Super Mario Bros. Movie (April 5) and ironically Disney's own by Disney Animation Return of the Tiny Men (April 14).

Paramount and eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has made $5.6M in previews. That’s not all from Thursday showtimes, which began at 3 p.m., but includes advance Amazon sneaks among other pre-screenings. Before Thursday, we’re told Dungeons & Dragons made $1.5M. While the feature take on the popular role-playing game has been hot in word of mouth (92% on Rotten Tomatoes) and with critics (89% certified fresh), tracking has sat on the movie with a $30M-$40M domestic opening projection for the $150M production (covered 50% by eOne).

Paramount believed in this movie so much that it screened the pic extensively and brought it to SXSW, where the pic made its world premiere as the fest’s opening-night title. The hope by all is that the pic overindexes this weekend, but it might be a slow burn for the film; it’s the only new live-action PG-13 fanboy choice heading into the Easter frame next weekend.

D&D gains a majority of the premium venues from Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 this weekend. That movie had a hot week with $94.6M at 3,855 theaters. If D&D underdelivers, does John Wick 4 claim No. 2? Even if the Keanu Reeves R-rated action pic tumbles 60%, it will see a $30M opening.

The John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein directed/written D&D is also hitting 58 offshore territories including the UK (distributed by eOne), Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Spain, with an outlook of $25M+. At the high-end, it’s a hopeful $65M global start.

On the upside, D&D‘s $4.1M Thursday is ahead of its comp Uncharted‘s Thursday previews of $3.7M last year, also ahead of spring hit Kong: Skull Island ($3.7M) and 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road ($3.7M) and just under the $4.3M Thursday of Paramount’s surprise 2018 genre spring hit, A Quiet Place, which flew to a $50.2M opening and legged out to $188M stateside, $340M WW and birthed a franchise. Uncharted is a good comp here to D&D. That pic was based on a popular Sony PlayStation videogame and opened to $44M, finaled at $148M stateside, $401.7M WW.

Top five films on Thursday:

1 John Wick: Chapter 4 (LG) 3,855 theaters, Thu $3.8M (-15% from Wednesday) Wk $94.6M/Wk 1 (read the review)

2 Scream VI (Par) 3,355 theaters, Thu $710 (-3%), Wk $11.4M/Total $92.9M/Wk 3 (read the review)

3 Creed III (MGM/UAR) 3207 theaters, Thu $665K, Wk $11M, Total $143.5M/Wk 4 (read the review)

4 ''Shazam! Fury of the Gods'' (NL) 4071 theaters, Thu $580K (-14%), Wk $12.2M/Total $48.8M/Wk 2 (read the review)

5 Ico II (Sony) 1,992 theaters, Thu $486K (-15%), Wk $6.9M/Total $471.4M/Wk 7 (read the review)