![]() There was a great concern out there that Free Guy was going to be sidelined due to Covid. Free Guy gets plenty of trumpets this weekend because it’s, once again, expensive original IP, which is very risky and it’s debuting at a time when younger adults have other distractions such as returning to school or college. Some might ask, what’s the big deal? So, Free Guy opens to a $26M+ weekend after last weekend’s The Suicide Squaddid $26.2M, which was painted by the media and Warners as a collateral damage from the pandemic (yet, was the highest start for an R-Rated movie during Covid). Best markets were Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, NYC and LA. Respect pulled in 67% over 35, 45% over 45, & 26% over 55 years old. Those demographics are Respect‘s targeted crowds, and among the few who bought tickets. From the moment the campaign for Respect began, overall moviegoing comfort levels dropped from 81% to 66% in NRG polling, while the worst confidence came from the female over 35 (52% sentiment) and over 45 (44% sentiment) quads the latter demo dropping 30 points since Respect‘s promo push. ![]() However, it’s going to be a long road for older-skewing titles as the headlines of delta and lambda variants continue. ![]() Either Respect holds like a rock, or with great audience scores like these, it overperforms in its home ancillaries. But there’s concern here about films geared at older crowds in the pandemic especially as we head into Q4 awards season. On one positive note, Respect, for an older-leaning movie turned in a higher start than Focus Features’ Stillwater which began at $5.1M, and held -45% in its second frame. That can’t be said for all moviegoing demos, in particular the older female crowd who didn’t show up in bulk to MGM/United Artists Releasing’s Aretha Franklin biopic Respectwhich despite a solid A CinemaScore did $8.8M in 4th place this past weekend. The key thing here to remember is that both Free Guy and Don’t Breathe 2 were propelled by the 18-34 demo, respectively at 50% and 63%, and that’s a crowd who’s been increasingly showing that they’re unafraid to head out to the cinema.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |