"Conjuring 2" & "Warcraft" Hook Thursday Night Audiences; "Now You See Me 2" Collects $1.75M

Warcraft Movie - Tour of Lion"s Pride Inn Set with Production Designer Gavin Bocquet

This weekend at the box office, its a throw-down between undead spirits, a pierced Orc-looking guy, and a group of thieving magicians.

Warner Bros. says that New Lines Conjuring 2drew $3.4M last night at roughly 2,700 theaters. The sequels industry projection is in the low $30M, poised to take No. 1. Thats the strongest pre-show result for a horror film since 2013sConjuringwhich made $3.3M. The

Warner Bros Pictures

firstConjuringwas a surprise hit opening to $41.9M and legging out a 3.3 multiple to $137.4M stateside, $318M worldwide. The James Wan-directed movie earned an A- CinemaScore which is unheard of for a horror movie. Quite often if a horror film earns a B+, thats fantastic. Critics gave the firstConjuringan 86% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score, and the sequel carries a 74% grade. Women are the target audience here with Conjuring 2,after part 1 drew 53% females, 59% over 25.Many analysts seeConjuring 2meeting its opening weekend forecast, however, there is a faction who believe that in certain horror aficionados minds, the sequel, also by Wan, will play like a threequel, and arrive in the high $20Ms following the release of 2014sAnnabelle.Even though it was a spinoff movie, someConjuringfans registered it as a sequel and it left a bad taste in the mouth of the franchise fans earning a B CinemaScore and a 29% pan by critics.Annabelleposted a great opening at $37.1m, but had shorter legs with a 2.3 multiple and $84.3M domestic B.O. Still a huge hit considering its $6.5M production cost.

Universal is reporting that Legendarys feature adaptation of the popular video game Warcraftcollected $3.1M last night from 2,632 theaters. Industry projections have the pics domestic opening in the low $20Ms. Already Warcrafthas broken records in China with a $90M two-day haul and has cleared close to $80M in offshore markets for a total of $170M overseas.Warcraftis booked at 3,396 venues and also counts Imax and 3D in its mix. Whos watching Warcraft? Its a videogamers movie, says one distribution exec.

How does Thursdays figure forWarcraftstack up comp-wise? Its higher than the $2.1M made by Paramounts Herculeswhich won on to make $29.8M, and its lower thanWorld War Zs $3.6M preview night ($66.4M FSS) andPacific Rims $3.6M too (FSS of $37.3M). Both Uni and Legendary co-financedWarcraft whichcost $160M and carries a global P&A in vicinity of $110M. Some industry sources say it will need $450M before the Duncan Jones movie hits breakeven. It was always expected thatWarcraftwould come up short here in the U.S.,given the wane of the video games heyday here. Overall, global subscribers have fallen over the last 11 years for World of Warcraftfrom a high of 12M in 2005 to 5.6M last summer. A lot of that has to do with the games expansion packs which can wildly deflate or spike subscribers. China was always a valuable market for the Blizzard Entertainment game counting roughly half of its worldwide subs. At one point in 2011, China counted 3.2M subscribers, up from 1.5M in 2005.As one razor-sharp executive assessed Warcrafts B.O. prospects earlier this week, Its about whether or not it will turn out OK worldwide or be a complete bomb. Dont drink the juice and believe that its really more than it is.

In pre-sales, Fandango is showingConjuring 2andWarcraftneck-in-neck.

Lionsgates Now You See Me 2,thesequel to its beloved 2013 magician heist movie, made $1.75M. That beats the first films $1.5M preview night which went on to a $29.4M opening and a $117.7M domestic opening. This installment is expected to make in the mid to high $20M range, however, one observer thinks it could truly pop and surprise. Lets leave it at that for now. Critics were divided on the first one at 49% Rotten Tomatoes score, but arent that thrilled about the sequel at 35%.Now You See Mereceived an A- CinemaScore, and while it seemed to be flying under the radar prior to its release, Rentraks (now ComScore) PreAct noticed that Lionsgates marketing materials were clicking on social media, and that the Louis Leterrier-directed movie was bound to break out.

Among films already in play on Thursday, ParamountsTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadowsled the day with $2.2M and a weeks total of $46.2M. The film is expected to decline at least 50% from its opening weekend for a second FSS of $17.7M and a 10-day run of $63.9M.

The Conjuring 2 is expected to steal women away fromMGM/New LinesMe Before You,hence the Emilia Clarke-Sam Claflin romance will see a -45% hold for a $10.3M weekend and a 10-day total of $37.9M.

Source: http://deadline.com/2016/06/warcraft-conjuring-2-now-you-see-me-2-weekend-box-office-1201770307/

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"Warcraft" Sets China Record For Biggest Thursday Ever; Crushes $90M+ In 2 Days

WARCRAFT Movie Trailer (2016)

UPDATE, THURSDAY, 8:42 AM PT: Day two of Warcrafts China invasion came on strong with a current range of $44.5M-$46.5M (292M-305M rmb). That gives the Legendary/Universal fantasy actioner the biggest Thursday box office of all time in the Middle Kingdom, splashing past the record set by The Mermaid (249M rmb) earlier this year. That film went on to become the highest grosser ever in the market at a USD exchange of $527M. Averaging out todays dollar range, the Duncan Jones-helmed Warcraft drops just 1% from Wednesday; if the high-end holds, it grows by 1%. Todays play which saw Warcraft dominate 81% of all turnstile spins gives the feature adaptation of Blizzard Entertainments video game a mainland China total of $90.6M-$92.2M (595M-605M rmb) and counting. The rest of international is at $78M through Wednesday.

The film passed the 500M rmb milestone at 4:46 PM local time this afternoon which is believed also to be a record. Only two other films have ever passed that benchmark in their first two days of release: The Mermaid in February, and Universals own Furious 7 last April. Based on current numbers, this is the first time in history that a film has exceeded 600M rmb in two days. Prior to the Azerothians, the two-day record was held by the F7 crew with 586M rmb.

Warcrafts performance out of the gate is stunning, but not necessarily a huge surprise in this market where advance ticket sales were through the roof. The game has a long history in China where fantasy is big even the local title for World of Warcraft translates to World of Magical Beasts and the move to get it on screens during a key holiday was a prescient play. Its also got a lot of local muscle behind it in the form of Legendary owner Wanda (which also owns 18% of PROC screens) and the films Chinese equity and brand partners. Weekend projections are steadily rising from the mooted high-end of $150M

PREVIOUS, WEDNESDAY 9:16 AM PT: Warcraft blasted out of the gate today in China with $46M(302M rmb) at the box office as of 10 PM local time. The Legendary Pictures/Universal Pictures adaptation of the popular video game franchise set a record for the best first-day box office for a non-weekend release in the Middle Kingdom. The previous title holder was Avengers: Age Of Ultron with $28.3M (185.86 rmb).

The midnight screenings, which began Tuesday, posted $7.6M (49.78M rmb), falling just shy of Furious 7s record which was set last year with $7.9M (52.47M rmb). In Imax, however, the Orcs bit down on a record for midnights with $1.38M (9.03M rmb). Including Imaxmidnights, Warcraft posted $5.33M (35M rmb) for the full opening day, hitting a new milestone for the format. That tops F7s $4.7M (31M rmb) from last April. Overall advance Imaxticket sales also bested all previous comers with $8.2M (53.8M rmb).

Opening estimates on Warcrafts five-day launch, which comes during a holiday period, have been hovering between 800M rmb and 1B rmb which would put the range at $122M-$152M. It now looks more than likely that the citizens of Azeroth blow past the high end of those industry projections kids are off and the Dragon Boat Festival begins tomorrow.

The Duncan Jones-helmed feature also sets a new milestone for the widest release ever in the Middle Kingdom, playing on an unprecedented 67.5% of all screens. The previous record holder for widest release was Universals own F7 last year. It bowed on 62.8% of screens and went on to final at $391M, becoming the biggest Hollywood title ever in China.

Wanda now owns Legendary, and its exhibition circuit has 18% of the 39K Middle Kingdom screens. That relationship clearly is helping here, while others booked Warcraft with gusto in the market which has a long history and love for the games.

Legendarys local release partners are China Film Group and Huaxia. Warcraft has four Chinese equity partners: Tencent, CFG, Huayi and Taihe. Universal is understood to be in for about 25%-30% of the full reported $160M budget and will reap the benefits of all releases as part of the overall pie. After beginning international rollout on May 25, and with strong plays in Russia and Germany, the current estimated overseas cume is $121M.

The film is set for domestic release Friday with projections of about $25M for the weekend. If Warcraft continues its magical ride as expected in China, it kicks off the Legendary/Wanda relationship in a big way. It also potentially sends a signal that films which have great uptake internationally and especially in China may not need rely on North America quite so much.

Source: http://deadline.com/2016/06/warcraft-china-record-opening-box-office-imax-results-1201769124/

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