Box Office

[will]

‘Wolf’ will do very, very, very well

Who am I to argue with that? $60M 5-day it is.

[will]

Well, tracking is out, and it's low.

“Wolf” is no “Hugo” when it comes to cost, but with a price of roughly $100 million, it wasn't cheap. Red Granite paid for it all — a big bet for a fledgling company.

According to those who have seen prerelease audience surveys, “Wolf” could have a five-day opening run of $25 million to $35 million. That could be enough to beat out the five other films opening wide Wednesday — “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” “47 Ronin,” “Grudge Match,” “Justin Bieber's Believe” and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.”

But that's at best a decent opening for such a costly project, which has an R rating and a three-hour running time.

www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-red-granite-pictures-movies-20131224,0,4900928.story

“Wolf of Wall Street” is Leonardo DiCaprio’s first movie since “The Great Gatsby” and will roll out in roughly 2,400 theaters on Wednesday. Carrying a very hard R-rating, the black comedy is projected to come in somewhere north of $7 million on one of the biggest moviegoing days of the year, and get up to $30 million over the five days.

If the cocaine, hookers, debauchery and over-the-top excess in “Wolf” don’t put some people off, the three-hour run-time might. But Paramount is hoping that adults — who’ve had their fill of elves, egg nog and over-the-top holiday excess – might find the iconic American auteur’s latest epic just the tonic.

In a nod to the very adult nature of the film, Paramount is skipping early screenings on Christmas Eve and has targeted major markets almost exclusively in the rollout. But distribution chief Don Harris doesn’t think the film’s edginess or the controversy surrounding it will make or break it.

“This movie delivers the goods,” said distribution chief Don Harris, “and that’s what’s going to matter in the long run.”

If it does take off, it wouldn’t be unprecedented. Quentin Tarantino’s brutal slavery tale “Django Unchained” – in which DiCaprio also appeared — last year set the record for the best Christmas Day debut for an R-rated movie with $15 million. It’s hard to see “Wolf” topping that, given the competition.

[piglet]

It's 3 hours and R rated. Doesn't that bring down the box office?

[shaolin1990]

The stock market may be closed but Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” is having no trouble cashing in at the holiday box office.

According to estimates, Paramount’s R-rated drama leads all Christmas sales with approximately $10 million on its first day of release while Warner Bros.’ “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug” is close behind with $8.9 million.

“Wolf of Wall Street,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is projected to earn north of $35 million through Sunday and could very well give Bilbo Baggins a run for his money this holiday weekend.

variety.com/2013/film/news/wolf-of-wall-street-poised-for-no-1-at-christmas-box-office-with-10-million-1200998693/

[shaolin1990]

2   THE WOLF OF WALL STREET   $9,150,000


www.boxofficemojo.com/daily/chart/

"The Desolation of Smaug" topped Christmas and ended the day hovering within sight of the $150 million plateau, beating Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street," which took in an estimated $9.15 million in its first day of release. The Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle had the highest per-screen average of any film in the Top 10, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

Read more at www.hitfix.com/news/box-office-smaug-tops-wolf-of-wall-street-on-christmas-while-justin-bieber-tanks#bCaqpSU6Uk0VDpMm.99

[will]

thanks, shaolin. Too bad it couldn't get the No. 1 just for one day at least. This is the second Scorsese/Paramount film thrown in a very crowded holiday date.
The film got a C cinemascore, which could well be the average of As and Fs, rather than Bs and Ds. Time will tell.

[kim]

The WOM isn't too great for this film, it got a C Cinemascore, but I'm still glad it did well. That said, I'm afraid it's definitely going to fall sharply by next week. What do you guys think, can it cross 100 million?

[piglet]

Dec 26, 2013 19:22:14 GMT -5 will said:

thanks, shaolin. Too bad it couldn't get the No. 1 just for one day at least. This is the second Scorsese/Paramount film thrown in a very crowded holiday date.
The film got a C cinemascore, which could well be the average of As and Fs, rather than Bs and Ds. Time will tell.

Cinemascore gets most of its ratings from "middle America" (St. Louis, Dallas, Atlanta), i.e., typically more conservative areas where moviegoers are less likely to embrace a movie with a lot of sex, nudity and drug use.

[kim]

^^Reactions to this movie are all over the place. Many loved it, while many hated it. Lots of walkouts and disappointed people, even young men who were 'supposed' to be fans of this. I'm afraid the bad WOM will probably hurt its Box Office by next week. I just hope this crosses 100 million.

[will]

The studio’s second day of “The Wolf of Wall Street” followed with $6.4 million, off 30% from its opening day, for a $15.6 million cume.

Variety

The 30% drop is smaller than Django's last year and also the smallest of the other new releases. Could it rise a bit today to make $7M?

[shaolin1990]

In a disappointing fifth place finish, Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street , starring Leonardo DiCaprio, earned $6.3 million total. When it grossed $9.2 million on its Christmas Day debut, Wolf nearly overtook The Hobbit for the top spot.

1. Frozen – $10.3 million
2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – $10.1 million
3. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues – $7.1 million
4. American Hustle – $6.4 million
5. The Wolf of Wall Street – $6.3 million

insidemovies.ew.com/2013/12/28/box-office-update-frozen/

Martin Scorsese’s “Wolf” was just behind it, with $6.2 million from 2,537 locations. Friday’s take was a little off from Thursday’s number, but the R-rated black comedy starring Leonardo DiCaprio is still on track to take in more than $35 million over the long weekend for Paramount.

www.thewrap.com/american-hustle-surges-1-close-call-box-office/

[kim]

Unfortunately it doesn't look like is doing as well as I had hoped :/ But it will still do decent, which is good considering the mixed WOM.

[shaolin1990]

Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Wall Street bad boy Jordan Belfort, is now projected to gross $19 million to $20 million for the weekend, pushing its five-day debut to a respectable $34 million-plus.

Paramount is releasing and marketing Wolf of Wall Street, which barely received an R rating (Scorsese agreed to trim certain sex scenes in order to avoid getting slapped with an NC-17). The big question is whether the movie, expected to do especially well on both coasts, will play in America's heartland (the film's C CinemaScore could be an indication of the split). Boasting a running time of two hours and 59 minutes, Wolf marks Scorsese's longest film by a minute, topping Casino.

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-frozen-soars-no-667830

[will]

thanks, shaolin.
Oh, the spin has started. Near NC-17 rating, heartland resistance to content, long running time. They didn't know all these things a week ago?
And will it make $20M, with such a low Friday number?

The film might not make it to $90M now.

[kim]

I think it'll probably make 80-90 million, which isn't great, but certainly not that bad, especially if you consider all the factors it has against it. And you have to remember, people were expecting this to cross 100 million BEFORE its release date was pushed back to Christmas.