WEEKEND ACTUALS: Lincoln Lawyer Bumps Up from Studio Projections

All three movies opening this weekend exceeded the ShowbuzzDaily Forecasts but the rank order was roughly as predicted (Liongate's Lincoln Lawyer moved into a virtual tie with Universal's Paul).  Volume for the three openers was about $6 million more than predicted (15% higher), which moved the weekend from a slump-worthy 11% decline to a more normal 3% decline from the four-year average for the comparable weekend.  The actual numbers for Relativity's Limitless and Paul ended up being slightly below studio estimates (which are based on projections for Sunday and actuals for Friday and Saturday), while Lincoln Lawyer came in significantly above the studio estimate Sunday. 


                     Showbuzz      Studio         Weekend
                     Forecast     Estimate         Actual
Limitless (LG)         $15          $19.0          $18.9
Paul (UNI)             $13          $13.7          $13.0
Lincoln Lawyer (Rel)   $11          $12.5          $13.2
Opener Total           $39          $44.7          $45.1

Rango (Paramount) ended up with $15.1 million this weekend (hitting the $15 million forecast), while Battle: Los Angeles (Sony) under-performed with $14.5 million and a 59% decline (well below the $17 million forecast and 50% decline). 

Also, in very limited release (five theaters), Win Win averaged $30,072 per location for a total of $150,362.