No, Invisible Man did not play like a front-loaded horror movie, rather a thriller (ie Universal / Amblin’s Girl on the Train saw a Friday-to-Saturday uptick of 3% on its way to a $ . 5M opening weekend). The Saturday bounce for Invisible Man isn’t that far from Split ‘s 19% and is in the same teen percentile orbit as Get Out ( (%). Another big indicator that buzz caught on for Invisible Man is in the PostTrak stat that % of ticket buyers bought their tickets on Saturday vs. 7% in the past week. Fifty-eight percent of Invisible Man ‘s moviegoers bought tickets at the theater versus 44% online. Of those who watched Invisible Man, 59% said they’ll definitely recommend the movie to their friends, while 48% said they’ll probably recommend it. Strong exits.
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All these diagnostics show that Invisible Man sells itself, with those walking away from the theater being the largest form of publicity in their word of mouth. While the movie is not about the plight of the Invisible Man, but his female victim, Uni highlighted the creepiness of the popular monster protag in its outdoor and in-theater marketing with slogans like “He’s Been Following You This Whole Time”, “He’s Right Behind You” and “He’s Standing Right Next You” among others with words disappearing toward the end of the tagline. One billboard in particular won praise from rival studio execs around town on their drive around L.A. and that was one with the tagline “What You Can’t See Can’t Hurt You”. Essentially, the tagline showed up in wavy fashion when the sunlight hit the billboard. Clever.
Invisible Man first trailered on Warner Bros. Doctor Sleep back in November, but gained greater visibility on Bad Boys for Life and throughout the winter. Between Uni’s first two trailers of Invisible Man, it churned over M views. RelishMix says that the viral video rate of Invisible Man was at 31: 1 ahead of the genre average of : 1 with average daily views of the pic’s YouTube clips hovering around . 5K before opening, ahead of the typical 28 K for the thriller genre.
No shock here given the male turnout at % as Uni targeted NBA Christmas day games with TV spots, as well as bracketed both sides of Super Bowl with a pre-game spot and another one during The Masked Singer post game show on Fox. Other TV spots aired during The Grammys, hit television series like The Walking Dead, This Is Us and Modern Family as well as the finale of the highest-rated telenovela on Spanish language television, El Señor De Los Cielos.
Other PR highlights included a partnership with Beyond Fest’s “Thrill-a-thon”, a movie marathon of films that inspired Whannell like Fatal Attraction , and Misery as well as an advance screening of The Invisible Man that ended with a Q&A from Whannell. Overall, Uni screened this movie aggressively to get the word out there before opening. One highlight was a takeover at CityWalk at Universal Studios Hollywood where there was a spatial pop-up that immersed attendees in an audio illusion that The Invisible Man was also located in the dark enclosed space with them.
PostTrak showed an increase in the under female demo to (%) from (%), females over (averaging out to %, guys over still leading with % and more males under
(going from 25% on Friday night to 29% yesterday). The male leaning Invisible Man was on par with the guy pull of Glass, A Quiet Place and Cloverfield Lane. Split was more female with a draw of % (next to Invisible Man ‘s (%). Those going out in packs (2-4 friends) to see Invisible Man included males under (%) and females under (% ). Those males and females under 32 taking boyfriends / girlfriends to the R-rated thriller were around (% -) %.
Invisible Man reps the second best debut for Elisabeth Moss (who remarkably carries this movie all on her own) at the domestic box office behind last year Us from Jordan Peele, Uni and Blumhouse ($ 1M), which still holds the record for the best opening by an original horror movie. Global for Invisible Man is at $ 56. 2M , making it the No. 1 movie around the globe this weekend with $ 28 .2M from offshore territories including Mexico, the UK / Ireland, Germany and Australia, with the international rollout continuing through the spring. Final endgame domestic for Invisible Man is now expected to be around $ (M) which is where Girl of the Train was), but we’ll see about that as that movie was mostly fueled by female fans of the book. Invisible Man owns the genre space until Paramount’s A Quiet Place Part II arrives on March 25, with little adult threat next weekend from Disney / Pixar’s Onward (expected to open in the mid $ (Ms) and Warner Bros. Ben Affleck drama The Way Back (in the mid-to-high mid digits).
“Pairing Blumhouse, the unequivocal master of this horror thriller genre, with the incredible vision of Leigh Whannell led to the great success of our debut of The Invisible Man this weekend. The casting of the extraordinarily talented Elisabeth Moss elevates this film, with audiences and critics responding to her performance with great enthusiasm. This is a great start for the new direction in Universal’s Classic Monster legacy, ”beamed Universal domestic distribution boss Jim Orr this morning to Deadline.
Off the fever of Invisible Man, Blumhouse announced yesterday that they signed the pic’s filmmaker Whannell to a two year first look film and TV development deal .
Imax and PLF accounted for a third of Invisible Man ’s domestic business. While Uni had Invisible Man booked on PLF screens, some exhibitors opted to play My Hero Academia: Hero Rising and Call of the Wild, and thus, did not reap the upside of the overperformance of the Moss movie on certain showtimes.
Elsewhere, the weekend’s other wide entry, Sony Pictures TV / Funimation’s My Hero Academia: Hero Rising clocked $ 2.5M on Saturday, % over Friday on its way to a $ 5.1M 3-day in 4th place, 5-day opening of $ 8.5M per the distributor this morning.
Updates: NEON is calling the st weekend of 4x Oscar winner Parasite at $ 1.5M , – 58% at 1 , with a running total of $ 60. 5M in th place.
Refresh for more analysis and a chart.
4TH Writethru, Saturday AM after overnight post : Horror films in the wake of New Line’s It Chapter Two ($
(M opening) have been in a frightening free fall at the domestic box office, and for various reasons.
They were either too too long or based off of a non-mass appealing piece of source material (ie Warner Bros. ‘truly sublime Doctor Sleep, which went into a coma with $ 6M domestic final ), so cheap that their distributors believed that there was no reason to spend any more money than what was necessary (hence lower grosses, ie Brahms: Boy II, Countdown ), or just flat out awful (the F-graded Grudge and The Turning, Plus the D Cinemascore pic Black Christmas ). After seeing broad comedies get swallowed up whole by streaming and minimized at the box office, the last thing major studio executives need is for another crowd-appealing genre, in which moviegoers have a great shared experience, gets diminished entirely on mobile phones.
And so, this weekend’s opening for Universal-Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man , now between $ 31 M – $ 34 M off its $ 7M production cost (before P&A), is a wonderful reminder that low budget gen fare continues to work. Grosses for the Leigh Whannell-directed and written film have improved from Friday afternoon to a current $ 9.9M (including Thursday night’s $ 1. 77 M). Universal’s hope is that Invisible Man continues to play like a thriller, with Saturday being even with Friday’s box office (or even better) and not like a horror movie, which is typically front-loaded.
Moviegoers want to organically discover their franchises, and not be told they have to commit themselves to a “Dark Universe,” which is what Universal did so ambitiously back with its 08098 reboot of The Mummy. Uni will say that with this weekend’s success of Invisible Man, it’s a great step in putting their whole monster-verse back on the rails. And while that is true, what’s amazing here is how they built another crowd-appealing, critically acclaimed ( % certified fresh), socially conscious movie that is so much about now and #MeToo with Invisible Man. It’s not just senseless pulp, blood and guts. In the wake of Harvey Weinstein’s guilty verdict this week, which reinvigorated the #MeToo movement, Universal and Blumhouse couldn’t have hoped for a better time to release Invisible Man. Time ‘s film critic Stephanie Zacharek hits the nail on the head when describing how Invisible Man speaks to bigger issues: “The movie’s violence opens up a larger question, keyed to the way the world reacts when a woman steps forward to call out abuse . What is it that makes us believe a woman’s story? If a woman is struck by an unseen hand, as Cecilia is, has it really happened? Where’s the proof? In The Invisible Man, it’s her word against his silence — and he doesn’t even have the guts to show his face. ”
Even though guys over 030 remained the majority for Invisible Man, with %, females grew on Friday night over Thursday, with females repping % of the audience (up from (%) and females under
(at % (up from last night’s
() The latter loved Invisible Man the most at (%, while females overall) %) enjoyed Invisible Man a bit more than guys, 86% to 88. Those 33 – 43 made up % of the crowd, with updated diversity demos being % Caucasian, (% African American, % Hispanic, % Asian. PostTrak remained solid at 4 Stars, while CinemaScore was a B , on par with Split, and just under Get Out ‘s A-. Invisible Man played best on the coasts and the South. Imax and PLF screens rep % of the gross so far.
Late improv maestro and Second City pioneer Del Close famously said that when it comes to art and the audience, “treat your audiences like poets and geniuses, and they’ll have the chance to become them,” and it’s clear that Universal continues to have that philosophy in mind in developing their slates (ie pics like Yesterday, , etc), shepherding their filmmakers and taking big swings in a franchise- laden event cinema atmosphere. While Disney plows forward with Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel, and live-action reboots of their classic toons, Uni is meeting the challenge to think outside the box.
Yes, yes, of course, let’s not forget that this is the same studio that made the disastrous feature adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats. The IP was historically always risky (that’s why it wasn’t made decades ago). But given Uni’s flair for blockbuster jukebox musicals like their Mamma Mia movies, they believed Cats to be a worthy gamble, given the fact that the stage musical made over $ 4 billion, the movie was casted up for the young with stars like Taylor Swift, and for sophisticated adults with award winning actors like Judi Dench and Ian McKellen, and the pic was in the hands of Uni’s Les Miserables hitmaker director Tom Hooper.
However, the stage musical’s unusual premise of singing cats (sans plot) coupled with uncanny valley designed felines, did not speak to today’s moviegoers, with millennials exclaiming WTF. At the same time over the holiday season, Uni teamed with Amblin to distribute a British WWI movie, . Talk about risky. That’s certainly not a four-quad movie, and the subject matter is largely for old dudes. And who wants to see another British war film so soon after Dunkirk? But there was a huge hook, one that was big enough to get people to leave their couches and spend over $ 493 M WW and see something that they’ve never seen before in a war movie, and that was that the cinematography was the star in its one continuous, jarring, awesome shot.
Sony Pictures TV / Funimation’s My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising also played well on the coasts and the South. Overall, audiences in updated PostTrak gave it 5 stars, Parents 4 stars, and kids 3 stars. Families only repped % last night, with the general audience at % making up most of the crowd. Those who showed were (% male and) (% under) , with % falling between 26 – years old . Among kids under 19, boys repped 50% of the crowd. Rivals are impressed by the anime pic’s near $ 9M five days at 1, given given Funimation’s limited P&A spend .
NEON’s Oscar-winning Best Picture darling Parasite, which is still wide at 1, sans Imax, is poised to earn around $ 1. M , – %, for a total by EOD tomorrow of $ . 5M in weekend 29. What is amazing many rival distribs is that the movie is still putting up big numbers while still being made available on vod and dvd. Who says the big screen is dead? It can be argued that Parasite ‘s tale this past awards season could have been Roma ‘s, had that pic had the prestige of a full-on, theatrical release, box office grosses and all. Distribution folk continue to argue that at least $ 28 M in box office grosses were left on the table with that Alfonso Cuaron 3x Oscar winner. Final domestic looks like $ M for sure, with some saying more.
Devin France, Gavin Naquin and Gage Naquin in ‘Wendy’ Searchlight Pictures
Searchlight’s revisionist Peter Pan movie Wendy from Beasts of the Southern Wild filmmaker Benh Zeitlin posted $ , 5K last night at NY’s Landmark 65 St and Angelika and LA’s Landmark, and Arclight Hollywood drawing from soft numbers. Overall, weekend looks like $ 40, 3K for a per theater of $ 7,8K, which is awful. It stands to reason when the critics have blasted it at % on Rotten Tomatoes.
Sony Pictures Classics’ Michael Winterbottom comedy Greed starring Steve Coogan and Isla Fisher also suffer from bad reviews at %, seeing soft numbers at NY’s Lincoln Square, Angelika and LA’s Landmark, and Arclight. Pic earned around $ 7K yesterday on its way to a bad $ (K or $ 5,2K per theater.
2nd Update, Friday Midday: The Invisible Man is on his way to a $ 9.1M first day, including last night’s $ 1. M, for a 3-day between $ (M – $) (M) (at 3, theaters . I’ve heard from various exhibitors that advance ticket sales are far ahead of Universal / Blumhouse’s Ma which posted at first day of $ 7.2M and opening of $ 24. 1M last June. As of this minute, ticket sales are surging so by tonight we may see a higher result. At this range, it’s a very good start for the $ 7M Univeral-Blumhouse production. Get Out posted a first day of $ 8M, which included $ 1.8M previews, on its way to a $ 40. 3M start.
Paramount’s 3rd weekend of Sonic the Hedgehog is taking 2nd with an estimated $
(M) (at 4, (off a Friday of $ 3.2M) – 57%), – %, and running total by Sunday of $ 1M
Disney / (th Century Studios’ The Call of the Wild in its second weekend is seeing $ . (M) (at 3,
(off a Friday of $ 3.5M) – 64%), overall – % for the weekend. That puts its 19 – day at $ 51. 5m.
In 4th is Sony Pictures TV / Funimation’s My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising which is looking at $ 5M- $ 6M at 1, 324 after a $ 2M- $ 2.2M Friday. – day could hit $ 9.3M on the high end.
‘Impractical Jokers: The Movie’ truTV
Warner Bros. ‘ Birds of Prey could file 5th with $ 3.9M at 3, , – % for a running total in weekend 4 of $ .7M. Sony’s Bad Boys for Life is now in 6th in weekend 7 with $ 3.6 M at 2, , – 45% for a running total of $ .6M.
STX’s Brahms: The Boy 2 is looking at $ 2.6 M in weekend 2 in 7th place, – (%, for a – day of $ 9.7M.
WarnerMedia’s TruTV’s Impractical Jokers which expanded from theaters to 1, is seeing $ (K today, – %, for a 3-day of $ 2.2M , – %, and a 015 – day of $ 5.3M.
1st Update, Friday 7: 43 AM: Universal-Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man Made its first appearance Thursday night at 7 PM shows nationwide with $ 1. million at 2, theaters, an amount of cash that’s near both studios’ previous collaborations, Get Out ($ 1.8M Thursday) and Split ($ 2M). Invisible Man expands to 3, today.
Universal Pictures
Both titles overperformed their $ M-predicted tracking at the time, with Split posting a $ (M start, and Get Out taking $ 3M. Invisible Man, directed and written by Leigh Whannell, is forecasted to be in the mid-to high – $ M range, a solid start for the $ 7M net production shot with Australian tax credits However, like Split and Get Out, it’s expected to go higher potentially in the $ 39 M zone.
Exits and reviews indicate that milepost is possible, with Invisible Man ‘s Rotten Tomatoes score at % Certified Fresh being just under (Get Out
‘s) % certified fresh, but much higher than Split ‘s 86% certified fresh and Halloween ‘s certified% fresh. The RT score is key because that’s the catalyst that will persuade non-genre die-hards to buy tickets.
PostTrak last night for the R-rated Invisible Man showed 4 stars with a 60% definite recommend. Guys over 31 dominated at % last night, with % females over , % females under and % men under . The biggest quad was the 32 – folks at %, with a diversity read of 58% Caucasian, Hispanic%, % Asian and % African American.
Among those films in regular release Thursday, Disney / (th Century Studios’ Call of the Wild led with an estimated $ 1. 53 M , off 3% from Wednesday, for a first-week cume of $ . 6M. Weekend 2 is estimated to be down (% for a second-frame take of $ . 6M for the Harrison Ford movie.
Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog ends Weekend 2 with a running total of $ 2M after a $ 1. 24 M Thursday, 2% from Wednesday, in second place for the day. Sonic should see a third weekend that’s around $ (M) , – (%.)
Funimation
Third place according to early AM estimates goes to Sony Pictures TV-Funimation’s anime feature My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising . Last night we heard that not all the pic’s theaters were accounted for on Wednesday
and instead of a $ 1.7M opening day it was actually $ 2.5M at 1, 348 locations. Right now Thursday looks like $ K (updated), – 80%, per estimates, for a two- day take of $ 3.3M . 3-day outlook is around $ 6M.
PostTrak shows that fans are out in bulk with the pic scoring 5 stars and a (% definite recommend and an % general audience, 23% families. Both parents and kids under 21 gave the movie 4 stars. Boys 29 – made up half the kid crowd, while girls – (showed up at %. Overall combined audience stats were % guys under 31, 31% men over 30, % females under 34 and % females over
$ K (-6%) ($ 2.8M) ( 8%) 
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