The ‘Dog Man’ Cometh With Second-Best January Debut For Animated Pic With $36M; Why Didn’t ‘Companion’ Find More Friends At Weekend Box Office? – Sunday AM Box Office Update

According to PostTrak, 45% bought tickets to Dog Man because it looked fun and entertaining, while close to a third of the audience went because it’s part of a franchise they love, that being the Dav Pilkey Scholastic graphic novels. Dog Man gets a solid A CinemaScore, but PostTrak exits are harder among adults at 3 1/2 stars and 75% positive. Among general audiences, mostly female skewing at 51%, the majority of ticket buyers are under 35 at 77%. Diversity demos are solid showing 38% Caucasian, 26% Latino/Hispanic, 14% Black and 11% Asian. PLF screens rep 22% of the weekend. The Peter Hastings-directed movie is playing solid throughout the country with the Burbank, CA AMC the pic’s No. 1 cinema in the nation with just over $44k.

What’s crystal clear is that when it comes to notable family fare, Universal doesn’t waste any opportunities. This is also a very good start for an original animated movie that only cost $40M before P&A.

New Line’s Companion with a strong B+ CinemaScore (a high mark for horror on that grading scale) and solid 4 stars on PostTrak, is arriving right between its tracking estimate of $8M-$10M with $9.4M after a $4M Friday (including $1.7M previews) and $3.1M Saturday. Some see it lower than $10M for this horror pic, which cost under $10M. Women under 25 who showed up at 17% gave the Drew Hancock-directed/written movie a 91% grade. Men over 25 at 37% gave it 80%, women over 25 at 32% graded it 85% and men under 25 at 14% rated the pic 14%. Sixty-eight percent of the audience is between 18-34 with 24-34 being the biggest demo at close to 40%. Forty-three percent left their couches at home because it’s a horror movie while 26% bought tickets because it’s a Sophie Thatcher movie. Imax and PLFs are driving 34% of the weekend. Imax hubs alone made $1.6M or 17% of the weekend. The New Line title is playing strongest in the East, South Central and West with the AMC Burbank 30 in LA the top grossing multiplex with $35K so far.

With a social media universe around 170M, RelishMix says that Companion‘s reach across X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook was 4% under other first installment horror movies. The Boys‘ Jack Quaid is the one star in the movie who is activated on social with 2.3M while Thatcher counts under half a million followers.

Solid word of mouth for Companion: “Positive convo on Companion finds both horror fans and non-fans alike interested in this new cinematic offering. The cast is interesting people to head out to theaters, with viewers sharing, ‘Glad to see Jack Quaid playing another villain role! Excited to see where this goes,’ and, ‘Jack Quaid & Sophie Thatcher, NICE!’ The choice to advertise the film with a cheeky reference to the romance genre delighted many, with comments like, ‘Definitely was not expecting that after seeing ‘the ones who brought you The Notebook’ total twist but I love it,’ and, ‘Not normally interested in thriller/horror films, but this looks interesting to see where it goes.'”

Then why isn’t Companion doing more at the box office? The pic’s best CinemaScores of A- were with men 35-49 (A- at 15%) and women 25-34 (A-, 25%). There are some, including those in tracking, who opine that Warners underspent greatly in the campaign for what’s been buzzed about to be quite the hip movie. There are also those who believe, like Zach Cregger (who’s a producer here) and Jordan Peele, that Hancock is the next big voice in horror. In fact, Cregger was originally planning to direct Hancock’s screenplay when he heavily suggested that the Suburgatory scribe get a shot. We heard that Companion has a global P&A spend of $29M. Then there was the rumor that only $10M was spent on U.S. TV. iSpot shows less at $830K, the primary push being an NFL playoff spot. Juxtapose this to the $13.6M that Uni spots on Blumhouse’s Wolf Man ($10.8M opening) and the $4.8M spent on Speak No Evil ($11.3M opening).

First of all, we live in a world where A24 and NEON are wowing the 18-34 set with genre films off digitally aggressive campaigns, which cost less than $10M. Some of the big major studios want to emulate that marketing cost to box office ratio recipe. Also, not every movie gets a one-size-fits-all marketing approach. With a hot trailer that’s north of 109M views, NEON’s Oz Perkins title The Monkey next month is swinging to a potential $15M-$20M. The latest thinking at Warners from what I gather is that when it comes to launching a movie that cost under $10M, there’s no need to spend $60M in global P&A if the studio can feasibly be in the black on this title. The global opening for Companion is expected to be between $13M-$15M. If Warners wants to continue staking out new talent at this budget range (around $10M or less), and make these movies profitable, the P&A has to suit the production. By the way, this has been the Lionsgate and Sony practice on their lower budgeted titles like One of Them Days post-COVID. Apparently, per motion picture business affairs practices, it doesn’t matter how good or bad your exits are that determine P&A spend. It’s the budget of the movie and the size of the demographic audience. I hear Warners has extra money to spend if Companion holds in.

At the same time, the question becomes what would have happened if Warners spent more, say $5M extra on marketing? Would Companion have cleared $15M? Again, everyone is chasing that under $10M P&A spend to get that $22.4M opening à la Longlegs. PostTrak audiences say that the most influential pieces of marketing for Companion were in-theater trailers (27%), friends/family (13%), online trailers (8%), TV spots (5%), online video ads (5%) and reviews (5%).

Others say that because Companion isn’t a straight blood-and-guts horror film — which are easier sells — that’s why it’s not near or north of $20M+ start like Longlegs and Terrifier 3 ($18.9M).

What also needs to be considered is that with the heavy auteur original movies on the Warner schedule, i.e. Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 (March 7), Ryan Coogler’s Sinners (April 18), Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled Vineland inspired epic (Aug. 8) and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! (Sept 26), as well as mega tentpoles Superman (July 11) and Minecraft (April 4), mega marketing dollars will be needed to launch such fare.

Briarcliff Entertainment has Valiant One booked at 1,275 theaters with $260K today, $700K for the weekend. The pic follows a U.S. mission that goes sideways when a helicopter crashes in North Korea. Critics didn’t enjoy watching it at 27% on Rotten Tomatoes. Any money being made is coming from the South, Midwest, Mountain and the West with the Harkins Arrowhead Fountains 18 in Peoria, Ariz. the movie’s best venue with $1.2K.  

Outside the top 10, Focus Features’ Nosferatu is clearing $800K in its sixth weekend with a running domestic tally of $94.7M, $2.1M shy of their top-grossing domestic title, Downton Abbey ($96.8M).

The entire weekend is coming in around $87M, which is +44% ahead of a year ago when Uni’s release of Apple Original Films’ $200M Argylle got tied up in its socks with a $17.4M opening.

Chart updating; updated numbers include Saturday and Sunday breakouts.

UPDATED, Friday PM: Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man is fetching a great opening of $33M per afternoon figures, with Friday expected to come in at $10M at 3,885 locations, including previews. That’s higher than the comps for this younger-skewing property (65% of the kids audience was under 9 years old last night), which are Captain Underpants at a $23.8M opening, DC League of Pets at $23M and Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie at $22.7M.

Since the strikes and COVID, it’s clear: kids fare rules. Seriously, during the pandemic, there were fears by some executives that families would never come back to cinemas. So not true; they even come back to cinemas when the movie is on PVOD.

With a social media universe of 246.6M across TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, RelishMix says “positive convo on Dog Man is through the roof, attracting longtime fans of the book series which the film is adapted from as well as casual animation fans who are intrigued by the wacky comedic antics and alluring style. Comments include, ‘Loved the books as a kid, I might be a little too old for it now but I think I might sneak a watch lmao. Absolutely can’t wait for this one! The official sequel of spinoff to Captain Underpants. It looks great!’ and, ‘Looks amazing. The animation is awesome and it got the essence of the Dev Pilkey’s comic book.'”

Dog Man‘s social media reach is higher than DWA’s The Bad Guys (212M) before opening and Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie (117.5M).

New Line’s terror movie Companion, which is wired with excellent word of mouth, is eyeing $4M today including previews, with an eye at $10M and a chance for upside in second at 3,285 theaters. At that level, at a less than $10M production cost (updated, we hear) and $29M global P&A, if this Sophie Thatcher-starring movie ultimately crosses $40M-$50M stateside, we hear it’s in a range to profit for the Burbank lot. We saw this earlier this year with Sony spending a conservative P&A on a movie with great exits, that being One of Them Days.

Currently, Yellowjackets star Thatcher’s biggest opening at the domestic box office belongs to 2023’s The Boogeyman ($12.3M opening, $43.2M domestic/$67.3M global, $35M production cost and very low Rotten Tomatoes audience score at 66%).

In third for the frame is the seventh weekend of Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King with $1.45M today, a $7M three-day total (-19%) at 3,180 theaters and a running cume by Sunday of $230.4M. By the way, the lion may have come into the marketplace as a lamb before Christmas opening to $35.4M (behind Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3‘s $60.1M) but by the end of this weekend, the King of the Jungle will be $300K shy of overtaking the fast, blue critter (Sonic 3 stands at $230.7M).

Fourth is the third weekend of Sony’s R-rated SZA-Keke Palmer comedy One of Them Days with $1.6M today, $6M (-25%) for the weekend and $34.4M by Sunday.

Fifth is the second weekend of Lionsgate’s Mel Gibson-directed, Mark Wahlberg-starring Flight Risk at 3,161 sites, with $1.4M today, $5M (-57%) for the 3-day and $20.3M by Sunday EOD.

PREVIOUSLY, Friday AM: Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s feature take of Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man bit $1.36M in previews last night, which comps to DWA’s previews for The Bad Guys ($1.15M) and Trolls Band Together ($1.3M) — those movies respectively opening to $23.9M and $30M.

Dog Man is expected to be the first notable opening of the year, north of $20M. Quorum reports: “Dog Man has been on the rise. Two weeks ago, it was tracking behind Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, which opened to $23M. Today, awareness and unaided awareness are much higher than Paw. Could Dog reach $30M? It certainly seems possible.” Dads and moms under 35 are the strongest as far as those who’ll pay to see the movie in a theater. Dog Man is 4 1/2 stars with kids and parents in Screen Engine/Comscore PostTrak exits. The movie is booked at 3,885 theaters. Previews started Thursday at 2 p.m. in 2,950 venues. The animated pic is 77% fresh with Rotten Tomatoes critics.

New Line’s R-rated horror film Companion is on fire in exits with a solid 4 stars on PostTrak, a 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and 95% certified fresh with critics. However, the femme bot movie from BoulderLight Pictures and written/directed by Drew Hancock is only supposed to do $8M-$11M. Thursday previews, which began at 3 p.m., were at $1.1M; the total preview number is $1.7M including Monday Mystery screenings.

Quorum notes, “Three weeks ago, just before Warner Bros. kicked the campaign into high gear with a trailer and poster, Companion was tracking to open below $5M. Since then, awareness has tripled, and interest has climbed ten points.”

As far as comps, Universal’s R-rated Violent Night posted $1.1M on its way to a $13.4M opening back in 2022. Last year’s Blumhouse PG-13 title Night Swim made $1.45M in previews before opening to $11.7M, while more recently, the R-rated Wolf Man made $1.4M before continuing on to $10.8M. M3GAN, the ultimate femme bot movie, did $2.75M in previews before seducing a $30.4M opening as a PG-13 offering.

The rest of the week went like this:

1.) Flight Risk (LG) 3,161 theaters, Thu $767K (-48% from Wed), Week $14.6M/Wk 1

2.) One of Them Days (Sony) 2,675 theaters, Thu $743K (-39%), Week $10.68M, Total $27.8M/Wk 2

3. ) Mufasa (Dis) 3,420 theaters, Thu $605K (-30%), Week $10.5M, Total $222.9M/Wk 6

4.) Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Par) 3,097 theaters, Thu $367K (-36%), Week $6.4M, Total $227M/Wk 6

5.) Moana 2 (Dis) 2,550 theaters, Thu $287K (-26%), Week $5.1M, Total $450.8M/Wk 9