‘Smile’ $17M Burying ‘Lyle, Lyle Crocodile,’ ‘Amsterdam’ – Deadline

SATURDAY AM: Final with chart Some parts of the weekend box office are alive, and some are dead, and that which is vibrant is Paramount’s second weekend of Smile, which — as we mentioned during the weekend preview — was apt to steal No. 1 away from newcomers Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile and Amsterdam.

The Parker Finn R-rated horror film is set to post one of the best holds ever for a horror movie at an amazing -26% after 2017’s Get Out, which eased -15% with $16.8M. Some rivals think Smile could shine as bright as $18M. This puts the 10-day total at $49M.

For all the talk that the marketplace hasn’t had a family film, and that Lyle, Lyle organically would overperform, we have yet to see that with $12M-$13.3M after a $3.5M Friday. What can we say? It’s not an IP that creates a stampede, clearly. Those buying tickets for Lyle, Lyle aren’t complaining at 4 stars and 80% positive and 62% recommend on ComScore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak. Kids under 12 are more bullish at 88%. Demos are 54% women, 46% men, with close to half the audience under 25, and the largest quadrant being 18-24 year olds at 33%. Diversity demos were 47% Caucasian, 21% Latino and Hispanic, 12% Black, & 20% Asian/Other, with the best plays for the pic being in the South, South Central, and Midwest. The top gross for the Josh Gordon-Will Speck animation hybrid was the Cinemark in Frisco, Texas. Premium large format screens rep 14% of weekend ticket sales to date.

New Regency/20th Century Studios/Disney’s Amsterdam is still DOA with $2.6M Friday, including previews, and an estimated $6.9M third place debut. The Russell fans who showed up gave the movie a B CinemaScore (Russell’s Oscar nominated all-star American Hustle earned a B+) and harsher reactions on PostTrak at 3 Stars and 72%. Pic skewed toward men at 56%, with the largest demo being 25-34 at 37%. Diversity demos were 57% Caucasian, 17% Latino and Hispanic, 12% Black, and 14% Asian/other. Men over 25 at 47% and women over 25 at 37% gave Amsterdam its best response at 75%. But the rest of the audience wasn’t on board, i.e. men and women under 25, who each showed up at 9% respectively and gave the movie a 61% and 55% grade.

If this all-star affair saw any business, it was on the coasts, with half of its top ten runs coming from Los Angeles. Premium large format upcharged tickets are responsible for 33% of the pic’s business. The talkaway lesson here is not to send such overpriced fare at $80M to streaming, just to make theatrical movies at responsible prices for the big screen. Wes Anderson films don’t even cost this much, and that’s the best comp out there for Amsterdam (Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou was Anderson’s most expensive movie at $50M before P&A. That movie was deemed a dud back in 2004 with a $4.5M wide break opening, $24M domestic, and $34.8M — but the pic is now a cult classic. Alas, the legacy of a big screen launch). Amsterdam in its all quirkiness and stars deserves to be seen on the big screen, not a mobile phone. Also, this comedy runs at 2 hours and 14 minutes.

As we mentioned, this was a hard one for Disney to market: You can only promote what one can explain succinctly from the film materials at hand, and this wild, heady tale is up there with a plot that sounds like it’s from playwright Eugene Ionesco. Disney went with the boom-boom listing of all the stars in the pic’s trailer, moved the title’s opening to a better weekend where it won’t get steamrolled by Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Amsterdam was originally suppose to open during the first weekend of November) in its second weekend, and grabbed all the Imax screens. What else can a major studio do to better position this offbeat tale? Many like to complain that Disney doesn’t know what to do with these titles, however, Amsterdam was a critically panned title, which avoided a film festival launch (there was buzz it was going to Toronto, then didn’t, which was likely the best choice for the movie). Disney has been in this position before with another period comedy, the Coen Brothers’ The Ladykillers starring Tom Hanks back in 2004. That opened to $12.6M and ended its domestic run just under $40M. Sure, it’s a sign of the times of how things have changed for these types of movies, and how hard it is at the box office for them, but period is always difficult. You need that critical love, and awards momentum to cross over such fare. Let the record show, your honor, that Disney is releasing 11 movies between September and December from all its brands. It’s not just all about Disney+, even though Hocus Pocus 2…