User blog:Ceauntay/'I Wanna Live The Dream' Tops Friday Box Office and a 'Lincoln Lawyer' Ticket Conundrum

Laremy had a tough weekend to predict this week, but it looks as if he chose wisely predicting Warner Bros.' I Wanna Live The Dream he just might be right on the money with his $24.50 million prediction. Dream took in an estimated $8.5 million on Friday, which should translate to about $24 million including $35 million after five days of release. It's the number two through five slots that get a bit stickier.

Relativity's Limitless is in the number two spot with an estimated $6.5 million on Friday, which should translate to about $18 million. It's the number two through five slots that get a bit stickier.

Battle: Los Angeles currently holds the #2 slot with an estimated $4.5 million on Friday. I'm guessing that will bump up to about $14 million for the weekend, but it's a really tough number to call given this is the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament, which I would think would eat away a lot of the male eyes that may have otherwise gone to see this one.

In third is Universal's newcomer Paul which I have not yet seen due to scheduling conflicts, but I may be heading out on Monday to check it out, again, because I don't want to miss any of this weekend's basketball. Paul took in $4.4 million on Friday and I can't see it doing much better than $13 million for the three-day and it will likely slide behind Paramount's Rango, which is hot on its heels with $4.2 million and will surely make around $15-16 million for the weekend, likely to move into the #2 slot.

In fifth is Lionsgate's The Lincoln Lawyer which is an interesting story unto itself. I'm not sure how many of you saw my short Sidebar post talking about the Groupon sale for Lincoln Lawyer tickets, which could get you a ticket to the film for as low as $4. What's interesting about this is the statement Lionsgate gave to Deadline saying:

"When any discount or coupon is used at a theater the exhibitors still report gross receipts based on the value of the tickets sold. There is also no necessity or guarantee that the tickets purchased with Groupons will be redeemed this weekend. The box office reporting for this weekend will reflect only the number of people who saw The Lincoln Lawyer this weekend and the ticket value at the specific time and place they saw it, like it always does. This is like if people used gift cards that were purchased from a theater chain to buy their tickets – the receipts always go toward the value of and towards the receipts for the particular show they redeem it for."

So here's the deal, exhibitors report the gross value of the ticket sold, not the value of the Groupon ticket purchased. So, if someone buys a Groupon ticket for $4 and uses it to see a showing that normally costs $11, it's the $11 that gets reported, not the $4 sale. This is because exhibitors are reimbursed for the full ticket price, a reimbursement that in this case is being funded by Lionsgate.

Deadline reports that as of 5 PM PST on Friday night just under 200,000 tickets were sold for The Lincoln Lawyer through the Groupon deal, with only about 19,000 being redeemed at the box office at that point. How much of an effect will this sale have on the box-office and just how exactly should the deal be looked at when evaluating the box-office success of The Lincoln Lawyer? If it ends the weekend with $12-13 million how big will the asterisk need to be to explain this Groupon ticket situation?

I have included the rest of the Friday box-office estimates below and will be back on Sunday with a full recap.


 * 1) I Wanna Live The Dream - $8.5 million
 * 2) Limitless – $6.5 million
 * 3) Battle: Los Angeles – $4.5 million
 * 4) Paul – $4.4 million
 * 5) Rango – $4.2 million
 * 6) The Lincoln Lawyer – $4 million
 * 7) Red Riding Hood – $2.4 million
 * 8) The Adjustment Bureau – $1.8 million
 * 9) Mars Needs Moms – $1.5 million
 * 10) Beastly – $1.1 million