Level 1 - Absolute Beginner
The movie Street Fighter was number one last weekend. This weekend it is not. Fewer people are going to see it.
Last weekend it made about 31 million dollars. This weekend it may make only about 8 million dollars. That is a big drop.
People who saw the movie gave it a B minus grade. Other new movies are now more popular.
- movie
- A story shown on a big screen.
- weekend
- Saturday and Sunday.
- million
- 1,000,000.
- drop
- A fall in number.
- grade
- A letter or number that shows quality.
- popular
- Liked by many people.
- theater
- A place to watch movies.
- new
- Not old.
Level 2 - Elementary
Street Fighter is having a very bad second weekend. Early estimates from Deadline say it will earn about 8.15 million dollars at North American theaters. Its opening weekend was 30.8 million dollars, so the drop is about 74 percent.
Friday was especially weak. The film made about 2.3 million dollars, which is 82 percent less than its first Friday. After ten days, it has earned 46.4 million dollars at 3,575 theaters.
Audiences gave it a B minus CinemaScore, which is not a strong grade. Reports say it will fall from first place to fourth. The top three are Clayface, Wildwood and You Can See Everything.
- estimate
- A guess based on early numbers.
- opening
- The first part.
- theater
- A cinema.
- especially
- More than usual.
- score
- A number or letter given as a result.
- audience
- The people who watch.
- strong
- Good and powerful.
- fall
- To go down.
Level 3 - Intermediate
Street Fighter, the Paramount video game adaptation that won its opening weekend with about 30.8 million dollars, is set for a steep fall. According to Deadline's Saturday estimates, its second weekend will bring in around 8.15 million dollars, a drop of roughly 74 percent, after a second Friday of about 2.3 million dollars, which was down 82 percent from opening day.
Ten days into its run the film has earned 46.4 million dollars domestically from 3,575 theaters. A B minus CinemaScore suggests that audiences were lukewarm, and word of mouth matters a great deal in a second weekend. Reports say it will slide from first place to fourth, behind Warner Bros.' Clayface, which takes the top spot, plus Wildwood and the documentary You Can See Everything.
These are Saturday estimates, and Sunday's actual figures may differ. Even so, a fall of this size is unusual for a film that opened at number one, and it shows how quickly a big opening can fade when the audience does not recommend a film to friends.
- adaptation
- A new version of a work in another form.
- steep
- Very sudden or sharp.
- domestically
- Inside the home country.
- lukewarm
- Not very enthusiastic.
- word of mouth
- Spoken recommendations from person to person.
- holdover
- A film still playing from earlier weeks.
- slide
- To move down gradually.
- fade
- To become weaker.
Level 4 - Advanced
Paramount's Street Fighter, which topped the box office a week ago with roughly 30.8 million dollars, is hemorrhaging audience in its second frame. Deadline's Saturday morning projection puts the three-day take near 8.15 million dollars, a decline of about 74 percent, following a second Friday of around 2.3 million dollars that was down 82 percent from the opening day. Ten days in, the film has grossed 46.4 million dollars domestically from 3,575 locations.
The audience verdict helps explain the slide. Moviegoers awarded a middling B minus on CinemaScore, the kind of grade that rarely sustains a second weekend, and the competition is stiff: the projection has the film dropping from first to fourth, beneath Warner Bros.' Clayface, which reclaims the top spot, the Laika animation Wildwood, and A24's documentary You Can See Everything, whose word of mouth has kept it among the most talked-about releases of the month.
As always with Saturday estimates, the Sunday actuals could shift the arithmetic slightly, though not the story. A steep second-weekend fall of this size is a classic sign of a front-loaded release, one that depended on pre-sold fans and marketing rather than recommendation, and it leaves the studio relying on international and home-viewing revenue to recover its investment.
- hemorrhage
- To lose something quickly and in large amounts.
- projection
- An estimate of a future result.
- gross
- To earn a total amount before costs.
- middling
- Average, not good or bad.
- sustain
- To keep something going.
- front-loaded
- Earning most of its money at the start.
- recommendation
- Advice from someone that you should try something.
- arithmetic
- The calculation of numbers.
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