Entertainment One’s “Wild Rose” is forecast to be the underdog winner at this weekend’s box office, with the film expected to gross over £800,000. The delightful drama, starring Jessie Buckley as a Glaswegian with aspirations of Nashville, has received a number of strong reviews and great word of mouth from talker screenings, which has led to a surge in pre-sales.

According to cinema data experts Applaudience, the top two films remain unchanged this weekend, with “Shazam!” and “Dumbo” retaining the top spots, holding off Lionsgate’s latest blockbuster, “Hellboy”, which is expected to gross approximately £1.4m. It seems that the box office will be healthily spread this weekend, with the majority of films forecast to take between 550k – 850k.

1 – “Shazam!” – £2,700,000 – 2,900,000 (-30%)
2 – “Dumbo” – £2,400,000 – £2,600,000 (-28%)
3 – “Hellboy” – £1,300,000 – £1,500,000 (New Entry)
4 – “Captain Marvel” – £840,000 – £940,000 (-23%)
5 – “Pet Sematary” – £790,000 – £890,000 (-46%)
6 – “Wonder Park” – £775,000 – £875,000 (New Entry)
7 – “Wild Rose” – £760,000 – £860,000 (New Entry)
8 – “Us” – £510,000 – £610,000 (-40%)
9 – “Peppa Pig: Festival of Fun” – £490,000 – £590,000 (-45%)
10 – “Missing Link” – £480,000 – £580,000 (-18%)

“Avengers: Endgame” Update
“Avengers: Endgame” has continued on its theatrical pre-sale rampage, with Applaudience forecasting that a staggering 865,684 tickets have already been sold as of 11am today. With an average ticket cost of £10.82, the box office has already reached £9,366,700.88, still with a whole two weeks until release!

Latest Applaudience Forecast: Analysis
“Shazam!” was last week’s winner, grossing more than predicted. This was the reflection of strong national reviews on the Friday, their very impactful marketing campaign and the cold weather. Applaudience were successful in again predicting the Top 5 in the correct order; “Shazam!”, “Dumbo”, “Pet Sematary”, “Captain Marvel” and “Peppa Pig: Festival of Fun”.

How Applaudience work their magic
Using data mining software and sales analysis from the top 10 cinemas chains, Applaudience calculates the remaining seats available per screening, thus providing a reliable forecast of the numbers of tickets sold. Once the pre-sales are calculated, Applaudience can accurately forecast weekend box office revenues.

About Applaudience
Applaudience combines data mining, data brokerage, and data analysis with strategic communication during the theatrical movie release processes. They own real-time showtime, occupancy, ticket price and film marketing performance data for all major exhibitors in Europe and North America. The supply revenue-driving insights about the industry’s performance and identify marketing opportunities with the highest ROI. Their goal is to increase attendance of the existing audiences by enabling data-rich collaboration between exhibitors and distributors.