'Trainwreck' sees huge LeBron James boost in Cleveland

theGRIO REPORT - 'Trainwreck' had a massive opening weekend in Cleveland, due to LeBron James...

Trainwreck, the R-rated comedy starring LeBron James and Amy Schumer, opened this weekend to a $30.2 million box office debut, which was a better opening than expected.

The movie performed extremely well in Cleveland, the obvious home of James’ Cavaliers, as well as in some cities in Florida, where James also called home during his days with the Heat.

In Cleveland, the movie over-indexed by 66 percent.

Overall, despite only being expected to make $20 million in its opening weekend, the film ended up being the second-best showing in director Apatow’s career and did particularly well with female audiences, who made up 66 percent of the movie’s viewers.

“The main reason you saw Trainwreck overperform was because of Schumer and the LeBron factor,” said Rentrak box office analyst Paul Dergarabdian. “Schumer’s ‘every woman’ quality has appeal across the board. She’s very accessible and self-effacing, no matter where you come from, no matter what your point of reference.”

“Amy is an absolute budding film star. She’s already a star in the stand-up comedy world. And Judd has a way of finding talent, and imbuing characters with a real sense of sweetness. What you discover as the film plays on is a sweetness in her character. It’s really a romance comedy wrapped up in an R-rated comedy,” said Universal domestic distribution chief Nick Carpou.

 

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