Weekend Box Office: Grimm for Most

While Disney’s ‘Zootopia’ continues to dominate the box office, only one of the weekend’s new competitors had much success standing up to it.

The animated family-friendly cop drama ‘Zootopia‘ only dropped 34% over its second week and grossed another $50 million. The film’s domestic ten-day total now sits at $142.6 million, and its success doesn’t stop in North America. Thanks to a $56.5 million opening in China, the movie’s international total climbed up to $288.7 million, for a worldwide total of $431.3 million.

Of the weekend’s new releases, ‘10 Cloverfield Lane‘ was the only one to exceed box office expectations on its way to a great theatrical run. The sort-of sequel received great reviews and pulled in $25.2 million ($1.8 million of which came from Thursday night showings). Produced for an estimated budget of $15 million (I bet the marketing campaign cost a lot more than that), ‘Cloverfield’ has established itself as a unique franchise with the ability to draw in moviegoers. Here’s to hoping that J.J. Abrams and company can keep it up.

In its fifth week, ‘Deadpool‘ retained the number the #3 spot by barely ousting ‘London Has Fallen‘, which is in its second week. At this point, the two movies are so close that it’s very possible that they might flip-flop positions when the weekend actuals are announced later today.

As it looks now, ‘Deadpool’ made $10.5 million and boosted its domestic total up to $328 million. Even more noteworthy, it crossed the worldwide $700 million mark. On the other hand, fourth-place ‘London Has Fallen’ fell 51% in attendance with $10.6 million. Its ten-day domestic total currently sits at to $38.8 million, and its international roll-out has yet to begin.

Tina Fey’s wartime journalism dramedy actually held over quite well in its second week. ‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot‘ rounded out the Top 5 by only slipping 38% with another $4.6 million. Unfortunately, the $35 million picture has only earned $14.5 million so far. It has yet to debut overseas, but the story and subject matter aren’t exactly made of the ingredients that fuel international audiences.

Despite its sixth-place debut, Lionsgate’s R-rated relationship drama ‘The Perfect Match‘ saw decent returns from a low screen count. Playing at 925 locations, it grossed $4.1 million, for a per-screen average of $4,486. Those aren’t stellar numbers, but they’re exemplary compared to the weekend’s last two nationwide releases.

Even though Sony’s Biblical drama ‘Risen’ played to good numbers over the last four weeks, Focus Features’ Jesus drama ‘The Young Messiah‘ couldn’t capitalize on that success. From 1,761 locations, the seventh-place drama collected $3.4 million with a low $1,933 per-screen average.

Opening even worse than that was Sacha Baron Cohen’s new comedy ‘The Brothers Grimsby‘. With $3.1 million from 2,235 domestic locations, the Sony Picture barely managed an eighth-place finish and a nasty $1,409 per-screen average.

Neither ‘The Perfect Match’ nor ‘The Young Messiah’ are playing internationally yet.

Top 10:

1. ‘Zootopia’ (Buena Vista) – $50,000,000

2. ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ (Paramount) – $25,200,000

3. ‘Deadpool’ (Fox) – $10,800,000

4. ‘London Has Fallen’ (Focus) – $10,668,000

5. ‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’ (Paramount) – $4,600,000

6. ‘The Perfect Match’ (Lionsgate) – $4,150,000

7. ‘The Young Messiah’ (Focus) – $3,404,000

8. ‘The Brothers Grimsby’ (Sony) – $3,150,000

9. ‘Gods of Egypt’ (Lionsgate) – $2,500,000

10. ‘Risen’ (Sony) – $2,250,000

1 comment

  1. njscorpio

    I wonder what degree of success ‘Zootopia’ can attribute to their being no other big, IMAX 3D movie out during the past few weeks (other than ‘Gods of Egypt’). If, say, Deadpool was one of those 3D IMAX comic book movies, maybe it would snag some of those ticket sales from people just looking for 3D theater experience. Granted, they are very different demographics.

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