The sequels to ‘Captain America’ and ‘Rio’ remained in the top spots this holiday weekend, pushing newer releases into the back seat.
Faith-based ‘Heaven Is for Real‘ may have opened in third place, but only missed the #2 spot by a million bucks. ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘ added another $26.6 million to its run, crossing the domestic $200 million mark in 17 days. Meanwhile, ‘Rio 2‘ pulled in another $22.5 million in its second weekend, giving it a domestic ten-day total of $75.3 million. That’s still right on par with the first ‘Rio‘. Just a hair behind that was ‘Heaven Is for Real’ with $21.5 million. Following in the successful wake of the similarly-themed ‘God’s Not Dead’, the $8,895 per-screen average for ‘Heaven’ was the highest out of any title in the Top 10.
Johnny Depp’s losing streak continues with the sci-fi thriller ‘Transcendence‘, which wasn’t even playing in the same ballpark as the top three titles, despite being the widest of the new releases. The film’s atrocious $11.1 million debut had the worst per-screen average of all the titles in the Top 5.
Rounding out the Top 5 was the spoof horror movie ‘A Haunted House 2‘. The sequel’s $9.1 million opening was nearly half what its predecessor opened with.
DisneyNature’s ‘Bears‘ was the Buena Vista subdivision’s worst theatrical debut yet. From 1,720 locations, the Earth Day movie’s eleventh place $4.7 million opening didn’t impress.
In international news, ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘ opened in 14 foreign markets two weeks earlier than here in the U.S. If it’s any sign of what’s to come when the movie premieres on North America soil, the overseas numbers were almost identical to those of the first ‘Amazing Spider-Man‘ in 2012.
Top 10:
1. ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ (Buena Vista) – $26,612,000
2. ‘Rio 2’ (Fox) – $22,500,000
3. ‘Heaven Is for Real’ (TriStar) – $21,500,000
4. ‘Transcendence’ (Warner Bros.) – $11,150,000
5. ‘A Haunted House 2’ (Open Road) – $9,100,000
6. ‘Draft Day’ (Summit) – $5,900,000
7. ‘Divergent’ (Summit) – $5,750,000
8. ‘Oculus’ (Relativity) – $5,202,000
9. ‘Noah’ (Paramount) – $5,000,000
10. ‘God’s Not Dead’ (Free Style) – $4,801,000
Shannon Nutt
Johnny Depp’s had so many flops lately, I wonder if we’ll be hearing a Pirates of the Caribbean 5 announcement soon. 🙂
NJScorpio
I used to be a big fan of his. Then, as the novelty of his roles started to wear thin, he started to appear as a less and less talented actor. Gone are roles like, “Chocolat”, “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”, “Donnie Brasco”, or “Ed Wood”. Good movies.
Now, to gauge how successful Depp will be in a role, one just has to look at the degree of eye makeup.
To be clear, I’m not jumping on an Anti-Depp band wagon, as I DID enjoy many aspects of ‘The Lone Ranger’, including Depp’s performance. The movie was just significantly more violent than I would expect from a Disney movie (and this, in combination with the length, IMO is what hurt it).
Chris B
I thought The Lone Ranger started off really great. The train sequence and the canyon ambush etc. Then when the characters arrived at the brothel and met up with Helena Bonham Carter, the momentum completely ground to a halt. They should have chopped 30-45 minutes from the middle of the movie…
NJScorpio
I agree it was too long, but didn’t bother me at the time as much because I watched it over the course of two nights. Not something l like doing to movies, but when it’s being watched in the middle of the week…and it his the 1 hour 45 minute mark and has over and hour to go…my family tends to want to pick it up the next day.
William Henley
I actually still like Depp, just not that big of a fan of some of the crap films he has been in lately. Like the Pirates movies consistantly got worse in story and writing, but Depp stayed strong. I liked him in that Vampire movie, but felt the movie itself was weak. Same with Alice In Wonderland. My favorite role of his is still Willie Wonka, and I still love that movie.
But I don’t care to see another Pirates movie unless it is as good as the first, and I just don’t see that happening. With the turds that were the third and fourth movies, I’ve lost interest. However, even in the fourth movie, Depp approached his role like it was the greatest script he has ever worked with. And that is why I am still a Johnny Depp fan.
NJScorpio
“However, even in the fourth movie, Depp approached his role like it was the greatest script he has ever worked with. And that is why I am still a Johnny Depp fan.”
True, he DOES do that. Many actors appear to be sleeping through some roles after a certain point (see Harrison Ford in most of ‘Ender’s Game’). Depp does bring an enthusiasm to his roles.
Chris B
I was never a big fan of the first Pirates of the Caribean. It always bothered me how during the final battle, all the pirates were protected by the curse and were essentially invincible. So for 20 minutes it’s basically the British sailors attempting to fight the pirates and just getting slaughtered in the process. Then when the curse is broken, all the pirates drop their weapons and surrender. That’s when I felt like the battle should have kicked into high gear, but instead it just ends. That always annoyed the hell out of me, it was frustrating to watch.
William Henley
@Chris:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze6YqV-mRTI
🙂
EM
I also passed over new releases. On Saturday I instead went to see Roger Corman’s The Intruder and The Tomb of Ligeia. Corman himself was in attendance, and after each film he participated in audience Q&A. I got to speak with him both times. Pretty cool!
William Henley
Same with me. I passed on Transcendance, which my buddy invited me to go see, and instead went to see God’s Not Dead with another friend. Then again, it was Holy week, and spent most of my free time that week watching Bible films and miniseries.
William Henley
Also passed on Heaven Is For Real, even though it was a faith-based movie. That will probably be a rental for me. It just did not strike me as a subject matter that would have made for a good movie.
EM
I guess we both got answers from a supreme creator.
William Henley
Huh, only 1.1 million seperates 6 from 10, $200,000 seperates 8 from 9 and 9 from 10, and $150,000 seperates 6 and 7, As I think these box office numbers are estimated earnings (I am sure it takes theaters a few days to report sales), I wonder if some of the 6-10 could change when actual numbers come in