Weekend Box Office: Jackie Robinson Hits It out of the Park

Here in the U.S., the Jackie Robinson bio-pic hit a home run this weekend. But the domestic market is apparently oblivious to what’s going on overseas.

On 3,003 screens, ‘42‘ beat the competition with a $27.2 million debut. That’s a great start for a film expected to open around the $20 million range. The last baseball drama to open wide (2011’s ‘Moneyball‘) only premiered with $19.5 million, and that one had the star power of Brad Pitt behind it. With this great success and an A+ CinemaScore rating, it’s expected that Warner Bros. will expand the film’s release even further this coming weekend.

While ’42’ was the highlight of the domestic box office, the international success of ‘Oblivion‘ is the most newsworthy story of the weekend. Tom Cruise’s sci-fi action blockbuster doesn’t open in the U.S. until this Friday, but it debuted to $61.1 million from 52 overseas markets. If this is any sign of what’s to come, ‘Oblivion’ looks to obliterate the competition next weekend.

Scary Movie 5‘ opened a few million below expectations. On 3,402 screens, the PG-13 spoof only pulled in $15.1 million. Seven years ago, ‘Scary Movie 4‘ opened to $40 million, so this new debut is a blow to the franchise. Even so, made on a budget of only $20 million, we may still get a sixth ‘Scary Movie’ in another seven years.

The indie ensemble drama ‘Disconnect‘ may not have received the best reviews, but it warranted a strong opening. On 15 screens, the film pulled in $124,000 for a per-screen average of $8,267.

Two limited releases slightly expanded this weekend, but only one was able to crack the Top 10. Danny Boyle’s ‘Trance‘ played on 438 screens, but failed to make much noise. The thriller earned $925,000, enough to give it a per-screen average of only $2,112. On the other hand, ‘The Place Beyond the Pines‘ jumped up to 514 screens and landed in the #10 spot with $4 million, a per-screen average of $7,938.

The box office numbers for Terrence Malick’s ‘To the Wonder’ have yet to be announced.

Top 10:

1. ’42’ (Warner Bros.) – $27,250,000

2. ‘Scary Movie 5’ (Weinstein) – $15,153,000

3. ‘The Croods’ (Fox) – $13,200,000

4. ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ (Paramount) – $10,800,000

5. ‘Evil Dead’ (TriStar) – $9,500,000

6. ‘Jurassic Park 3D’ (Universal) – $8,820,000

7. ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ (FilmDistrict) – $7,283,000

8. ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ (Buena Vista) – $4,923,000

9. ‘Tyler Perry’s Temptation’ (Lionsgate) – $4,500,000

10. ‘The Place Beyond the Pines’ (Focus) – $4,080,000

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