Weekend Box Office: Rainbow Disconnection

This weekend, Summit Entertainment found its heir to the ‘Twilight’ franchise while Disney questions the future of the Muppets.

YA adaptation ‘Divergent‘ dominated the box office, earning $56 million from 3,936 screens. With a non-front-loaded weekend and diverse demographics in attendance, the film is shaping up to do pretty well. Sure, it won’t compete with ‘The Hunger Games’ or ‘Twilight’, but at least it’s playing better than ‘The Host’ or ‘Beautiful Creatures’.

Muppets Most Wanted‘ didn’t fare well at all. The sequel debuted to almost half of what its predecessor ‘The Muppets‘ earned in 2011. From 3,194 screens, ‘Most Wanted’ only accrued $16.5 million. It’s still expected to earn $50 million domestically, but that’s not too great for a movie with a $50 million budget. Meanwhile, competing for the same family market, three-week-old animated flick ‘Mr. Peabody & Sherman‘ took a hit from ‘Muppets’, dropping 46% to $11.7 million. It’s fair to assume that both titles would have had a stronger weekend without the other playing at the same time.

300: Rise of an Empire‘ fell 55% in its third weekend, adding another $8.6 million to its $93.7 million domestic gross. Internationally, the sequel/prequel is still performing well. The $195 million earned overseas places its worldwide total just below $300 million.

Rounded out the Top 5 was a surprise. Independent Christian film ‘God’s Not Dead‘ brought in $8.6 million from just 780 locations. As far as faith-based films go, that’s not as much as ‘Courageous‘ but just ahead of ‘Fireproof‘.

Sick and twisted indie thriller/comedy ‘Cheap Thrills‘ had a mild theatrical debut. From two locations, it earned $19,100.

The numbers for Lars von Trier’s ‘Nymphomaniac‘ have yet to be announced, but rumors say that it tanked.

Top 10:

1. ‘Divergent’ (Summit) – $56,000,000

2. ‘Muppets Most Wanted’ (Buena Vista) – $16,514,000

3. ‘Mr. Peabody & Sherman’ (Fox) – $11,700,000

4. ‘300: Rise of an Empire’ (Warner Bros.) – $8,665,000

5. ‘God’s Not Dead’ (Freestyle) – $8,564,000

6. ‘Need for Speed’ (Buena Vista) – $7,781,000

7. ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ (Fox Searchlight) – $6,750,000

8. ‘Non-Stop’ (Universal) – $6,346,000

9. ‘The Lego Movie’ (Warner Bros.) – $4,115,000

10. ‘Tyler Perry’s The Single Moms Club’ (Lionsgate) – $3,100,000

8 comments

  1. William Henley

    Theaters were packed in my area this weekend between God’s Not Dead and Divergance, both selling out at many theaters. Hardly nobody was in The Muppets. I saw Divergance, and will probably catch God’s Not Dead sometime this week, before Noah opens.

  2. It will be interesting to see what Disney does with the Muppets from this point forward. I don’t see them sinking another $50 million into a movie. I think they would be great for shorts that appear before Disney films, however.

      • William Henley

        And that doesn’t include international intake. I honestly don’t get studios – movies can make oodles of money internationally, but if it doesn’t do well in the US, its obviously a failure.

        That said, I am not sure how many markets this is showing in, but it looks like it did horribly international

        http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=muppets2.htm

        I really think what hurt this movie was timing. It should have been released in January or February, although I wonder if all the crazy weather over the past couple of months has hurt theater attendance, with people just not getting out.

        • You know what’s worse? You know what’s really worse? The Muppets 2 is not even getting a theatrical release in Belgium. It’s going straight to DVD/Blu-ray over here. That’s just outrageous. A local film critic asked the Disney representative for Belgium/The Netherlands/Luxembourg to elaborate on the issue, and his reply was: “The Muppets bombed hard in Belgium, so releasing the sequel would not be a wise thing to do.”
          I supported the first movie by seeing it in theatres. I bought the Blu-ray. I did all I could.

          Avid fans can go to The Netherlands to see the (English) version. But I have never gone abroad just to watch a movie.

  3. Mike Attebery

    I just thought this was a strange time to be releasing a Muppet movie. It seems like Fall and the holidays are prime Muppet seasons. This seemed like dumping them in the wastelands of winter/spring limbo.

    Maybe people are just waiting for video. Ever since we got our projector and started a family, I prefer to watch movies on the big screen at home. I’m sure other Muppet fans are the same way.

    • William Henley

      On the last one, I waited for the video release, but that is just because with movies like this, as much as I may like to see them in the theater, being a single male, I just feel like a creep going to movies like this, It’s why I haven’t seen The Lego Movie yet. In fact, one local theater passed a rule that all kids movies during daytime hours, adults must have a kid with them to be admitted.

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