Friday Box Office Analysis
By Tim Briody
May 10, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The Zach Efron/[bp:9212_]Seth Rogen[/bp] comedy opens to a tremendous $19.6 million on Friday. This is a big win and badly needed hit for Rogen and Efron (whose That Awkward Moment earned $26 million total earlier this year) as well as another for comedies. Take an idea, make it funny and get rewarded. Just last year, The Heat, We’re the Millers, Identity Thief and This is the End were all original (and R-rated!) comedies that earned over $100 million. Comedies built on star power can still be successful, as January’s Ride Along benefited from the star power of [bp:126_]Ice Cube[/bp] and Kevin Hart, but it’s much more about the concept now. Neighbors will do just fine over the rest of the weekend, especially since it has already earned back its production budget after one day. A weekend of $52.6 million is simply outstanding.
Mom's Night Out
Continuing the trend of faith-based films in 2014, Mom’s Night Out isn’t as successful as some others have been, but it still earned $1.2 million in just over 1,000 theaters. Look for about $3.6 million for the weekend, and that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return
With just $981,000 on Friday, the CGI release Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return becomes one of the biggest flops of 2014 relative to its reported $70 million budget. Despite 2,500 theaters, kids weren’t interested and parents were far too savvy to be fooled by the premise. Give it $3.2 million for the weekend and good riddance.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Not including $8.7 of Thursday sneak box office, The Spider-Man reboot sequel fell 62% Friday-to-Friday to $10.1 million, which is about what everyone was expecting. What people weren’t expecting was it to be blown out of first place by Neighbors; the two films were expected to keep it close. It’s a weekend of $33 million for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which puts it over $140 million after two weekends.