Weekend Wrap-Up
Jesus vs. Liam Neeson: A Box Office Showdown
By John Hamann
March 2, 2014
Sixth is Robocop, the missed opportunity from Sony. Now in its third weekend, Robocop fell 54% to only $4.5 million this weekend, which follows a drop of 55% last weekend. Sony is lucky that this one is performing well away from North America, as the $100 million production has pulled just that overseas. Unfortunately, it’s going to need at least another $100 million if it the studio wants to pull a profit, and that certainly isn’t happening stateside. So far, the domestic take for Robocop is $51.2 million.
Seventh goes to the laughable Pompeii, which debuted last weekend to $10.3 million, or about $10 million more than what it deserved. In its second weekend, the Paul W.S. Anderson release took in only $4.3 million, giving it a drop of 58%. It did get a decent start overseas, earning more than $20 million, but this one cost $100 million just to bring it to the screen, so it has a lot of worldwide work to do before it comes close to finding a profit.
Eighth is Frozen, our only Oscar nominated release in the top 10. Frozen earned another $3.6 million, dropping a still small 18% compared to last weekend. The Disney release has also now crossed the billion dollar mark worldwide, with a tally of $611 million overseas. Domestically, Frozen has earned an astounding $388.7 million.
About Last Night is ninth this weekend, and is the perfect case of how the mighty fall. After an opening Valentine’s Day Friday take of $12.9 million, About Last Night hasn’t had a weekend total even close to that amount. After a second weekend of $7.5 million, the Screen Gems release continues to fall, pulling in only $3.4 million this weekend. The good news is that this one cost only $12.5 million to make, so a gross so far of $48.3 million has exceeded the 3x multiplier a film needs to see a profit.
Ride Along is in tenth place in its seventh weekend. The Universal release earned another $3.1 million, good for a drop of 34%. The $25 million comedy has now pulled in $127.2 million from the domestic box office.
In other box office news, Paramount re-released Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues this weekend, to mixed results. Despite re-cutting it with hundreds of new jokes, audiences weren’t buying it. The film earned $1.3 million this weekend from 1,317 theaters. Finally, The Wind Rises, from Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, earned $1.6 million from only 496 venues.
Overall this weekend, thanks to a strong top three, the box office was able to overtake last year’s totals. A year ago, Jack the Giant Slayer was on top, leading the top 12 to $92.8 million. This year, the top 12 earned a much better $xxx.xx million. Next weekend could be big. Warner Bros. releases 300: Rise of an Empire, the sequel to the $71 million opener from 2007, and Mr. Peabody & Sherman, the new animated release – with great early reviews - from Fox.
| 1 |
Non-Stop |
UNIVERSAL |
$30,019,350 |
New |
$30,019,350 |
| 2 |
Son of God |
Fox |
$26,500,000 |
New |
$26,500,000 |
| 3 |
The Lego Movie |
WARNER BROS. |
$21,015,000 |
- 33% |
$209,325,000 |
| 4 |
The Monuments Men |
SONY |
$5,000,000 |
- 37% |
$65,690,000 |
| 5 |
3 Days To Kill |
Relativity |
$4,900,000 |
- 60% |
$20,700,883 |
| 6 |
Robocop |
MGM |
$4,500,000 |
- 54% |
$51,210,000 |
| 7 |
Pompeii |
SONY |
$4,300,000 |
- 58% |
$17,740,000 |
| 8 |
Frozen |
DISNEY |
$3,611,000 |
- 18% |
$388,736,000 |
| 9 |
About Last Night |
SONY |
$3,400,000 |
- 55% |
$43,750,000 |
| 10 |
Ride Along |
New Line Cinema |
$3,065,160 |
- 34% |
$127,188,560 |
| 11 |
American Hustle |
SONY |
$1,930,000 |
+ 11% |
$146,710,000 |
| 12 |
Endless Love |
UNIVERSAL |
$1,658,490 |
- 58% |
$22,321,320 |
| |
Also Opening/Notables |
| |
Anchorman 2: Super0sized R0rated Version |
PARAMOUNT |
$1,335,000 |
New |
$126,503,000 |
| |
Repentance |
Codeblack Films |
$530,000 |
New |
$530,000 |
| |
Stalingrad |
SONY |
$500,000 |
New |
$500,000 |
| |
The Lunchbox |
Sony Classics |
$51,325 |
New |
$51,325 |
| |
The Bag Man |
Cinedigm |
$28,449 |
New |
$28,449 |
| |
Ernest & Celestine |
Gkids |
$15,611 |
New |
$15,611 |
| |
Fatal Assistance |
Velvet Film |
$3,000 |
New |
$3,000 |
| |
The Wind Rises |
DISNEY |
$1,604,000 |
+ 411% |
$2,040,000 |
| |
Winter's Tale |
WARNER BROS. |
$245,000 |
- 89% |
$12,315,000 |
| |
The Wolf of Wall Street |
PARAMOUNT |
$1,230,000 |
- 6% |
$114,579,000 |
| |
Lone Survivor |
UNIVERSAL |
$1,042,425 |
- 47% |
$123,357,391 |
| |
Her |
WARNER BROS. |
$431,000 |
+ 5% |
$24,604,000 |
| |
Philomena |
Weinstein Co. |
$1,224,000 |
+ 2% |
$34,628,668 |
| |
Nebraska |
PARAMOUNT |
$405,000 |
- 5% |
$17,133,000 |
| |
Dallas Buyers Club |
Focus Features |
$427,000 |
+ 44% |
$25,317,933 |
| |
12 Years a Slave |
FOX SEARCHLIGHT |
$900,000 |
+ 72% |
$50,260,365 |
| |
Gravity |
WARNER BROS. |
$875,000 |
+ 3% |
$270,465,000 |
|
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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