Weekend Wrap-Up

American Sniper Dominates Super Bowl Weekend

By John Hamann

February 1, 2015

Hey, it's Bradley Cooper and... some guy.

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The Boy Next Door, last weekend’s number two film, drops to fifth. The Jennifer Lopez starrer earned $6.1 million, off a large 59% compared to last weekend. Remember though, this "thriller" cost only $4 million to make, so with a gross so far of $24.7 million, everything is coming up roses for this one.

Sixth is The Wedding Ringer, the latest Kevin Hart comedy. Now in its third weekend, The Wedding Ringer earned $5.7 million, dropping another 50%. The $23 million Screen Gems release has now pulled in $48.1 million, giving Hart another win.

The Imitation Game spends its sixth weekend in the top ten, and has another decent hold despite its longevity. The WWII flick earned another $5.2 million, dropping 26% in the process. The Weinstein Company has always been shrewd about releasing its Oscar hopefuls, and The Imitation Game is no different. This film has never been ranked above sixth, yet has a domestic gross to date of $68 million to go with an overseas gross of $58 million so far.

Taken 3 is eighth, as it has had a bumpy ride down after opening big. The Liam Neeson starrer earned $3.7 million and fell a woeful 51%. The $48 million film has now reaped $81.4 million stateside and over $130 million away from home, or more than four times its production budget worldwide.




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Ninth place goes to the George Lucas animated mess Strange Magic, which earned $3.4 million as it declined 38%. It has yet to cross the $10 million mark with a running total of $9.9 million, but it may find some small saving grace from overseas grosses once it hits those venues.

The Loft, the shot in 2011 hot potato that both Universal and Warner Bros. considered releasing before it landed at Open Road, opened poorly in 10th. Made for $14 million (in 2011 dollars), The Loft opened to a disastrous $2.9 million from a venue count of only 1,841 venues. This one is our first 0% fresh film of the year and earned a sad B- Cinemascore.

Warner Bros. put a couple of episodes of Game of Thrones out to 205 IMAX theaters and cashed in. Despite the low screen count, the hit TV show earned $1.5 million at these screenings, giving it an average of $7,322.

Overall, American Sniper once again bails the box office out of what could have been a black hole, and has bridged the box office into February. A year ago, the top 12 films earned $70.9 million as Jason Reitman’s Labor Day flopped. This year, the top 12 earned significantly more at $93.4 million.

Next weekend, some big hitters come to the screen albeit on some shaky ground. Jupiter Ascending from Andy and Lana Wachowski opens after being pushed back from summer 2014. It cost $175 million to make, and Warner Bros. has indicated they would spend an additional $100 million on marketing. It has the stars and the visuals to work, but word-of-mouth is similar to what happened at Sundance, where audiences called it “puzzling." Also opening is Seventh Son, a $77 million effort from Universal. It has two ugly reviews at RottenTomatoes so far, from influential critics. Lastly, The SpongeBob Movie opens, 11 years after the last SpongeBob flick earned $85 million domestic. It cost $66 million to make, so studios have $318 million in production costs on the line next weekend.


Top Weekend Box Office for 1/30/15-2/1/15 (Estimates)
Rank Film Distributor Estimated Gross Weekly Change Running Total
1 American Sniper WARNER BROS. $31,850,000 - 51% $248,942,000
2 Paddington Weinstein Co. $8,505,000 - 31% $50,540,394
3 Project Almanac Paramount $8,500,000 New $8,500,000
4 Black Or White Relativity $6,456,000 New $6,456,000
5 The Boy Next Door Universal $6,092,950 - 59% $24,684,285
6 The Wedding Ringer Sony $5,700,000 - 50% $48,100,000
7 The Imitation Game Weinstein Co. $5,173,000 - 26% $67,954,636
8 Taken 3 Fox $3,650,000 - 51% $81,353,000
9 Strange Magic Disney $3,400,000 - 38% $10,000,000
10 The Loft Open Road Films $2,879,455 New $2,879,455
11 Selma Paramount $2,670,000 - 51% $43,578,000
12 Into the Woods Disney $2,000,000 - 48% $124,500,000
  Also Opening/Notables
  Game of Thrones WARNER BROS. $1,501,000 New $1,501,000
  Timbuktu Cohen Media $50,008 New $50,008
  Mordecai Lionsgate $1,425,000 - 66% $6,844,265
  Black Sea Focus Features $464,000 New $515,925
  Red Army Sony Classics $20,965 New $55,599
  Still Alice Sony Classics $622,000 + 57% $1,508,060
  A Most Violent Year A24 $1,701,470 + 273% $3,169,375
  Unbroken Universal $780,000 - 62% $113,874,425
  Leviathan Sony Classics $70,987 + 3% $369,150
  The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies WARNER BROS. $1,280,000 - 54% $251,678,000
  Mr. Turner Sony Classics $167,059 - 3% $2,108,689
  Wild FOX SEARCHLIGHT $550,000 - 43% $35,669,000
  Foxcatcher Sony Classics $274,096 - 51% $11,450,802
  The Theory of Everything Focus Features $1,000,000 - 21% $30,600,445
  Birdman FOX SEARCHLIGHT $1,515,000 - 22% $33,237,000
  Whiplash Sony Classics $719,670 - 8% $8,650,153
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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