Weekend Wrap-Up
SpongeBob Surprises; Sniper Down
By John Hamann
February 8, 2015
Finishing way back in fourth is Seventh Son, our next great flop of the weekend. Legendary Pictures, the production company behind Seventh Son, had already provided an $85 million write down against the film before it had even opened domestically. That $85 million is an amount Seventh Son won’t come close to earning stateside, as it debuts with a paltry $7.1 million from 2,875 venues. Seventh Son cost $90 million to make and can at least point to the $82 million it has already earned overseas. The film is only 10% fresh at RottenTomatoes and like Jupiter Ascending, earned the ugly B- from Cinemascore.
Seventh Son actually started production in 2012, with Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore starring. In a sign of bad things to come, Seventh Son’s first visual effects house went bankrupt, and the film’s original release date of February 2013 was delayed. Then, Legendary broke up with Warner Bros., leading to further delays. Much has been written about the stink of this one, and there is no saving it this weekend. Jeff Bridges has now been in two ugly flops for Universal, as he was also in R.I.P.D., which cost $130 million and earned only $78 million worldwide.
Paddington is fifth, as the release of SpongeBob impacted the film slightly. Paddington earned $5.4 million, off 35% from last weekend. The $50 million film from Britain has now pulled in $57.3 stateside to go with the $150 million it has accumulated from overseas venues.
Sixth goes to last weekend’s new release, Project Almanac. The found footage release that debuted to $8.3 million last weekend actually held okay this weekend with the implosion of Jupiter Ascending and Seventh Son. Almanac earned another $5.3 million, giving the time travel flick a drop of 36%. Made for $12 million, the Michael Bay misfire now has a total of $15.8 million.
The Imitation Game is seventh, as the Oscar wannabe loses 400+ screens this weekend. The Benedict Cumberbatch film earned another $4.9 million and was off only 3% despite the loss of screens. The Weinstein release has increased its take to a remarkable $73.7 million stateside and $65 million away from home.
The Wedding Ringer dropped to ninth, as the Kevin Hart comedy is running out of steam. The Screen Gems flick earned another $4.8 million, dropping 16%. The $23 million comedy has now pushed its total up to a decent $55.1 million, and has brought in another $3 million overseas.
Black or White drops from fourth last weekend to ninth this weekend. The Kevin Costner flick could only muster $4.5 million as it fell 27%. This $9 million-budgeted film has now brought its total up to $13.1 million.
The Boy Next Door moves from fifth last weekend to 10th, as this one weekend wonder has faded fast since opening in second a few weekends ago. After opening to $15 million, it dropped to $6 million last weekend. This weekend, it held up a bit better, falling 33% to $4.1 million. The film enjoys a gross so far of $30.9 million.
Overall, the combination of The SpongeBob Movie and American Sniper was enough to match that of last year’s debut of The LEGO Movie. The top 12 films this weekend earned $139 million, which is just ahead of last year's $138.4 million. Next weekend brings Valentine’s Day on Saturday night and President’s Day on Monday, which means the weekend could be big. We know that Fifty Shades of Grey is going to be huge, but can Kingsman: The Secret Service also open large as well? With the wobbles this weekend, the marketplace has room for two big openers, but the marketing for Kingsman may not be where it needs to be for it to break out next weekend.
| 1 |
The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water |
Paramount |
$56,000,000 |
New |
$56,000,000 |
| 2 |
American Sniper |
WARNER BROS. |
$24,165,000 |
- 21% |
$282,265,000 |
| 3 |
Jupiter Ascending |
WARNER BROS. |
$19,000,000 |
New |
$19,000,000 |
| 4 |
Seventh Son |
|
$7,101,250 |
New |
$7,101,250 |
| 5 |
Paddington |
Weinstein Co. |
$5,365,000 |
- 35% |
$57,268,475 |
| 6 |
Project Almanac |
Paramount |
$5,330,000 |
- 36% |
$15,759,000 |
| 7 |
The Imitation Game |
Weinstein Co. |
$4,881,000 |
- 3% |
$74,739,787 |
| 8 |
Black Or White |
Relativity |
$4,520,000 |
- 27% |
$13,122,684 |
| 9 |
The Wedding Ringer |
Sony |
$4,500,000 |
- 21% |
$55,000,000 |
| 10 |
The Boy Next Door |
Universal |
$4,100,910 |
- 33% |
$30,850,465 |
| 11 |
Taken 3 |
Fox |
$2,350,000 |
- 37% |
$85,078,000 |
| 12 |
Selma |
Paramount |
$1,720,000 |
- 33% |
$46,452,000 |
| |
Also Opening/Notables |
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Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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