Monday, March 09, 2015

Box Office


From ew, Neill Blomkamp’s Chappie is not having a great weekend: The movie’s been mostly slammed by critics, and it debuted with $13.3 million—just about a quarter of its $49 million budget.

For context, Blomkamp made waves in 2009 when he released District 9, a sci-fi film that went on to gross $115.6 million total and earn a Best Picture Oscar nod. He followed that up with 2013’s Elysium, which grossed $93 million and was widely considered a disappointing follow-up to the impressive District 9. Chappie wasn’t expected to reach District 9 levels of success, but its weak premiere has already guaranteed it won’t even reach Elysium’s lower levels of success. That one at least premiered with a much more promising $29.8 million.

But strong debut or not, Chappie still nabbed the No. 1 spot at the box office above the weekend’s other new releases, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Unfinished Business. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel earned $8.6 million, a couple million more than its predecessor’s $6.4 million wide debut in 2012. Unfinished Business, a comedy headlined by Vince Vaughn, didn’t fare quite as well though: The film barely made the top ten with $4.8 million, finishing behind older movies including Fifty Shades of Grey and The Lazarus Effect.

Focus took the No. 2 spot with $10 million while Kingsman: The Secret Service and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water kept their places in the top five with $8.3 million and $7 million, respectively. Those days will likely be over next weekend though when Cinderella and Liam Neeson action flick Run All Night hit theaters and draw in both fairytale- and action-loving crowds.

1. Chappie — $13.3 million
2. Focus — $10 million
3. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel — $8.6 million
4. Kingsman: The Secret Service — $8.3 million
5. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water — $7 million

After 11 weeks in theaters, American Sniper finally found its way outside of the top 10—but it did reach a huge milestone: It’s now the highest grossing 2014 release. The title last belonged to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1, but Sniper beat it this weekend when its total domestic gross hit an estimated $337.2 million—just a bit more than Mockingjay’s estimated $337 million.

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