This weekend’s newcomers couldn’t hold off a strong second weekend for Mr. Peabody & Sherman as the animated family film only dropped 34% this weekend, leading to a $21.2 million sophomore frame. That’s a better holdover than last year’s The Croods, though Peabody‘s soft opening means its cume won’t likely reach the $187+ million The Croods tallied domestically.
In its second weekend, 300: Rise of an Empire dropped as expected, falling 57.6% for a $19.1 million second weekend. No one expected this one to have much of a holdover after that $45 million opening, but it’s now up to $166.1 million worldwide and counting and should be able to make up that $110 million, but will it be enough for Warner Bros. to consider a third film?
The first of the newcomers is Need for Speed, which many (including out very own Box Office Oracle) predicted to debut at number one. No such luck. Budgeted at $66 million, the video game adaptation managed only $17.8 million, which means it will be lucky to top out at $65 million domestically. Thankfully, the international markets are there as it added another $45.6 million to its coffers overseas.
Continuing the new disappointing new movie trend, Tyler Perry had a first this weekend, his first movie to premiere under $10 million as The Single Moms Club managed a meager $8.3 million. The audience that showed up gave it an “A-” CinemaScore, so I guess that’s something.
Just like last weekend, however, the biggest story is Wes Anderson‘s The Grand Budapest Hotel, which added 62 theaters this weekend for a grand total of 66, where it ultimately pulled in $3.6 million for a $55,152 per theater average.
Opening in only 291 theaters while also premiering iTunes and On Demand this weekend, Veronica Mars enjoyed 50% of its weekend on Friday, ultimately finishing with $2 million from ticket sales, no word on digital sales outside of the fact the studio is now having to refund Kickstarter backers after they were unable to access their free digital copies.
Denis Villeneuve‘s second movie with Jake Gyllenhaal, Enemy, opened to $18,000 in one theater while Jason Bateman‘s Bad Words brought in $120,000 from six theaters. Good performances for both.
Next weekend the two players will be Divergent and Muppets Most Wanted, which really could be a curious weekend. Will Divergent be the next big young adult adaptation and how much are people really looking forward to seeing the Muppets on the big screen again? Personally I don’t see the excitement for Divergent or Muppets that we’ve seen for past YA films or for the first Muppets movie. Perhaps I just don’t travel in the “right” circles?
