Exceeding the $40.5 million tracking, Darren Aronofsky‘s Noah scores $44 million (plus another $33.6m from overseas), but only comes away with a “C” CinemaScore from opening day audiences. I have yet to see the film and will finally be seeing it early this coming week, but a 76% at RottenTomatoes suggests critics have, for the most part, taken to it. Of course, I’ll be the judge of that soon enough…
In second, Summit’s Divergent has a solid holdover, dropping 52% for a second weekend total of $26.5 million. Continuing the comparisons to other successful YA franchises, that’s a better hold than both The Hunger Games and Twilight, but, of course, both those films did dramatically better business in their opening frame so it only makes sense they would incur larger drops.
In fourth is God’s Not Dead, which continues to impress, dropping just 2% from last weekend, bringing in another $9 million, boosting its total to $22 million in just ten days.
Wes Anderson‘s The Grand Budapest Hotel falls shy of double digits, bringing in $8.8 million from 977 theaters for a cume now totalling $24.4 million and you have to go all the way down to #7 to find David Ayer‘s Sabotage.
The Arnold Schwarzenegger starrer managed only $5.3 million from 2,486 theaters for a paltry $2,172 per theater average. I missed this one as well, but the reviews were not kind, most of what I saw suggesting the film was focused primarily on violence and supremely lacking in believable dialogue. If the CinemaScore is to be looked at as a suggestion of quality, the “B” tells us it’s better than Noah… take that whatever way you wish.
This is the third lackluster opening for a Schwarzenegger picture in a row after The Last Stand and Escape Plan and his worst since 1985’s Red Sonja. Will Warner Bros. second guess his involvement in Terminator: Genesis or is that pretty much all that’s open to him at this point? It seems clear people aren’t showing up to see him on his own.
Next weekend sees the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which has already been receiving glowing reviews from fanboys and non-fanboys alike. The first opened to $65 million, but if the performance of Thor: The Dark World is any indicator we may be looking at something around $85 million for the sequel. It opened to $75.2 million overseas this weekend if that’s any indication.
