Different weekend, same story as American Sniper took home its third #1 in a row, adding another $30.6 million to its coffers, with a domestic total currently at $247.7 million. Early estimates had the film bringing in $31.85 million, which would have been enough for a Super Bowl weekend record, besting previous top earner Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour, which took in $31.1 million back in 2008. Unfortunately, WB overestimated by $1.2 million, which means Miley holds on to her record.
When it comes to new releases, the best they could offer was Project Almanac coming in with $8.3 million and a “B” CinemaScore. Paramount won’t be too upset over the result considering the film cost only $12 million to produce, but this definitely isn’t the next Paranormal Activity-esque, low budget blockbuster. Maybe people have finally given up on the found footage thing?
Next is the Kevin Costner-led drama Black or White, which did impress CinemaScore audiences to the tune of an “A-” grade, but box office wise, this one was a bit of a flat tire, bringing in $6.2 million.
Finally, we come to The Loft, which Open Road didn’t even bother screening for critics and audiences weren’t too keen on paying to see it either. The film opened to the tune of $2.7 million and a “B-” CinemaScore. You can pretty much rest assured we’ve heard the last of this one.
One interesting note is the IMAX release of “Game of Thrones“, which was playing in 205 IMAX theaters and managed to bring in $1.46 million. The special event screened the final two episodes of the show’s fourth season, along with the fifth season trailer, which you can watch online right here. Will the release of television shows on the big screen become a “thing”? Would it not behoove some networks to release a season finale on the big screen the night before it premieres on television? Just a thought.
As far as next weekend is concerned, we finally get the Wachowski’s Jupiter Ascending along with another big budget fantasy epic in Seventh Son while the kiddies get The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. I’m interested in seeing Jupiter, but man, this could be a trainwreck for both that film and Seventh Son competing against one another.
