Is was the battle of the sequels this weekend. With “Rio 2” arriving as the toughest competition to the behemoth that is “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” the question was whether or not the Marvel hero could off the family friendly newcomer. And it was a close battle, but Steve Rogers emerged victorious.
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” landed in number one for the second weekend in a row despite falling 56% from the previous weekend, adding $41 million to its bank account, for an impressive $159 million so far at home that, when added to the bountiful overseas haul, gives the Marvel movie $476 million worldwide and counting. Damn. Perhaps Warner Bros. should start worrying about “Captain America 3” opening opposite “Batman Vs. Superman” in 2016.
As for “Rio 2,” the $39 million opening basically matches what the original film debuted at three years ago. You certainly don’t make sequels to perform the same as their predecessors, but Fox Animation will take heart in the overseas numbers, given the film opened at number one in thirty-five countries and took $62.3 million for a worldwide weekend total of $125.2 million. Not too shabby.
Also not too shabby was “Oculus,” with the haunted mirror movie doing a modest $12 million, which, on a budget of $5 million with no major stars, is about what Relativity could expect. But one wagers Lionsgate was hoping the heavily promoted, NFL-backed “Draft Day” would’ve done better than fourth place with $9.7 million. Perhaps we can call an end to the hope of a Kevin Costner-style McConnaisance. Between “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” “3 Days To Kill” and this, audiences don’t seem to be warming to the actor.
In limited release, David Gordon Green couldn’t escape the box office poison that is Nicolas Cage. Despite largely solid reviews, “Joe” took in a mere $100,000 on 48 screens. For comparison sake, Jim Jarmusch‘s “Only Lovers Left Alive,” did $97,000 on only four screens. Meanwhile, Fox Searchlight‘s “Dom Hemingway” only fizzled with just $70,000 on 42 screens. Bummer, because Jude Law deserves a McConnaissance of his own. Another crazy milestone reached? Wes Anderson‘s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” is the filmmaker’s first picture to crack the $100 million mark worldwide. The film is now at $103 million globally, blowing past “The Royal Tenebaums” worldwide gross by more than $30 million. The film has almost grossed $40 million domestically but its unclear if it can best the ‘Tenenbaums’ domestic record at home of $75 million (it would mean having 9 more weeks straight of $4 million dollar grosses each weekend which seems unlikely). “The Raid 2” expanded into 954 theaters, but failed to gross more than $1 million; R-Rated action no longer a huge draw anyhow and foreign language and no stars not helping its case much.
1. Captain America: The Winter Solider – $41.3 million ($159 mil.)
2. Rio 2 – $39 million
3. Oculus – $12 million
4. Draft Day – $9.7 million
5. Divergent – $7.5 million ($124.8 mil)
6. Noah – $7.4 million ($84.8 mil)
7. God’s Not Dead – $4.4 million ($40 mil)
8. The Grand Budapest Hotel – $4 million ($39.4 mil)
9. Muppets Most Wanted – $2.1 million ($45.6 mil)
10. Mr. Peabody & Sherman – $1.8 million ($105.2 mil)