Last Weekend’s Top 3 Hold off Newcomers
Universal Pictures’ Fifty Shades of Grey held onto first place at the box office last weekend with $22.26 million. However, the romantic drama was down a massive 74 percent from its opening weekend’s three-day debut. Initial front-loading driven by the film’s pre-existing fanbase and Valentine’s Day along with mixed word of mouth and poor critical reviews are all having an effect on the film. Fifty Shades of Grey held up well during the midweek, so it is likely the film will perform relatively stronger on weekdays than during the weekend going forward. In the bigger picture, Fifty Shades of Grey is still performing very well and continues to run towards the higher end of expectations with $129.16 million through 10 days.
Twentieth Century Fox’s Kingsman: The Secret Service took in $18.35 million to remain in second place. The Matthew Vaughn directed graphic novel adaptation starring Colin Firth was down 49 percent from its opening weekend. That represented a very respectable second weekend hold, especially with the previous weekend’s debut having been inflated a bit by the dual-holiday weekend. Kingsman continues to exceed expectations with a healthy $67.93 million in its first 10 days.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water held steady in third with $16.57 million. That represented a 47 percent decline from the previous weekend. While The SpongeBob Movie has been relatively front-loaded for a family film so far, the film continues to exceed expectations with $126.25 million through 17 days. With no new family films entering the marketplace in the next two weeks, The SpongeBob Movie could stabilize going forward.
Disney Entertainment’s McFarland, USA led last weekend’s openers with a fourth place debut of $11.02 million. The well received sports drama starring Kevin Costner opened on the high end of expectations.
The DUFF followed closely behind in fifth place with $10.81 million. The PG-13 comedy from CBS Films and Lionsgate exceeded pre-release expectations and was helped out by relatively high levels of online buzz. With no real new direct competition until Cinderella and Insurgentopen in March, The DUFF has a good chance of holding up nicely going forward.
Hot Tub Time Machine 2 stumbled out of the gates with a seventh place debut of $5.96 million. The R-rated comedy sequel from Paramount Pictures opened below expectations and 57.5 percent below the $14.02 million start of 2010’s Hot Tub Time Machine. Clearly, Hot Tub Time Machine 2 is a sequel that audiences weren’t excited about. Going forward Hot Tub Time Machine 2 is unlikely to hold up as well as its predecessor did.
Warner Bros.’ American Sniper continued to have a presence at the box office with a sixth place take of $10.05 million. The blockbuster Clint Eastwood directed Best Picture nominee starring Bradley Cooper was down 39 percent. American Sniper has grossed $320.01 million after 38 days of wide release and continues to march closer to becoming the highest grossing release of 2014 domestically, a mark which is currently held by The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 with $336.41 million.
This Week | Last Week | Movie | Weekend Gross | Cumulative Gross | Weeks |
1 | 1 | Fifty Shades of Grey | $22.26M | $129.16M | 2 |
2 | 2 | Kingsman: The Secret Service | $18.35M | $67.93M | 2 |
3 | 3 | The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water | $16.57M | $126.25M | 3 |
4 | N/A | McFarland, USA | $11.02M | $11.02M | 1 |
5 | N/A | The DUFF | $10.81M | $10.81M | 1 |
6 | 4 | American Sniper | $10.05M | $320.01M | 9 |
7 | N/A | Hot Tub Time Machine 2 | $5.96M | $5.96M | 1 |
8 | 5 | Jupiter Ascending | $3.81M | $39.66M | 3 |
9 | 8 | Imitation Game | $2.53M | $83.88M | 13 |
10 | 6 | Paddington | $2.44M | $67.82M | 6 |
Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.