Warner Bros. Pictures’ Focus debuted in first place last weekend with $18.69 million. However, the romantic heist film starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie did perform a bit below expectations. Focus opened a lackluster 32 percent below the $27.52 million start of 2013’s After Earth, though it should be noted that Focus was far less expensive and will likely hold up significantly better after opening weekend. With that said, the debut of Focus further suggests that Smith’s drawing power at the box office is nowhere near the level it once was.

Nicky Spurgeon (Will Smith, left) is an extremely accomplished con man who takes an amateur con artist, Jess (Margot Robbie), under his wing in Focus. (Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures)

It was a tight race for spots two through five last weekend, as second place and fifth place were separated by just $1.68 million.

Twentieth Century Fox’s Kingsman: The Secret Service took in $11.88 million to claim second place for a third consecutive weekend. The Matthew Vaughn directed graphic novel adaptation starring Colin Firth was down 35 percent from the previous weekend. Kingsman: The Secret Service continues to inch closer to the $100 million domestic mark with a stronger than expected 17-day take of $85.83 million.

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water held steady in third place with $10.82 million. Thanks in part to facing no new direct competition for family audiences, Paramount Pictures’ 3D animated film stabilized nicely last weekend, as it was down 35 percent from the previous weekend. The SpongeBob Movie continues to exceed expectations with a strong 24-day take of $139.94 million.

After leading the box office each of the previous two weekends, Fifty Shades of Grey fell three spots to land in fourth place with $10.56 million. Universal Pictures’ successful erotic romantic drama was down 53 percent from the previous weekend, but showed relative signs of stabilization after the previous weekend’s massive decline. While it’s proving to be very front-loaded, Fifty Shades of Grey has grossed a very strong $147.39 million in 17 days.

The Lazarus Effect debuted in fifth place with $10.20 million. The low-budget PG-13 rated horror film from Relativity Media had been widely expected to open slightly higher, but was still off to a solid start given its cost. It should also be noted that online activity levels before the film’s release were soft by horror film standards.

Disney Studios’ McFarland, USA held up nicely in its second weekend, as it was down just 29 percent to place in sixth with $7.84 million. The sports drama starring Kevin Costner continues to perform on the high end of expectations with $22.02 million in 10 days. That places the film 14 percent ahead of the $19.36 million 10-day take of last year’s Draft Day, which fell 42 percent in its second weekend to gross $5.71 million. Last weekend’s hold is a strong sign for McFarland, USA going forward.

Warner Bros.’ American Sniper continued to hold up very well with a seventh place take of $7.39 million. The blockbuster Clint Eastwood directed Best Picture nominee starring Bradley Cooper was down a slim 26 percent from the previous weekend. American Sniper has grossed a massive $330.82 million to date and is now on the verge of surpassing the $336.72 million current total gross of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 to become the highest grossing release of 2014 domestically.

The DUFF also held up well last weekend with an eighth place gross of $6.87 million. The low-budget PG-13 comedy from CBS Films and Lionsgate was down 36 percent from the previous weekend’s stronger than expected debut. The DUFF continues to exceed expectations with $19.77 million in 10 days.

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.

Dakota Johnson in Fifty Shades of Grey. (Photo: Universal Pictures)

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.

In only its second weekend of wide release, Warner Bros. Pictures’ American Sniper continued to dominate the box office last weekend with a first place take of $64.37 million. In the process, the Clint Eastwood directed Best Picture nominee starring Bradley Cooper surpassed the $200 million domestic mark. American Sniper was down just 28 percent from the previous weekend. That represented an extremely impressive second weekend hold, especially for a film with grosses of this magnitude.

Cory Hardrict as “D”/Dandridge, Joel Lambert as Delta Sniper, Owain Yeoman as Ranger One, Tony Nevada as Recon Sniper, Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle and Brett Edwards as Recon Gunner in American Sniper. (Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures)

Without adjusting for ticket price inflation, American Sniper registered the eighth largest second weekend gross of all-time. It also registered the third largest January weekend gross of all-time behind only its own performance last weekend and the third weekend performance of Avatar in 2010. With $200.14 million after just 10 days of wide release, American Sniper is in great position to zoom past the $300 million milestone going forward.

The Boy Next Door debuted in second place last weekend with $14.91 million. Universal Pictures’ low-budget thriller starring Jennifer Lopez performed towards the higher end of expectations. The film was off to a good start, especially with its low production budget in mind. The Boy Next Door opened 22 percent ahead of the $12.20 million start of 2010’s The Back-Up Plan, which also starred Lopez

The news was far worse for the weekend’s other two wide releases as Disney’s Strange Magic and Lionsgate Entertinment’s Mortdecai were both dead on arrival. As was the case with Universal’s Blackhat the previous weekend, Strange Magic and Mortdecai both had a problem finding an audience due in large part to the breakout performance of American Sniper and with poor critical reviews for both films also not helping.

Strange Magic debuted in seventh place with $5.50 million. The computer animated film written and executive produced by George Lucas debuted below its already modest pre-release expectations.

Mortdecai landed in ninth place with $4.20 million. Unlike Strange Magic, the comedy starring Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow had been expected to have somewhat of a presence at the box office last weekend, due in part to strong levels of online buzz. But it failed to live up to expectations. Audiences have clearly lost interest in Depp, especially when it comes to his non-event film roles.

Paddington took third place with $12.27 million. The family film from The Weinstein Co. was down 35 percent from the previous weekend’s three-day start. That represented a nice second weekend hold, especially with the added direct completion from Strange Magic. Paddington has grossed a very solid $39.94 million in 10 days.

Sony Pictures’ The Wedding Ringer followed in fourth with $11.31 million. The modestly budgeted comedy starring Kevin Hart and Josh Gad was down a respectable 45 percent from the previous weekend. The Wedding Ringer has grossed $39.39 million in 10 days, which is on the lower end of expectations.

Twentieth Century Fox’s Taken 3 rounded out the weekend’s top five with $7.41 million. The third installment of the Liam Neeson led franchise was down a significant 50 percent from the previous weekend. Taken 3 has grossed $75.86 million in 17 days, which places the film 28 percent behind the $105.83 million 17-day gross of 2012’s Taken 2.

Best Picture nominees The Imitation Game and Selma claimed sixth and eighth place with estimated takes of $6.95 million and $5.42 million respectively. With aid from expanding into an additional 414 locations, The Weinstein Co.’s The Imitation Game was up a strong 2 percent over the previous weekend. Paramount Pictures’ Selma fell 38 percent from the previous weekend, due in part to the previous weekend’s performance having been inflated by the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Respective total grosses stand at $60.45 million for The Imitation Game and at $39.14 million for Selma.