Weekend Box Office Report: April 17-19 2015

By Kip Mooney • On • In News News 0

BOX OFFICE REPORT 

April 17-19, 2015(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 51. Furious 7 (29.0 million)2. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 ($24.0 million)3. Unfriended ($16.0 million)4. Home ($10.3 million)5. The Longest Ride ($6.8 million)

Despite valiant efforts from security guards and teenage ghosts, neither could overcome the gang ("˜scuse me, family) of Furious 7. The film has been No. 1 for three weeks with no sign of slowing down. The seventh entry in the franchise has made nearly $300 million in the U.S. thus far. It's also made more than $1 billion worldwide, the fastest a movie has ever reached that milestone. It's already one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. It wouldn't be surprising if it even passed The Avengers for the No. 3 spot, which would put it behind only Titanic and Avatar. 

Even though it arrived six years after the first, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 had a surprisingly strong showing. At No. 2, it made $24 million; not a huge tumble from the original, which was a sleeper hit during the Great Recession. Despite a bottom-scraping 0 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences made it a worthy opponent.

On the other hand, Unfriended did surprisingly well with critics, despite being strictly aimed at teenagers. The horror flick puts a technological spin on the revenge flick, with the ghost of a cyber-bullied high school girl haunting those who victimized her years before. A $16 million opening is pretty good for a movie that takes place solely inside computer and phone screens. That was more than enough to beat Home and The Longest Ride.

Outside the top 5: - This Weekend's Indie Champ: Ex Machina, Alex Garland's sci-fi head trip made it two in a row. It averaged $20,872 on 39 screens. 

- True Story and Child 44 tried to split the difference between a limited and wide release and didn't have much to show for it. The former made nearly $2 million on 831 screens, which is fine. But the latter made only $600,000 on 510 screens. 

- Felix and Meira, a Jewish romance, found its way into many hearts. The film made $15,000 on its lone screen.

Next week: Furious 7 takes its last victory lap. The only new wide release is The Age of Adaline, starring Blake Lively, who has only had two movies reach No. 1: The Town (2010) and "” yikes "” Green Lantern (2011).

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About Kip Mooney

Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

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