Weekend Box Office Report: February 21-23 2014

By Kip Mooney • On • In News News 0

 

BOX OFFICE REPORT February 21-23, 2014(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 51. The LEGO Movie ($31.4 million)2. The Days to Kill ($12.3 million)3. Pompeii ($10.0 million)4. RoboCop ($9.4 million)5. The Monuments Men ($8.1 million)

 

The LEGO Movie built a tremendous wall, apparently. After three weeks of competition, it's continued to deliver impressive grosses, finishing its third weekend at No. 1, still rare these days. But it's run should come to an end by next week, but not before it crosses $200 million.

A surprising number of people killed time by seeing 3 Days to Kill. The Kevin Costner "thriller" finished in second place, earning $12.3 million. By filming in Europe, the movie saved a ton of money and will make back its $28 million budget in the coming weeks. Too bad they couldn't have bought a better script with the money they saved.

That's more than can be said for Pompeii. The disaster movie took on a literal meaning as the $100 million film only took in a tenth of that. Looks like audiences are only interested in destruction of ancient cultures if it's 300. But that depends on how the sequel will do next month.

Outside the top 5: - This Weekend's Indie Champ: Shoot Me, a documentary on the indefatigable comedienne Elaine Stritch. It averaged $15,000 on both of its screens. 

- The Wind Rises, the final film from legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki and an Academy Award nominee, took in $14,571 on each of its 21 screens. It expands next week.

- The Valentine's Day honeymoon is over for all three romances last week. About Last Night, Endless Love and Winter's Tale all fell an average of 70 percent in week two.

Next week: It's Jesus vs. Liam Neeson. Son of God will have an enormous debut, no doubt about it. But it will be enough to stop Liam Neeson as a cop trying to stop a serial killer on a plane? I think this is the one time Jesus won't come through. Son of God will do well with the faith-based crowd, but this isn't a conversation starter like The Passion of the Christ. I think $30 million is commendable and likely. Non-Stop will do better, earning $40 million. Liam Neeson saves the day again.

 

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About Kip Mooney

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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