BOX OFFICE REPORT February 7-9, 2014(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)
TOP 51. The LEGO Movie ($69.1 million)2. The Mouments Men ($22.7 million)3. Ride Along ($9.3 million)4. Frozen ($6.9 million)5. That Awkward Moment ($5.5 million)
The LEGO Movie built itself a tremendous debut. Its estimated $69.1 million is the second-biggest February opening ever, behind only The Passion of the Christ ($83.8 million). The movie has an impressive 99 percent on Rotten Tomatoes right now, higher than any of the year's Best Picture nominees. Kids and adults both seem to love the film, judging by its 'A' CinemaScore. Despite a lot of competition next week, it seems destined to repeat its feat.
Lots of bloggers were stumped when George Clooney's The Monuments Men got bumped from its prime awards season date to February. Although it's impossible to say, it's likely that The Monuments Men did a lot better this weekend than in December, when the negative reviews would have almost certainly buried it. $22.7 million proves that lots of people were interested in the historical drama despite the bad press.
Ride Along became the first movie of 2014 to pass $100 million. It took only 23 days. That's the fastest a true January release has gotten there. Frozen spent its 11th (yeah, 11th) weekend in the Top 5 and That Awkward Moment pulled in another mediocre $5.5 million.
Outside the top 5: - This Weekend's Indie Champ: Kids for Cash, a controversial documentary about a notorious judge who imposes harsh sentences on the children who enter his courtroom. It averaged $10,200 on each of its four screens.
- Vampire Academy became yet another failed franchise starter. It earned only $4 million. That's a far cry from the director of Mean Girls' heyday. It will likely end up as Mark Waters' lowest-grossing film ever
- It's been a bad year for horror thus far. I, Frankenstein, Devil's Due and Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones have all made less than $35 million. Hardly the success that Mama and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters brought last year.
Next week: It's three romantic movies against one action flick. About Last Night, a remake of the '80s comedy with a mostly black cast is the only comedy of the bunch. It faces the Nicolas Sparks-ish Endless Love and the supernatural drama Winter's Tale. I expect that action flick, an unnecessary remake of RoboCop to do the best. It's been promoted relentlessly during the NFL playoffs. I'll say that's good enough for No. 2 with $35 million, just behind The LEGO Movie. As for the rest? About Last Night will do the best because it has the key ingredient to success the others lack: Kevin Hart. He should be good enough for at least No. 3 with $20 million, while the others will be fighting for less than $10 million each.
