Weekend Box Office Report: January 24-26 2014

By Kip Mooney • On • In News News 0

 

BOX OFFICE REPORT January 24-26, 2014(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 51. Ride Along ($21.1 million)2. Lone Survivor ($12.6 million)3. The Nut Job ($12.3 million)4. Frozen ($9.0 million)5. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit ($8.8 million)

 

It was a nearly silent weekend as the only shake-up in the top 5 was Frozen swapping places with Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Everything else was business as usual. Ride Along kept on pace to be the first 2014 release to cross $100 million. It's three quarters of the way there already. Lone Survivor continued to be the late-season hit. And The Nut Job did just well enough to get a sequel green lit.

And then there's Frozen, still in the top 5 after all this time. Since its official opening on November 27, the film has never left the Top 5 in any subsequent weekend. Even box office behemoths like The Avengers dropped out by Week 7. Frozen's on Week 9 and doesn't really show signs of slowing down. It seemed impossible for it to surpass Despicable Me 2 just a few weeks ago. But now as it's on its way to one Oscar (and maybe two), it might end up closer to $400 million.

Poor Jack Ryan has made the studio back its budget, but there's no way this doesn't come across as a major disappointment for Paramount. At least it did better than I, Frankenstein (No. 6 with $8.2 million), which joins The Legend of Hercules as two misfires in a row based on popular (and public domain) characters. 

Outside the top 5: - This Weekend's Indie Champ: Gloria, Chile's official entry to the Academy Awards, which finds the title character in the midst of a reinvention at middle age. It made $19,600 on each of its three screens.

- Gravity has surpassed The Hobbit. How you like them apples, Peter Jackson? This is what can happen when you give your special effects movie a soul.

- Her and Nebraska have both made less than $20 million, the only Best Picture nominees not to cross that threshold. There's not a lot of wide release options out there, so go see one of those, why don't you?

Next week: One of your options is the R-rated romantic comedy That Awkward Moment, starring two great up-and-coming actors (Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller) and also Zac Efron. I think it'll come in second with about $12 million. The other is Labor Day, from one of the best directors working today (Jason Reitman). Unfortunately, it's pretty much being buried by Paramount. I haven't seen a trailer or TV ad anywhere. Plus, it's a pretty strange time for a movie set during and called Labor Day to just be dumped on Super Bowl weekend. So I'm saying it will be lucky to get to No. 7 with $4 million. That's no way to treat a two-time Oscar nominee.

Facebooktwitterredditmail

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.

Leave a Reply