BOX OFFICE REPORT
March 20-22, 2015(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)
TOP 51. Insurgent (54.0 million)2. Cinderella ($34.4 million)3. Run All Night ($5.1 million)4. The Gunman ($5.0 million)5. Kingsman ($4.6 million)
The Divergent Series will always be inferior to the Hunger Games: lesser stars, lesser books, lesser profits. The latest, Insurgent, opened to an estimated $54 million, which is basically exactlly what Divergent did exactly one year ago. It's not that impressive. It's not even the biggest March opening this year. The only thing we can hope for is that Lionsgate will come to its senses and release the final film Allegiant in one part instead of the wholly unnecessary two.
Cinderella fell a very typical 50 percent to second place. Even so, it's already the third-biggest movie of 2015, besting Kingsman: The Secret Service in only 10 days. That's bad news for Colin Firth, who settled nicely into a tough-guy role for the first time.
Still, he's in better shape than Liam Neeson, whose Run All Night hasn't even topped $20 million yet. And it's certainly better than Sean Penn's first attempt in that place. His starring turn in The Gunman barely cracked $5 million. Lesson learned: Not every actor over 50 needs to try his hand at blowing people up. As Neeson said years ago in Taken, it takes "a particular set of skills."
Outside the top 5: - This Weekend's Indie Champ: Danny Collins, a comedy starring Al Pacino as an aging crooner who tries to find his musical mojo. The film averaged $14,640 on five screens.
- I overestimated the business Do You Believe? could drum up. The Christian drama only managed $4 million, good enough for sixth place. Still, it could have some staying power. God's Not Dead also started small but eventually accumulated more than $60 million during its theatrical run.
- A special re-release of Selma didn't do much to boost that film's earnings. Despite adding 471 more screens, it was only up about five percent from the previous weekend.
Next week: Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart team up to deliver the filthy Get Hard. It's going to be huge, no pun intended. I'd say $45 million easy. And while some parents may be desperate for something animated to show their kids, I don't think Home manages more than $10 million.
