Weekend Box Office Report: March 28-30 2014

By Kip Mooney • On • In News News 0

 

BOX OFFICE REPORT March 28-30, 2014(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 51. Noah ($44.0 million)2. Divergent ($26.5 million)3. Muppets Most Wanted ($11.3 million)4. Mr. Peabody & Sherman ($9.5 million)5. God's Not Dead ($9.0 million)

Noah survived the flood of negative publicity, opening with a strong $44 million, which surely includes some people who were skeptical as to how one of the most well-known stories of all time translated to the big screen. It also debuted strongly overseas, so this could be a success for Paramount after all, even though they seemed to have serious doubts about it. This will likely end up as Aronofsky's highest grossing film when it's all said and done, which is great news for a labor of love.

Divergent slipped to No. 2, proving it won't be anywhere near the same league as The Hunger Games or even Twilight. It's nearing $100 million, but it will be lucky to even hit $150 million before closing. Muppets Most Wanted, sadly, will struggle to top $50 million. And Mr. Peabody & Sherman won't hit $125 million.

The movie with the strongest legs is actually God's Not Dead, which dropped a mere one-and-a-half percent. It only needs a few more strong weeks like this to leap-frog Courageous and Fireproof to be the highest-grossing independent Christian film of all time. Too bad more people have seen this than a less fundamentalist film like Blue Like Jazz, which has things that actually make a good movie, like good acting and sharp writing.

Outside the top 5: - This Weekend's Indie Champ: The Raid 2, the ultra-violent sequel to Gareth Edwards' cult classic. It averaged $25,286 on just seven screens.

- Finding Vivian Meyer, the mysterious documentary on the nanny/covert photographer also did well in limited release. On only three screens, it made $63,600.

- It wash't good news for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Comeback Attempt No. 3 failed, as Sabotage debuted with a mere $5.3 million. He's probably done for awhile.

Next week: Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the only new wide release, as the summer blockbuster season creeps ever sooner in the year. $75 million at least.

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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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