April started relatively quiet at the box office, with the only major studio movie opening being a comedy about some old dudes who plan a heist, leaving plenty of room for an animated favorite to stay on top.
20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation kept the crown for the second straight weekend as “The Boss Baby” pulled in another $26.3 million. It’s quite the achievement, since Sony brought some competition with “Smurfs: The Lost Village,” whose tepid $14 million marks increasingly diminished returns for the franchise. It’s the lowest launch for any of the films in the series so far, which already showed signs of waning when “The Smurfs 2” kicked off with $17 million. However, that film went on to earn just under $350 million worldwide, all thanks to international ticket sales, and that’s likely where Sony will be looking when they count up the receipts for ‘The Lost Village.’
READ MORE: 10 Films To See In April
Over at Warner Bros., they’ll be tossing another comedy into the flop pile for 2017. Just a couple of weeks after “CHIPS” flamed out, Zach Braff‘s remake “Going In Style” arrived with a meager $12.5 million. Despite the elderly star power of Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin, and Michael Caine, the film just didn’t find its audience. With a budget of $25 million, no one is going to lose their shirt, and this is the kind of flick that will be in reruns forever. However, it does make one wonder about the state of Braff’s directorial career, as he can’t seem to find a hit following the breakout success of “Garden State.”
The films opening in limited release provided the most interesting stories this weekend, with niche films finding the bullseye with their intended markets. Sneaking into the top was the faith-based “The Case For Christ,” which pulled in $3.9 million on just under 1200 screens. Meanwhile, anime smash “Your Name” arrived in North America and notched $1.6 million on 303 screens. The Chris Evans dramedy “Gifted” notched $476,00o from 56 cinemas, while Lone Scherfig‘s “Their Finest” did a pretty strong $77,000 from just four theaters.
However, the big winner at the arthouse this weekend was “Colossal” starring Anne Hathaway, which scored a per-screen average of $31,452 to earn a total of $125,000 on four screens. That bodes well as it prepares to expand in the weeks ahead.
In holdover releases, the ailing “Ghost In The Shell” fell 60%, which isn’t as bad as it could have been considering its poor opening weekend. But the would-be blockbuster is only at $124 million worldwide so far and already looks like a write-down for Paramount. Meanwhile, “Beauty And The Beast” is still holding strong like super glue at #2 after four weeks of release (!) and has hit the $977 million mark. $1 billion arrives next week, no doubt. Dropping only 33% and still in the top 10, “Logan” is about to hit the $600 million mark and “Get Out” had another similarly remarkable hold, only falling 29%. If the social horror/indie can goose its numbers abroad, it will easily reach the $200 million mark, likely making it one of the most profitable movies of 2017 so far. “Kong: Skull Island” is moving closer and closer to $550 million and has already outgrossed its predecessor, “Godzilla” — a very good sign for this franchise. Interesting factoid: While “T2: Trainspotting” has only made $1.6 million at home, the movie has collected $36 million in receipts overseas.
1. “The Boss Baby” — $26.3 million ($89.3 mil.)
2. “Beauty And The Beast” — $25 million ($432.3 mil.)
3. “Smurfs: The Lost Village” — $14 million
4. “Going In Style” — $12.5 million
5. “Ghost In The Shell” — $7.3 million ($31.5 mil.)
6. “Power Rangers” — $6.2 million ($75.1 mil.)
7. “Kong: Skull Island” — $5.8 million ($156.5 mil.)
8. “Logan” — $4.05 million ($218 mil.)
9. “Get Out” — $4.02 million ($162.8 mil.)
10. “The Case For Christ” — $3.9 million