Parents must really be looking for something to entertain their young ones. An animated movie took charge this weekend at the box office, while an expensive blockbuster took a dive into disappointing returns.
While “Beauty And The Beast” is a massive hit, it’s probably safe to say that the big-screen romance isn’t quite what very young viewers are looking to keep them occupied. So, 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation were able to score a surprise big opening for “The Boss Baby.” The film featuring a pint-sized talking baby earned a big $49 million this weekend, the sixth-biggest opening for an animated movie ever in the March/April frame. The debut was strong enough to knock ‘Beast’ down to second place, but don’t worry about Disney, as that film is already knocking on $900 million worldwide with $1 billion easily in sight.
Battling controversy for its whitewashed casting, and getting dull critical notices, Paramount‘s “Ghost In The Shell” starring Scarlett Johansson arrived in cinemas with an underwhelming $19 million, for a third-place finish. For anyone involved hoping for a “Lucy“-sized hit, they’ll be disappointed, as that film launched with $43 million and went on to earn over $460 million worldwide. (And it also had a notably smaller budget, $40 million versus $110 million for the live-action anime remake). The real measure of ‘Ghost’ will be found internationally. Currently it stands at $59 million, and it launches in China next weekend. If it can put up good numbers in that market, there’s hope yet that it’ll come out with a respectable figure.
READ MORE: The Visually Impressive ‘Ghost In The Shell’ Never Reaches The Singularity [Review]
Nudging into the top ten was the middlingly received “The Zookeeper’s Wife” starring Jessica Chastain, which took in $3.3 million from just over 540 screens. It’s a respectable number for Focus Features, whose expectations are probably modest. It’ll find its niche audience, but not much more.
While “Power Rangers” started strong with a $40 million debut last weekend, the $14 million haul this weekend won’t be encouraging for Lionsgate, who want to franchise this property. The 64% drop was the worst among the top ten films, and it suggests the mighty morphin superheroes might be a flash in the pan after all. Meanwhile, both “Life” and “CHIPS,” which started with disappointing numbers, unsurprisingly continued to fall.
At the arthouse, the highlight was the “Donnie Darko” re-release, which took in $53,200 on 21 screens. Speaking of arthouse, it sounds like fans are getting tired of Terrence Malick. His latest, “Song To Song,” has grossed a pittance of $325K after four weeks of release (though not as bad as the IMAX movie that took in $55,409 after eight weeks). While indie Broad Green might love being in the Terrence Malick business, Malick may not necessarily be good for the bottom line.
In box-office milestones, “Kong: Skull Island” has hit the $477 million mark after four weeks, which means it should be able to surpass the $529 million worldwide gross of “Godzilla.” As for the successfully received “Logan” maybe the R-Rating has slowed down the film. After 5 weeks of release, the film has earned $585.4 million globally. That’s an excellent number obviously, but in the context of the “X-Men” franchises it’s not quite a smash. Currently, it’s the fifth highest X-film domestically and third highest grossing film worldwide. But at this current pace, it’s likely impossible that “Logan” will hit the mark of either “Deadpool” ($783 million) or “X-Men: Days Of Future Past” ($747 million).
1. “The Boss Baby” — $49 million
2. “Beauty And The Beast” — $47.5 million ($395.4 mil.)
3. “Ghost In The Shell” — $19 million
4. “Power Rangers” — $14.5 million ($65 mil.)
5. “Kong: Skull Island” — $8.8 million ($147.8 mil.)
6. “Logan” — $6.2 million ($211.8 mil.)
7. “Get Out” — $5.8 million ($156.8 mil.)
8. “Life” — $5.6 million ($22.3 mil.)
9. “Chips” — $4 million ($14.3 mil.)
10. “The Zookeeper’s Wife” — $3.3 million