300: Rise of an Empire couldn’t keep pace with the massive box office bow its predecessor 300 put forth, but still opened strong on Friday and will have no trouble looking down at its competitors for the weekend. The other newcomer, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, is a distant second, while last week’s champ Non-Stop rounds out the top three.
With Eva Green and scores of spray-tanned men leading the charge, 300: Rise of an Empire drummed up $17.7 million on Friday including $3.3 million from midnight showings on Thursday. That’s noticeably lower t han the $28.1 million that 300 opened to, which came as a surprise to no one. On its current trajectory, 300: Rise of an Empire will eclipse $40 million through Sunday.
Dreamworks Animation’s Mr. Peabody & Sherman strolled into second place with $8 million and should wrap the weekend somewhere in the neighborhood of $28-$30 million. Reviews have skewed toward the positive end and the CinemaScore rating stands at “A.” However, the last two Dreamworks Animation films, The Croods and How to Train Your Dragon, each topped $10 million on their opening day. Mr. Peabody & Sherman could see Saturday and Sunday pops if positive word of mouth spreads.
Read our Mr. Peabody & Sherman review.
Last week’s champ Non-Stop came to a partial stop in its second frame, dropping by over 50% on Friday to $4.7 million. Thus far the Liam Neeson thriller has banked $41 million and should earn around $13-15 million for its second weekend.
Fox’s Son of God could only muster $2.7 million on Friday, a far cry from the $9.5 million it opened to a week ago. The biblical epic extracted from The History Channel’s The Bible miniseries should wrap the weekend around $10 million. It has earned $34.2 million to date.
The Lego Movie is finally started to lose steam as it dropped to fifth on Friday with $2.6 million. Expect The Lego Movie to still beat Son of God for the weekend, and for its overall domestic gross to top $220 million through Sunday.
Check back Sunday afternoon for the complete weekend estimates to see if 300: Rise of an Empire surged toward $45 million or saw a decline in business to under $40 million.
