For the third straight week in a row, Disney/Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier led the North American box office over the Easter holiday weekend. The superhero blockbuster crossed the $200 million mark on Sunday and had no trouble holding off Rio 2, which had a solid second weekend, as well as a solid debut for Heaven Is For Real and dismal openings for Transcendence and A Haunted House 2.
Thanks to Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Captain America: The Winter Soldier saw its audience drop a mere 35% on 3,825 screens to bring in a strong $26.6 million. It’s 17-day total stands at a great $201.5 million. The film surpassed the original’s $176 million domestic total on Friday, showing once again the business bump that 2012’s The Avengers has bestowed upon the “Phase Two” series of films featuring Iron Man, Thor and Cap.
Strong word-of-mouth from ticket buyers have kept The Winter Soldier afloat, and the film is definitely reaching beyond the hardcore Marvel fan base. Even with the imminent arrival of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in less than two weeks (it opened overseas to the tune of $47 million this weekend), The Winter Soldier should continue to pull in viewers well into May. The sequel is on track for at least $250 million in the States and could go as far as $270-275 million by the end of its remarkable run. Overseas totals currently stand at a great $385 million; nearly double the total amount the 2011 original earned.
Families continued to turn out en masse for Fox’s hit animated sequel Rio 2. As with Cap, the talking birds took advantage of the holiday weekend as well as school vacations nationwide. The animated feature lost 43% of its opening weekend crowd to earn $22 million on 3,975 screens, bringing its ten-day total to $75.3 million. The sequel should make its way to $120 million domestically. Foreign totals stand at a tall $199.7 million so far.
In third place for the weekend was the latest religious-themed drama to hit multiplexes this year, Heaven Is For Real. The $12 million Tri-Star release starring Greg Kinnear, Kelly Reilly and Thomas Haden-Church opened on 2,417 got the jump on the Good Friday/Easter holiday weekend by opening last Wednesday to earn $7 million in its first two days. For the weekend, the film earned $21.5 million to bring its five-day total to a solid $28.5 million. As with Son of God and God’s Not Dead, Heaven targeted religious crowds in its marketing and the results paid off handsomely.
A loud box office thud was felt this weekend with the fourth-place arrival of the Sci-Fi drama Transcendence. The feature, directed by former cinematographer Wally Pfister and starring Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Morgan Freeman and Paul Bettany, received horrible reviews and complete apathy from ticket buyers. The $100 million Warner Brothers production opened Friday on 3,455 screens to earn a toxic $11.1 million. The poor performance of Transcendence joins The Rum Diaries, Dark Shadows and The Lone Ranger as the latest misfire for the once-reliable Depp. Overseas, Transcendence opened with $17 million in its first three days.
Rounding out the top five was the Open Road Films’ comedy A Haunted House 2 with an awful $9 million from 2,310 screens. A sequel to the modestly successful 2013 feature A Haunted House, this quickie sequel was eviscerated by critics (shocker) and didn’t seem to entice too many ticket buyers either. On the plus side for the film’s producers is the fact that the movie cost a mere $4 million to make.
The remainder of the top ten is as follows:
6. Draft Day (Lionsgate/Summit) $5.9 million (-40%); $19 million
7. Divergent (Lionsgate) $5.7 million (-22%); $134 million
8. Oculus (Relativity) $5.2 million (-57%); $21 million
9. Noah (Paramount) $5 million (-33%); $94 million
10. God’s Not Dead (Freestyle) $4.8 million (-12%); $48 million
Next weekend sees the arrival of Brick Mansions, The Other Woman and The Quiet Ones. Could Captain America: The Winter Soldier make it four in a row at number one? Tune in next Sunday to find out.
Have a great week, everyone!
