'Kung Fu Panda 3' Tops Super Bowl Weekend; 'Hail, Caesar!' Leads Newcomers
Kung Fu Panda 3 topped Super Bowl weekend, finishing #1 for a second weekend in a row while the weekend's three newcomers didn't exactly inspire upon release. The Coens' Hail, Caesar! performed as expected, though that isn't saying much, while The Choice ended up topping Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which couldn't even reach $6 million. Meanwhile, the big winner of the weekend is Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which crossed $900 million domestically and became only the third film to ever make over $2 billion worldwide.
With an estimated $21 million, Kung Fu Panda 3 took home the #1 position for a second weekend in a row. The 49% drop is a bit steeper than expected, but could also have to do with some hesitation with predicting too high a Sunday gross. Nevertheless, with no serious competition arriving until Zootopia on March 4, this one still has a lot of time to rake in a few dollars.
In second place, and topping the list of newcomers, Joel and Ethan Coen's Hail, Caesar! finished the weekend with an estimated $11.4 million along with a "C-" CinemaScore from opening day audiences. This is the lowest opening for a Coen brothers release Joel Coen and it will likely finish around $27-30 million if word-of-mouth doesn't hurt it too much. That said, critics certainly enjoyed it, as it scored a 79% "Certified Fresh" rating at RottenTomatoes and a solid score of 72 at MetaCritic. So, perhaps there's an audience that will keep it alive, many of which that may catch it next weekend after staying home to watch the Super Bowl this weekend.
Finishing second among the new releases is the latest Nicholas Sparks adaptation, The Choice. The film did manage to crack the top five thanks to the underperforming Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but it also has the distinction of owning the lowest opening weekend of any Sparks adaptation. No previous Sparks adaptation had opened with less than $10 million, and The Choice did all it could do to come in with an estimated $6 million and a "B+" CinemaScore. Next weekend this one will be hoping to best the second weekend average drop of 44.6% for a Sparks film if it wants to gross over $20 million for its domestic run.
Landing in sixth place is the aforementioned Pride and Prejudice and Zombies with a paltry $5.2 million and a "B-" CinemaScore. Screen Gems doesn't stand to lose much on this one as it was fully financed by Cross Creek Pictures, but with a budget reported to be around $28 million and a domestic run that may struggle to reach $16 million, this one is going to be hoping for big returns internationally.
Taking third position after director Alejandro G. Inarritu took home the Directors Guild Award on Saturday night, The Revenant added another $7.1 million as it is now just shy of $150 million domestically and over $326 million worldwide.
It has already been mentioned, but Star Wars: The Force Awakens has now become the only film to not only cross $800 million domestically, but this weekend it crossed $900 million in North America. After eight weeks in release and another top five finish, Star Wars added another $6.8 million bringing its cume to $905.9 million and its worldwide total now stands at $2.008 billion.
A couple other new releases include China Lion's The Monkey King 2, which brought in an estimated $175,000 from 38 theaters and Regression starring Emma Watson and Ethan Hawke, which finished with $31,000 from 10 theaters.
Finally, the weekend was a major struggle for Jane Got a Gun, which dropped 84.8% after an all-ready disappointing opening weekend. It's the second largest second weekend drop of all-time and the largest second weekend drop for a film playing in over 1,000 theaters. The film brought in an estimated $127,000 from 1,031 theaters for a $123 per theater average.
Overall, the weekend's top twelve was down 40.3% from the same weekend last year, but only $2.9 million down from Super Bowl weekend last year, which came a week earlier.
Next weekend should be interesting as Deadpool opens in over 3,900 theaters with eyes on a $70+ million weekend alongside the release of Zoolander 2 and How to Be Single.
You can browse the complete weekend chart here and look for weekend actuals on Monday afternoon.
Discuss this story with fellow Box Office Mojo fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @boxofficemojo and author Brad Brevet at @bradbrevet.
With an estimated $21 million, Kung Fu Panda 3 took home the #1 position for a second weekend in a row. The 49% drop is a bit steeper than expected, but could also have to do with some hesitation with predicting too high a Sunday gross. Nevertheless, with no serious competition arriving until Zootopia on March 4, this one still has a lot of time to rake in a few dollars.
In second place, and topping the list of newcomers, Joel and Ethan Coen's Hail, Caesar! finished the weekend with an estimated $11.4 million along with a "C-" CinemaScore from opening day audiences. This is the lowest opening for a Coen brothers release Joel Coen and it will likely finish around $27-30 million if word-of-mouth doesn't hurt it too much. That said, critics certainly enjoyed it, as it scored a 79% "Certified Fresh" rating at RottenTomatoes and a solid score of 72 at MetaCritic. So, perhaps there's an audience that will keep it alive, many of which that may catch it next weekend after staying home to watch the Super Bowl this weekend.
Finishing second among the new releases is the latest Nicholas Sparks adaptation, The Choice. The film did manage to crack the top five thanks to the underperforming Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but it also has the distinction of owning the lowest opening weekend of any Sparks adaptation. No previous Sparks adaptation had opened with less than $10 million, and The Choice did all it could do to come in with an estimated $6 million and a "B+" CinemaScore. Next weekend this one will be hoping to best the second weekend average drop of 44.6% for a Sparks film if it wants to gross over $20 million for its domestic run.
Landing in sixth place is the aforementioned Pride and Prejudice and Zombies with a paltry $5.2 million and a "B-" CinemaScore. Screen Gems doesn't stand to lose much on this one as it was fully financed by Cross Creek Pictures, but with a budget reported to be around $28 million and a domestic run that may struggle to reach $16 million, this one is going to be hoping for big returns internationally.
Taking third position after director Alejandro G. Inarritu took home the Directors Guild Award on Saturday night, The Revenant added another $7.1 million as it is now just shy of $150 million domestically and over $326 million worldwide.
It has already been mentioned, but Star Wars: The Force Awakens has now become the only film to not only cross $800 million domestically, but this weekend it crossed $900 million in North America. After eight weeks in release and another top five finish, Star Wars added another $6.8 million bringing its cume to $905.9 million and its worldwide total now stands at $2.008 billion.
A couple other new releases include China Lion's The Monkey King 2, which brought in an estimated $175,000 from 38 theaters and Regression starring Emma Watson and Ethan Hawke, which finished with $31,000 from 10 theaters.
Finally, the weekend was a major struggle for Jane Got a Gun, which dropped 84.8% after an all-ready disappointing opening weekend. It's the second largest second weekend drop of all-time and the largest second weekend drop for a film playing in over 1,000 theaters. The film brought in an estimated $127,000 from 1,031 theaters for a $123 per theater average.
Overall, the weekend's top twelve was down 40.3% from the same weekend last year, but only $2.9 million down from Super Bowl weekend last year, which came a week earlier.
Next weekend should be interesting as Deadpool opens in over 3,900 theaters with eyes on a $70+ million weekend alongside the release of Zoolander 2 and How to Be Single.
You can browse the complete weekend chart here and look for weekend actuals on Monday afternoon.
Discuss this story with fellow Box Office Mojo fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @boxofficemojo and author Brad Brevet at @bradbrevet.
