Unsurprisingly, the much hyped Fifty Shades of Grey opened in first place, bringing in over $80 million for the three day (and an estimated $90 million for the four day) weekend, despite terrible reviews, and a surprisingly terrible Cinemascore of C+. I mean seriously, what exactly did people think they were seeing here? It got a boost from Valentine's Day of course, and it may be end up being pretty frontloaded, as a decrease of 60-70% (maybe even 80%) wouldn't shock anybody next weekend. In second was Matthew Vaughn's action movie Kingsmen, which surpassed expectations, earning over $35 million for the three days, a number it was predicted to pull in over the four day President's Day weekend. Probably worked as counter-programming for the guys.
SpongeBob took third place, falling 44% from last week, which is the exact same pattern of the first film ten years ago, while American Sniper had another good hold, crossing $300 million total, and ensuring that it will become the top movie of 2014 when it finishes its run. Jupiter Ascending rounded out the top five, declining by about 50% from last week's debut, another disappointing film from the Wachowski's, who I'd be very surprised to see make another movie at this point- I mean, what studio is going to trust them after all these flops?
Top 5:
- Fifty Shades of Grey- $81.7 million
- Kingsmen: The Secret Service- $35.6 million
- The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water- $30.5 million
- American Sniper- $16.4 million
- Jupiter Ascending- $9.4 million
All in all, it was a very big weekend at the box office this week, with the top three films all earning over $30 million, while the Oscar movies continue to creep on in limited release. Best Picture favorite Birdman has now brought its total to $36 million, closing in on last year's 12 Years a Slave gross at about this point in the race. But with just one more week before the Academy Awards, any more boosts will be minimal, because most of the films will be releasing on DVD or Blu-Ray very soon. Next week are several smaller releases, with Hot Tub Time Machine 2 and The Duff coming out, along with Kevin Costner's McFarland, USA. Tune in for Oscar weekend next time!
