Will Smith's drawing power has diminished a bit, but it's still enough to launch his romantic caper Focus into the top spot, beating Fifty Shades, which fell from first to fourth place this week, as interest in the erotic drama continues to fade fast. The new film, which got mixed reviews and co-stars Wolf of Wall Street bombshell Margot Robbie, opened with $19 million, a bit less than the expected $20-23 million for the weekend. It got a "B" Cinemascore from audiences, so it may not hold well, probably finishing with under $60 million total.
The other new release this weekend was the long-delayed The Lazarus Effect, was a total misfire critically and commercially, earning just $10 million for the number five slot, while the rest of the top earners were holdovers, some of which continue to show strength, like Kingsman, which has now made a solid $85 million. SpongeBob was in third, with $140 million total, and Fifty Shades of Grey tumbled to fourth, with a new domestic total of $147 million, but its global numbers continues to soar (it's at $486 million worldwide). Meanwhile, American Sniper pulled in another $7 million, which means it will now be passing Hunger Games by next week to claim the new title of the biggest movie of 2014. Last time a war movie was able to claim that spot it was Saving Private Ryan in 1998.
Top 5:
- Focus- $19.1 million
- Kingsman: The Secret Service- $11.7 million
- SpongeBob- $11.2 million
- Fifty Shades of Grey- $10.9 million
- The Lazarus Effect- $10.6 million
In Oscar bump news, Birdman was re-released and shot up 125%, which takes it over the $40 million mark, while more impressively, Still Alice sneaked into the top ten this weekend, earning $2.5 million from people curious to see if the movie that won Best Actress actually existed. Best Actor winner Theory of Everything also managed a bump, taking its gross to $35 million. Next weekend it's another slow one, with the robot thriller Chappie on deck, as well as The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It's looking pretty dry out there right now- what I wouldn't give for another Grand Budapest this time of year, but it doesn't look in the cards for 2015.
