Weekend Estimates: Heaven is for Real Leads Easter Openers

April 20, 2014

Heaven is for Real poster

Moviegoers are celebrating Easter weekend by turning out in big numbers to see Heaven is for Real. The Christian-themed movie will be the biggest opener this weekend, with a very respectable $21.5 million projected Friday-to-Sunday and a theater average of $8,895. That puts it at nearly twice box office take of the widest opener this weekend, Transcendence, which is set for a very disappointing $11.15 million debut. Also opening this weekend, and similarly posting mediocre numbers is A Haunted House 2, with a projected $9.1 million from 2,310 theaters. But, with a production budget reported at $4 million, compared to $100 million for Transcendence, the horror spoof shouldn't have a hard time earning money.

Although it had the biggest opening weekend, Heaven is for Real will have to settle for third place overall, behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier, down 36% this weekend to $26.6 million, but still holding on at number one in its third weekend, and Rio 2, which will post around $22.5 million for the weekend, down 43%.

There are two other religious films in the top 10 this weekend. Noah will be down about 34% this weekend, to $5 million, which gives it an outside chance to reaching $100 million in total. Indie film God's Not Dead, meanwhile, will be down just 13% to $4.8 million and a total of $48 million so far. It is comfortably the biggest independent film released in 2014 so far (see top-grossing films of 2014 here).

One other films opened this weekend in wide release: Bears, from Disneynature. It will earn about $4.8 million this weekend, which is down somewhat from their previous releases.

Bollywood film, 2 States will post about $1.1 million from just 136 theaters for UTV Communications.

In limited release, John Turturro's Fading Gigolo, in which he co-stars with Woody Allen, will top the Theater Average Chart with a projected $198,399 in five theaters, for an average close to $40,000. No other film will come close to that average this weekend, but Rialto's re-release of Godzilla: The Original Japanese Version gets an honorable mention with $12,500 projected from a single theater.

- Weekend Estimates

Bruce Nash

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Gojira, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Noah, Bears, Rio 2, Transcendence, Heaven is for Real, A Haunted House 2, Fading Gigolo, God’s Not Dead, 2 States, Woody Allen, John Turturro