Weekend Wrap-Up: SpongeBob Stands Tall
February 9, 2015
As expected, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water led the way at the box office; however, it did so in a much more explosive way. In fact, its opening was in the top five for February releases. The other two new releases, Jupiter Ascending and Seventh Son, did as well as expected, more or less, but that's not really a good thing. The overall weekend box office was $152 million, which was 51% more than last weekend. Compared to the same weekend last year, 2015 actually came out ahead, albeit by 0.3% margin. This is less than ticket price inflation, so fewer tickets were sold, but I don't really care. Considering I thought 2015 would lose by close to $20 million, I will take any victory and celebrate it. Year-to-date, 2015 has pulled ahead of 2014 by nearly $100 million at $1.17 billion to $1.08 billion. Again, it is too soon to judge how well 2015 will do, but being ahead by 8.8% is still worth noting.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water opened with $55.37 million over the weekend, which is the fifth best opening for a February release ahead of Ghost Rider and just behind Valentine's Day. Also, its reviews are 75% positive, which is a little lower that its pre-weekend Tomatometer Score; however, it is still an amazing score for a February release. With these reviews and the family target demographic, the film's legs should be excellent. I'm not saying it will get to $200 million, but it could come reasonably close.
American Sniper bounced back after last weekend down just 24% to $23.29 million over the weekend for a total of $281.39 million. Its per theater average is getting low enough that it will start shedding theaters, but it will still get to $300 million by the end of the upcoming weekend.
Jupiter Ascending opened in third place with $18.37 million during its opening weekend. This isn't bad for a February release, but it is a disaster for a film that reportedly cost $175 million to make. Worse still, its reviews are awful at just 22% positive. I have read a number of reviews that said the film felt like it was chopped up, so perhaps we will get to see the Wachowski Siblings' vision on the home market and it will be a better film. Regardless, it would take a minor miracle to break even any time soon.
Seventh Son opened in fourth place with $7.22 million during its opening weekend, which matches expectations (nearly) perfectly. Its reviews finished at just 10% positive, while its per theater average is just $2,510, so it won't last long in theaters.
Project Almanac and Paddington finished in a virtual tie for fifth place with $5.23 million and $5.22 million respectively. Paddington is already a solid midlevel hit, while for Project Almanac, the strong hold over the weekend was too little, too late.
The sophomore class was led by Black or White, which fell only 27% to $4.54 million over the weekend for a total of $13.14 million after ten days of release. This is not a bad week-to-week drop-off, but it had a really poor start, so this is too little, too late. The Loft fell 47% to just $1.45 million over the weekend for a two-week total of just $5.20 million. This is a complete bomb.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Seventh Son, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, The Loft, Jupiter Ascending, Project Almanac, Paddington, Black or White, American Sniper, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski