Weekend Wrap-Up: Lego Adds Another Brick to Its Box Office Haul

February 24, 2014

Lego poster

The LEGO Movie completed the threepeat in a dominating fashion earning more than 3 Days to Kill and Pompeii earned combined. On the other hand, neither of those films were that impressive, so beating both of them might not seem like a real accomplishment. The overall box office took a tumble, which is expected for a post-holiday weekend, but it still fell a little more than I would like, down 37% to $111 million. This is 7% more than the same weekend last year, so 2014 continued its winning ways in the year-over-year race. In fact, 2014 extended its lead to $150 million or 11% and now leads 2013 by a $1.51 billion to $1.36 billion.

The LEGO Movie fell a little faster than anticipated dropping by 37% to $31.31 million over the weekend. On the other hand, this was the second best week-over-week drop-off in the top ten (only Frozen was better) while its running tally rose to $183.02 million. It should cross $200 million by this time next week, but competition from Mr. Peabody and Sherman could hurt its chances of reaching further milestones.

3 Days to Kill was a pleasant surprise earning second place with $12.24 million during its opening weekend. Its reviews stabilized at 29% positive, which is far from a good result, but even so, it should have the legs needed to match its $28 million production budget. If it can perform better internationally, then it will have a chance to break even sometime during the film's home market run.

Pompeii also did a little better than expected earning $10.34 million during its opening weekend. However, with a production budget of $80 million to $100 million this is still a disaster. Likewise, its reviews fell to just 27% positive, meaning its legs will likely be really short. It should do better internationally, but not by enough to matter. Pompeii is yet another in a long line of Sony releases that have failed to live up to expectations.

RoboCop fell to fourth place with $9.81 million over the weekend for a total of $44.01 million after two weeks of release. This represents a 55% decline week-over-week, which is actually better than all of the other sophomore class films. It is doing better internationally, but with a $120 million production budget, it will need a lot of help on the home market if it is to break even.

The Monuments Men rounded out the top five with $7.91 million over the weekend for a total of $57.86 million after three. It will match its production budget domestically, but unless it can find an audience internationally, it won't break even any time soon.

There were a trio of films in the sophomore class that missed the top five, starting with About Last Night. The film fell 71% to $7.53 million over the weekend for a total of $38.28 million after two. Granted, last weekend was Valentine's Day and a long weekend, but this is still a very sharp drop-off considering the film's strong reviews. Endless Love fell 70% to ninth place with $3.97 million over the weekend for a total of $19.81 million after ten days of release. Meanwhile, Winter's Tale was right behind with $2.17 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $11.27 million. Both films plummeted 70% and both will disappear from theaters shortly.


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Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Pompeii, RoboCop, Frozen, The Lego Movie, The Monuments Men, About Last Night, Endless Love, Winter’s Tale