Weekend Estimates: Neighbors Tops $50 Million

May 11, 2014

Neighbors poster

Comedy triumphs at the box office this weekend, with Neighbors posting an impressive $51 million, according to Universal’s Sunday morning estimate. That’s the 16th-biggest opening ever for a comedy film (depending somewhat on one’s definition of what constitutes a comedy), and comparable to the debut of Ted (which made $54 million in 2012). It’s also easily Seth Rogen’s best weekend, ahead of the $33.5 million debut for The Green Hornet, and Zac Efron’s best, beating High School Musical: Senior Year.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will be off 59% to $37.2 million this weekend, putting it on course to fall short of the $262 million earned by the first film in the franchise reboot.

Two other new releases are having disappointing openings this weekend. Moms’ Night Out will pick up about $4.2 million from 1,044 theaters, unable to compete with the broader comedy of Neighbors and the continued success of more overtly religious-themed Heaven is for Real (itself down just 19% this weekend) and God’s Not Dead.

Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return will start out with about $3.7 million from 2,607 theaters. That’s not a total disaster, compared to some other recent family-themed films from upstart distributors, but the film will struggle to hold on to screens in the weeks to come.

In limited release, four films are reporting theater averages over $10,000, and two of them are new releases making very impressive starts. Chef is projected to earn $204,201 from just six theaters this weekend for an average of $34,034—the best of the weekend among all films. Palo Alto is set for $80,000 from four theaters, for an average over $20,000. Meanwhile, period dramas Belle and Ida are both doing great business in their second weekends with $473,000 from 45 theaters and $104,000 from seven theaters respectively.

- Weekend Estimates

Bruce Nash

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Chef, Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Heaven is for Real, Belle, Neighbors, God’s Not Dead, Moms’ Night Out, Palo Alto, Ida, Zac Efron, Seth Rogen