Even though he’s been gone for more than 40 years, Jackie Robinson can still smash one out of the park.
The baseball biopic 42 circled the bases this weekend, hitting for an estimated $27.3 million and finding a home at the top of the box office. While those might not be the sort of stats to rival the heavy hitters on deck next month, 42 still scored the biggest baseball-movie opening weekend ever—sliding past titles like Moneyball (which opened with $19.5 million in 2011) and The Benchwarmers ($19.7 million in 2006).
It also nearly doubled up its nearest competition in Scary Movie 5. The supernatural spoof starring High School Musical’s Ashley Tisdale had a rather frightening debut (at least for the corporate execs who greenlit the thing), earning around $15.2 million. Granted, Scary Movie’s estimated budget was just $20 mil, which means it’ll likely make its money back … and probably ensure we’ll be seeing Scary Movie 6 (this one with Zac Efron?) before long.
After a month in theaters, The Croods is still holding pretty strong. It earned another $13.2 million this weekend, settling into third place. (It’s also the second most lucrative movie of this young year, having garnered $142.5 million.) Meanwhile, G.I. Joe: Retaliation fought its way to $10.8 million and a fourth-place finish.
After winning last week’s box office crown, Evil Dead had very little life left in its shambling cadaver. The uber-icky horror flick bled off more than 60% of its audience and collected just $9.5 million—just enough to stave off the aged dinosaurs in Jurassic Park 3-D re-release for fifth place.
Final figures update: 1. 42, $27.5 million; 2. Scary Movie 5; $14.2 million; 3. The Croods, $13.1 million; 4. G.I. Joe: Retaliation, $10.9 million; 5. Evil Dead, $9.5 million. To the Wonder, Terrence Malick’s newest film, earned about $116,500 on 17 screens; Not Today, the Christian-based movie which Bob Waliszewski wrote about on Friday, earned $96,300 on 41 screens.
Recent Comments