Thought spring had finally come? Already digging holes to plant your peonies? Hold off, people. Baseball’s barely begun, it’s snowing here in Colorado Springs, and a blast of winter—the Winter Soldier, that is—is chilling theaters across America and filling Disney freezers with cold, hard cash.
Oh, we knew it was coming, this arctic wave from Marvel. Even Punxsutawney Phil saw the shadow. We knew that Captain America: The Winter Soldier would carry his shiny shield to the top of the box office, though we might not have guessed that Cap would’ve earned a cool $96.2 million. That’s an all-time record for the month of April, and nearly $11 million more than his buddy Thor earned back in November (in Thor: The Dark World). Among Avengers, Captain America lags only behind Iron Man when it comes to opening grosses. That’s the American way for you.
With Cap back in theaters, no surprise that Noah started sinking a bit. The controversial epic lost more than 60% of its opening week audience, though it still managed to take $17 million on board. It bested third-place Divergent by an estimated $4 million.
And it’s possible that Noah may soon pass another Bible-inspired drama on its way down. God’s Not Dead, a film many Christians touted as a faith-filled alternative to Darren Aronofsky’s big boat of a movie, is still looking pretty lively itself. It lost just 12% of its week-over-week audience and earned another $7.7 million. Moreover, it actually climbed a spot in the standings to fourth—ahead of Wes Anderson’s buzzy Indie The Grand Budapest Hotel. Granted, God’s Not Dead isn’t yet climbing into Frozen territory, but it has earned $32.5 million, a truly remarkable feat for a lightly publicized, small-budget, explicitly Christian flick.
Oh, and while we’re on the subject of Frozen, let’s give Disney’s musical an icy, Olaf-approved bouquet. The animated fairy tale is now the ninth highest-grossing movie of all time worldwide, with nearly $1.1 billion in receipts. It just passed The Dark Knight Rises and has Skyfall in its sights, earning more money with each passing week. Seems like Frozen just can’t let it go.
Final figures update: 1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, $95 million; 2. Noah, $17 million; 3. Divergent, $13 million; 4. God’s Not Dead, $7.8 million, 5. Muppets Most Wanted, $6.1 million. The Grand Budapest Hotel, which predictions originally had landing in the No. 5 slot, finished just about $30,000 behind Muppets.
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