Even though the nation’s collective attention was turned toward a certain football game in New Jersey, most movie theaters across the country were still open for business. And perhaps they had the right idea: A movie—almost any movie—might’ve been preferable for Denver Broncos fans (like me) to watching their boys in orange-and-blue get drubbed.
So the real winner here seems to be Ride Along, which claimed the top spot for the third straight weekend, besting a pair of newcomers and rushing for an estimated $12.3 million, according to boxofficemojo.com. This lightweight comedy featuring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube has been nothing short of amazing off the line: It’s now earned nearly $93 million and will almost certainly become 2014’s first $100 million release in the next week or so.
But even Ride Along could stand to get some lessons in durability from Disney’s Frozen. For 11 straight weeks the animated flick has chilled in the Top 5—bouncing up, then down, then up again. It’s back up to second place this week, snatching a cool $9.3 million out of the air to bring its total to a truly stupendous $360 mil. New sleds for everyone!
Gross-out comedy That Awkward Moment (featuring a very un-Disney-like Zac Efron) had an awkward weekend, scoring just $9 million and pratfalling into third place. It’s the lowest movie opening of Efron’s career.
Another animated flick, The Nut Job, cracked the Top 5 again with a $7.6 million weekend and a fourth-place finish. It was enough to squeak ahead of Lone Survivor, which closed out the Top 5 with $7.2 million.
Labor Day, a weeper of a romance starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin suffered almost as much as its characters. It earned just $5.3 million to finish seventh.
Will Ride Along throw another touchdown pass at the box office next week? Doubtful. Even the frenetic comedy of Hart will likely be unable to resist the yellow plastic charm of The LEGO Movie.
Final figures update: 1. Ride Along, $12 million; 2. Frozen, $8.9 million; 3. That Awkward Moment, $8.7 million; 4. The Nut Job, $7.3 million; 5. Lone Survivor, $7.1 million.
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