This past weekend at the movie theaters proved definitively that there is a huge audience that will pay to see quality rated R entertainment. Three of the the top four films were for the 17 and over crowd and cumulatively made over $130 million dollars for the three day period. This should bode well for future projects with mature tones that are in development.
As expected, Fifty Shades of Grey had an enormous opening weekend. The steamy romance movie adapted from E. L. James’ novel of the same name, made an estimated $81.6 million dollars in its first weekend of release. Clearly opening the film on Valentine’s day payed huge dividends.
The weekend’s other new release was Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service. The R rated spy adventure had an opening that slightly exceeded exectations with $35.6 million dollars over the past weekend. The movie should be buoyed by good reviews (read it here) and excellent word of mouth, as it’s a crowd-pleaser that should lend itself to repeat viewings.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water had an excellent second weekend propelled by being one of the only options available for the entire family. It had a less than 45% drop from the previous week and managed to make an additional $30.5 million dollars. The franchise seems stronger than ever so expect to see it hang around the top ten for the next few weeks.
American Sniper continues its historic run and made yet another $16.4 million dollars. It also crossed the $3oo million dollar domestic mark as it steamrolls towards Oscar season.
Rounding out the top five was Jupiter Ascending. The Wachowskis’ space fantasy has been a financial disaster for Warner Bros and it managed to make only $9.4 million dollars in its second week of release. The movie has made a total of $32 million dollars, while its production budget was over a reported $176 million dollars.
Check out the complete box office breakdown for 2/13-2/15:
| TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count /Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
| 1 | N | Fifty Shades of Grey | Uni. | $81,670,000 | – | 3,646 | – | $22,400 | $81,670,000 | $40 | 1 |
| 2 | N | Kingsman: The Secret Service | Fox | $35,600,000 | – | 3,204 | – | $11,111 | $35,600,000 | $81 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water | Par. | $30,540,000 | -44.8% | 3,654 | +13 | $8,358 | $93,673,000 | $74 | 2 |
| 4 | 2 | American Sniper | WB | $16,435,000 | -29.4% | 3,436 | -449 | $4,783 | $304,133,000 | $58.8 | 8 |
| 5 | 3 | Jupiter Ascending | WB | $9,430,000 | -48.7% | 3,181 | – | $2,964 | $32,551,000 | $176 | 2 |
| 6 | 4 | Seventh Son | Uni. | $4,153,000 | -42.5% | 2,874 | -1 | $1,445 | $13,423,000 | $95 | 2 |
| 7 | 6 | Paddington | W/Dim. | $4,150,000 | -20.5% | 2,244 | -644 | $1,849 | $62,343,000 | $55 | 5 |
| 8 | 8 | The Imitation Game | Wein. | $3,525,000 | -24.8% | 1,551 | -412 | $2,273 | $79,657,000 | – | 12 |
| 9 | 7 | The Wedding Ringer | SGem | $3,400,000 | -28.0% | 1,456 | -682 | $2,335 | $59,743,000 | $23 | 5 |
| 10 | 5 | Project Almanac | Par. | $2,730,000 | -47.8% | 1,732 | -1,168 | $1,576 | $19,560,000 | $12 | 3 |
What did you catch over the weekend? Was it any good? Let us know on the comment boards, , , and !
Source: Box Office Mojo