Disney’s winning formula of turning their treasure chest of animated classics into live-action cash, continued over the past weekend. Whether it is 101 Dalmatians or Snow White and the Huntsman, audiences flock to see the adaptations of their childhood classics, in a trend that will not be ending anytime soon. The latest movie to get a modern repolish is Cinderella.
Kenneth Branagh directed Cinderella to an estimated $70 million dollar opening over the weekend. The film has been successful with critics and praised for being a faithful adaptation, without the modern cynicism found in last year’s Maleficent. With a modest budget of around $95 million dollars, Cinderella is a huge score for Disney as it prepares to release another future blockbuster, Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Run All Night opened as expected in second, with an extremely disappointing $11 million dollar opening. Last year Liam Neeson’s Non-Stop opened to $28 million dollars in the same time period. The steam may be running out of the Neeson machine.
Kingsman: The Secret Service continued to stay in top three spots for the fifth consecutive week. Matthew Vaughn’s comedic spy film added another $6.2 million dollars to its total.
Focus essentially tied Chappie for the fourth and fifth spots. The science fiction film is a huge black eye for director Neill Blomkamp, as it has failed both critically and financially. Fingers are crossed that the auteur can regain his form with Alien 5.
Check out the complete box-office breakdown for March 13-15th, 2015:
| TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count /Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
| 1 | N | Cinderella (2015) | BV | $70,053,000 | – | 3,845 | – | $18,219 | $70,053,000 | $95 | 1 |
| 2 | N | Run All Night | WB | $11,015,000 | – | 3,171 | – | $3,474 | $11,015,000 | – | 1 |
| 3 | 4 | Kingsman: The Secret Service | Fox | $6,200,000 | -25.4% | 2,635 | -466 | $2,353 | $107,373,000 | $81 | 5 |
| 4 | 2 | Focus (2015) | WB | $5,805,000 | -42.0% | 2,855 | -468 | $2,033 | $44,032,000 | $50.1 | 3 |
| 5 | 1 | Chappie | Sony | $5,800,000 | -56.5% | 3,201 | – | $1,812 | $23,300,000 | $49 | 2 |
| 6 | 3 | The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | FoxS | $5,700,000 | -33.3% | 2,022 | +449 | $2,819 | $18,060,000 | – | 2 |
| 7 | 5 | The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water | Par. | $4,100,000 | -38.5% | 2,659 | -438 | $1,542 | $154,691,000 | $74 | 6 |
| 8 | 7 | McFarland, USA | BV | $3,692,000 | -29.3% | 2,455 | -337 | $1,504 | $34,974,000 | – | 4 |
| 9 | 11 | American Sniper | WB | $2,930,000 | -33.4% | 2,001 | -544 | $1,464 | $341,500,000 | $58.8 | 12 |
| 10 | 9 | The DUFF | LGF | $2,900,000 | -39.4% | 2,301 | -258 | $1,260 | $30,317,000 | $8.5 | 4 |
What did you catch over the weekend? Was it any good? Let us know on the comment boards, , , and !
Source: Box Office Mojo