Religious disaster film, Noah, claimed the top spot this weekend at the box office with an estimated $44 million. The film stars Russell Crowe as the biblical figure who builds an ark to survive a deadly flood.
Divergent, Muppets Most Wanted and Mr. Peabody & Sherman all dropped one spot from last weekend. After a $54 million opening, Divergent cut its haul in half with about $27 million. Next in third, Muppets Most Wanted stabilized with $11.4 million. Mr. Peabody & Sherman claimed fourth place, taking $9.5 million. The film is nearing $100 million domestically.
Christian drama, God’s Not Dead continued its surprising run in the Top 5. In its second frame, the film pulled in another $9.1 million.
Note: These #’s are based on Sunday’s projections and can change with Monday’s actual #’s.
#1 – Noah (NR)
$44.0 million / $44.0 million total
Director Darren Aronofsky has found his first major hit. While 2010’s Black Swan needed some awards momentum to reach $100 million, Noah should have no trouble. Noah’s an interesting sell. While faith-based audiences may have reservations in its interpretation of its source material, many viewers are also taking the film as the latest disaster movie. Regardless, there’s a flood of money coming for this film.
#2 – Divergent (1)
$26.5 million / $95.3 million total
By the middle of the week, Divergent will become the highest-grossing film for the month of March. As 300: Rise of an Empire just crossed the century mark and Mr. Peabody & Sherman on its tail (literally), Divergent will have the milestone locked up in 11-12 days. A 52% drop from last weekend is noteworthy. Twilight and The Hunger Games both fell over 60% in their sophomore frames.
#3 – Muppets Most Wanted (2)
$11.4 million / $33.2 million total
After a lackluster opening one week ago, the Muppets rebounded with a soft 33% dip. That’s a major improvement over the 2011 film, whose second weekend plummeted 62%. Granted, the last film just came off of Thanksgiving, so there’s no direct comparison. Muppets Most Wanted has two weeks to capitalize on family audiences before Rio 2 hits April 11. Expect next weekend to strongly benefit unless Captain America takes away a good portion of its theater count.
#4 – Mr. Peabody & Sherman (3)
$9.5 million / $94.9 million total
In its fourth outing, Mr. Peabody & Sherman enjoyed it strongest hold to date. Declining a mere 19% from last weekend, Peabody should be aiming at the century mark sometime next weekend. This will mark DreamWorks Animation’s first $100 million hit in nearly a year. The last film to reach that milestone was The Croods this time last year.
#5 – God’s Not Dead (4)
$9.1 million / $22.2 million total
Negative reviews across the board haven’t halted the success of God’s Not Dead. The Kevin Sorbo faith film nearly matched last weekend’s opening with just a 2% slide. God’s Not Dead edged out Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, which continued its expansion this weekend. God’s Not Dead also expanded, playing in another 398 theaters. With religious holidays in the coming weeks, the film should continue playing to its faith demographic.
Opening Next Week: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Island of Lemurs: Madagascar (IMAX), Nymphomaniac: Volume II (limited), Under the Skin (limited)
Source: Box Office Mojo
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Matt Marshall is a YouTube movie reviewer who hosts MNMreviews. He has a B.A. in Communications/Journalism from St. John Fisher College and resides in Rochester, NY.
