Disney’s Zootopia set a few new records while London Has Fallen opened to decent numbers and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot barely registered with audiences.
Disney Animation (not to be confused with Disney/Pixar) had their biggest opening of all-time as Zootopia exploded on the scene with an estimated $73.7M this weekend from 3,827 theaters for a per screen average of $19,258. In 2013 Frozen went wide in its second weekend and took in $67.4M, while 2014’s Big Hero 6 opened to $56.2M. Both of those were November releases. Zootopia‘s opening is the largest animated opening in the month of March, beating out The Lorax ($70.2M in 2012) and it’s the fourth largest opening in March coming in behind two other Disney films (Oz The Great and Powerful, $79M in 2013); Alice in Wonderland, $116M in 2010; and of course The Hunger Games, $152.5M in 2012). Internationally, Zootopia picked up an additional $63.4M bringing its total up to $158.8M and its global cume up to $232.5M. With an A CinemaScore, an astounding 98% positive Rotten Tomatoes score and no other competition for the next few weeks, Zootopia could be seeing a lot of green for Disney.
Second place belonged to London Has Fallen, a sequel to the surprise hit Olympus Has Fallen which opened in 2013 to $30.3M on its way to a $98.9M finale. The sequel took in an estimated $21.7M from 3,490 theaters for a per screen average of $6,222. Reviews were not as strong as they were for the original but moviegoers gave the film a solid A- CinemaScore so next weekend will be interesting to watch.
Superhero film Deadpool continued its blistering run with an additional $16.4M, according to estimates, a drop of 47% from last weekend, bringing its cume to a rousing $311M, making it only the 3rd R-rated film to cross the $300M mark. It still has an outside shot at overtaking American Sniper ($350M in 2014) but will likely come up a bit short against The Passion of the Christ ($370.7M in 2004) unless marketers come up with some Easter ads that make it seem like Deadpool is the second coming.
Debuting in fourth was Tina Fey’s latest, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot which opened to an estimated $7.6M from 2,374 theaters for a per screen average of only $3,201. A so-so CinemaScore of a B does not bode well for the future and makes you wonder if as talented as Tina Fey is, she’s better off sharing top billing with another big star.
Holdovers took over the rest of the top 10. In fifth place was the disaster film – I mean, film that is a disaster – Gods of Egypt which dropped a big 64.6% in its second weekend to an estimated $5M, bringing its total up to only $22.8M off a budget of around $140M. In sixth place off a budget of only $20M was the faith-driven Risen which made an estimated $3.9M in its third weekend, bringing its total up to $28.6M.
Kung Fu Panda 3 took seventh place this weekend with an estimated $3.5M, bringing its total up to $133.8M. The Revenant took advantage of a couple of big Oscar wins and slipped only 16% in its 11th weekend to an estimated $3.3M, bringing its cume up to $176M.
Falling nearly 50% in its second weekend was the feel-good tale of Eddie the Eagle which took in an estimated $3.1M bringing its total up to $10.8M for Fox. And rounding out the top 10 was the horror film The Witch which made $2.5M, according to estimates, bringing its total up to $21M.
Outside of the top 10 The Other Side of the Door opened in 546 theaters to an estimated $1.2M for a per screen average of $2,198. Oscar Best Picture Winner Spotlight added 542 screens and jumped 150% from last weekend, taking in an additional $1.8M, according to estimates, bringing its total up to $41.6M. And just for fun, Star Wars: The Force Awakens took in another $1.8M, according to estimates, bringing its total up to $928.8M after 12 weeks in theaters. You know somewhere Disney marketers are wondering if there’s a way to make another $70M before the home video release on 4/5.
The top ten films grossed $140.7M which was up 85% from last year when Chappie debuted at number one with $13.3M; and up 54% from 2014 when 300: Rise of an Empire opened at number one with $45M.
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