As expected, Kevin Hart and Ice Cube topped the box office again with their comedy sequel Ride Along 2. The buddy comedy opened very solidly, with $35.2 million over the three-day stretch ($11,100 per-venue average) and $41 million over the extended four-day frame. However, that comes up short of the first Ride Along, which opened to $48.6 million over the same extended weekend two years ago. For the month of January. Ride Along 2 registered the eighth-biggest launch ever for the month. With negative reviews (15% on Rotten Tomatoes), plus more competition than it was in 2014, and the lukewarm critical reception of the first film, it makes sense that this stepped down a few notches from the first film. Regardless, with just a $40 million budget, this should easily become an early-year hit for distributor Universal. It should play decently through the end of the month as there's no additional age-appropriate comedy competition for the remainder of the month (Dirty Grandpa is an R film, while Kung Fu Panda 3 is aiming for families). Ride Along 2's expectations were downplayed a little bit by Universal heading into the weekend, with the expectation of it earning in the mid-to-high 30 millions.Thanks to 12 Oscar nominations this past Thursday, The Revenant had a terrific second weekend of play and came a very close second place once again. The survival epic was off just 20% from last weekend to $31.8 million ($37.5 million 4-day), for a strong $95.7 million pick-up since its limited start 25 days ago. This could wind up above $150 million, as Alejandro G. Inarritu stands a chance taking home a second-straight Best Picture trophy. Unless The 5th Wave breaks out next weekend, The Revenant could very well steal first place next weekend.
It's no longer on top, but Star Wars: The Force Awakens kept on chugging. The blockbuster smash was off 38% in its fifth weekend to $26.3 million ($33 million 4-day), for a gargantuan $859 million gross in just one month of release. Overseas, Star Wars became the first Disney movie ever (and the fifth movie in history) to pass $1 billion overseas, and is at $1.88 billion and growing. At this rate (even though China is surprisingly underwhelming), The Force Awakens is on track for a finish of $925 million stateside and over $2 billion worldwide.
Meanwhile, the next new release opened to decent results in fourth place. Michael Bay's 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi opened to $16.2 million over the three-day stretch ($19.2 million 4-day), for a per-venue average of a solid $6,778. That was a bit below expectations, in which analysts were expecting a 4-day debut near $25 million. In hindsight, 13 Hours is no American Sniper, Lone Survivor or even Act of Valor ($24 million), as it was held back a bit by the political debate on Benghazi a few years back. But, on a $50 million budget, its not a bad start at all. Plus, it earned a strong "A" CinemaScore from audiences (reviews were also OK-ish, 59% on Rotten Tomatoes). It may play fairly well through the end of the month. Distributor Paramount was hoping for a debut a little above $20 million.Continuing to play well in the midst of the competition, Daddy's Home was off just 36% to $9.5 million, and $11.9 million over the extended stretch. In 24 days, the Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg comedy has earned a very strong $131.9 million, and $185 million worldwide. For Ferrell, this ranks as his third-biggest (non-animated) film behind Elf and Talladega Knights.
In sixth place, the last new release, Norm of the North. The first animated movie of 2016 didn't have a good start by any means, earning $6.8 million ($2,839 per-venue average) over the three-day and $9.3 million over the four-day (it perked up a bit Sunday-to-Monday due to kids being off school). That was about in line with expectations, which had analysts predicting a $10 million 4-day start. But, it was only one-third of previous family films that opened over this weekend (The Nut Job and Paddington earned $26 million over the same extended weekend in 2014 and 2015). Norm did wind up with a bit more than Strange Magic from last January ($5.7 million), and its budget was only $18 million, but overall, this is just an unimpressive opening, no matter how you slice it. Norm was savaged by critics (0% on Rotten Tomatoes), and the CinemaScore was only a "B-". It has next week before Kung Fu Panda 3 comes rolling into town. Lionsgate, who didn't have much financial exposure on this, only gave the film a light marketing effort.After a decent start last weekend, The Forest had a decent hold for a horror film, off 53% over the three-day stretch to $6 million ($7 million 4-day). In 10 days, the Gramercy Pictures production has earned a fairly decent $22.3 million, and will likely drop hard with the arrival of fellow horror flick The Boy next weekend. Benefiting from five Oscar nominations including Best Picture, The Big Short was off just 14% to $5.3 million ($6.4 million 4-day), for a very strong $51.8 million pick-up in 27 days. The critically-acclaimed dramedy should continue to hold strong through Oscar night.
Sisters had another good hold, off 35% to $4.7 million ($5.5 million 4-day), for a very good $81.9 million pick-up in six weeks of release (almost 6 times its $14 million debut). The Hateful Eight rounded out the Top 10 over the 3-day weekend, off 44% to $3.6 million ($4.33 million 3-day), for a somewhat disappointing $48.5 million gross in 19 days (and it was surprisingly shut out of Oscar contention). Meanwhile, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip took 10th place for the extended frame narrowly, down 49% to $2.9 million over the three-day ($4.34 million 4-day), for a decent $81 million pick-up in six weeks of release. Its also earned almost $130 million worldwide, nowhere near its predecessors' overseas pick-ups.
Next weekend brings three new releases to the crowd, led by the newest YA adaptation, The 5th Wave. Horror flick The Boy and Zac Efron/Robert De Niro's R-rated comedy Dirty Grandpa also open in what might be a much slower weekend. Stay tuned for more info.
