Originally, it wasn't supposed to hold the top spot again, but strong word-of-mouth continued to propel Zootopia to huge numbers. Disney Animation's latest was down just 26% in its third frame to $38 million, for a huge $201.8 million gross in 17 days. In fact, Zootopia has only dropped 49% since its opening weekend, a number animated movies typically fall in their second weekends. For third weekends alone, Zootopia ranked just behind Avengers: Age of Ultron for the eighth-biggest third weekend in history. It is very clear family audiences (and mainstream audiences) are loving Disney's latest, and it looks set to bring in even more serious dough over the next couple of weeks (Batman v. Superman may steal some older kids next weekend, but it's not a family movie per se). Overseas, the film zoomed past $500 million (its at $590 million), and passed Kung Fu Panda 3 in China to become that country's biggest animated movie ever. With Japan still to open, Zootopia looks likely to reach $850 million or more worldwide (could we see only the 4th $1 billion animated movie in history?)
Meanwhile, the stronger-than-expected presence of Zootopia held Tris and her gang back from first place this weekend. Still though, The Divergent Series: Allegiant only managed just a little over half of its predecessors' opening weekends, pulling in just $29.1 million, for a $7,767 per-venue average. Insurgent and Divergent earned over $50 million apiece on their debuts on this same weekend the last two years. It is clear based on this debut that the YA genre doesn't have nearly as much interest as it used to be, and that dividing a book into two films isn't a good idea typically (Allegiant and next year's Ascendant both are from the "Allegiant" book). Distributor Lionsgate didn't release a projection, while audiences gave it a mixed "B" CinemaScore (reviews were horrible at 10% on Rotten Tomatoes). Allegiant will likely get hit hard by Batman v. Superman next weekend. Overseas is decent so far with $55 million so far, but its' short of what the previous films earned in their overseas debuts. The budget here was $110 million.
The other new nationwide release, on the other hand, had a very strong start. Faith-based flick Miracles from Heaven opened to $15 million ($4,923 per-venue average), for a $4,923 per-venue average. Sony's latest effort at faith-based entertainment opened much higher than both of their last efforts, Risen ($11.8 million) and War Room ($11.3 million), though it didn't reach the heights of Heaven is for Real ($29 million over 5 days over Easter weekend, though it wasn't expected to reach that movie's numbers). For Christian movies in general, Miracles had the seventh-best start behind Heaven is for Real, Son of God, The Passion of the Christ and the three Narnia films. Sony was expecting in the low-to-mid teens millions over the 5-day period. Despite mixed reviews (54% on Rotten Tomatoes), Miracles did earn a rare "A+" CinemaScore from audiences (evident by the major growth it got over the weekend). With Easter still a week away, look for Miracles to possibly have better holding power than Heaven is for Real over the coming weeks. The budget was only $13 million.After a solid start last weekend, 10 Cloverfield Lane lost some momentum, off 49% to $12.5 million in its second frame, for a solid $45.2 million gross in 10 days. The critically-raved thriller should continue to hold decently in the coming weeks. One week before Batman v. Superman lands in theaters, Deadpool managed a sixth-straight weekend in the Top 5, off just 27% to $8 million. The Merc with a Mouth stands at a huge $340.9 million pick-up in 42 days, and $730 million worldwide.
London Has Fallen recovered nicely this weekend after a bit of a slide last go round, off 36% to $6.9 million, for a solid, if unspectacular $50.1 million gross in 10 days. The Gerard Butler action flick looks to finish around $70 million stateside, off 29% from Olympus Has Fallen. In a distant seventh, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was down 40% to $2.8 million, for a dismal $19.3 million gross in 17 days, with not much more to go.
The Perfect Match was down 56% from its solid opening to $1.9 million, for a forgettable $7.3 million gross in 10 days (though its only been open in 900 locations). The Brothers Grimsby fell 57% to $1.4 million, for an embarrassingly weak $5.9 million gross in 10 days. Jumping back into the Top 10 in its 13th weekend was The Revenant, which was off 40% to $1.2 million, for a strong $181.2 million gross in 91 days. It also got off to a strong start in China this week, and is approaching the $500 million milestone worldwide.
And that's it for this weekend. Next week brings the highly-anticipated debut of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Will it smash records or begin the speculated fatigue for superhero films? Also opening with possible strong numbers is comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. Its' Easter weekend, and its set to be a strong one. We shall see what happens when it comes.
