Despite being a 15-year old cartoon, America's favorite sea sponge proved he was no old urchin at the box office, as The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water blew away industry expectations, pulling in an absolutely fantastic $56 million (a terrific $15,380 per-venue average). In comparison, The Spongebob Squarepants Movie debuted to $32 million back in 2004. Paramount Animation, the new kid on the block for animation studios, got a perfect start-off as it's first movie had a debut as high as Illumination Entertainment's first movie (Despicable Me), and also debuted with essentially the same as Big Hero 6 from a couple months ago. Analysts originally pegged a $25-$30 million debut (later revised to $35 million once tracking numbers were clearer). So, why did this debut so strong? One, there hasn't been much for kids since Christmas (Strange Magic was a non-factor, while Paddington skewed to the younger set). Two, bringing another movie to theaters gave older fans (myself included [well hopefully soon]) a chance to revisit one of their childhood favorites (and given the strong debut, its likely some older fans came out). Thirdly, the movie received surprisingly good reviews (75% on Rotten Tomatoes).Audiences weren't quite as positive, giving the latest animated smash a surprisingly weak "B" CinemaScore, which isn't great for animated fare. But, with the extended President's Day Weekend around the corner and no competition for kids until Disney's live-action redo of Cinderella on March 13, this is set to play for a while. Spongebob also got off to a good start overseas, with an early worldwide tally of a solid $85 million, with much more to go. Domestically, Spongebob could finish anywhere between $150 and $200 million, against just a $75 million budget.
After topping three-straight weekends, American Sniper had to surrender the top spot, but with the Super Bowl in the past, returned to its fantastic holding power. The Oscar contender was off just 21% in its fourth round to $24.2 million, Bradley Cooper's third Oscar-nominated turn is at a huge $282.3 million in seven weeks (since its limited release), and is within a week of passing The Matrix Revolution to become the 2nd-biggest R-rated movie in history. However, The Passion of the Christ's $375 million final gross is now most likely out of reach.
In the battle of the sci-fi flicks, as expected, it was the Wachowski's Jupiter Ascending that ended up ahead. But, its debut was not impressive, pulling in just $19 million ($5,973 per-venue average). Yes, that's double the amount of the Wachowski's last major flop Cloud Atlas ($9 million), but it's less than pretty much most sci-fi flicks (including ones considered bombs such as John Carter, Battleship and Total Recall). Reviews were negative (22% on Rotten Tomatoes) while the CinemaScore was a mixed "B-". This probably will fade from theaters pretty quickly, even with the extended weekend coming up. Distributor Warner Bros. gave this film a $175 million price tag, and overseas grosses are only so-so so far, with an early worldwide total of $52 million.
In fourth place, with, as expected, horrible results, was the losing end of the sci-fi clash, Seventh Son. Despite starpower from Jeff Bridges and current Oscar nominee Julianne Moore, Son could only manage $7.1 million (abysmal $2,470 per-venue average). That's less than the generous expectations given (some were thinking $10 million). This movie was originally going to debut in September 2013, but was delayed a year and a half due to Legendary Pictures moving to Universal and little confidence being shown in the product. Seventh received atrocious reviews (10% on Rotten Tomatoes) while getting a "B-" CinemaScore. This will leave theaters quickly also. On a positive note, the budget was $95 million (half of Jupiter's) and the film is already at $85 million overseas. So, in the end, the red ink Universal will have to spill will likely be minimal (especially with Fifty Shades of Grey just around the corner).Despite the arrival of strong competition, Paddington had a great hold, off just 35% to $5.4 million. This is a testament to the strong word-of-mouth this is receiving. The furry bear has earned a solid $57.3 million in 17 days and should play through the remainder of February. Add in a strong $130 million overseas, and don't be surprised if a sequel is given the green light.
Following the Super Bowl, some audiences caught up with Project Almanac, which was off a decent 36% to $5.3 million. However, the found-footage time-travel movie has only managed a weak $15.8 million in 10 days, and will be lucky to get past $25 million. In much better news, the budget was just $12 million. With this and the strong performance of Spongebob, distributor Paramount will be fine.
Remaining in seventh place, The Imitation Game has never made it into the Top 5, but has held onto a Top 10 spot for seven-straight weeks. The Oscar contender was off a minuscule 3% to $4.9 million, and has earned a strong $74.7 million since its limited release 77 days ago. With an extended weekend and Oscar weekend coming up, Game continues to have a small chance at reaching the century mark.
Audiences caught up with The Wedding Ringer, which was down a light 16% in its fourth round to $4.8 million. The Kevin Hart comedy is at a solid $55.1 million in 24 days and is set to finish in the $65-70 million vicinity. Also catching up with audiences, Black or White was off just 27% to $4.5 million, for a slow $13.1 million gross in 10 days. With no options for older audiences in the next several weeks, the Kevin Costner dramedy may crawl to $25 million. Not fantastic, but not awful either.
The Boy Next Door rounded out the Top 10 in its third weekend, and was off just 33% to $4.1 million. Jennifer Lopez's latest has earned a decent $30.9 million in 17 days and will likely finish just under $40 million. Again, not spectacular. But for distributor Universal, it will give them some leverage in the face of Seventh Son and Blackhat's red ink.
Next weekend will bring two strong entries for Valentine's Day Weekend. Fifty Shades of Grey looks to lasso females with all its crassness, while Kingsman: The Secret Service seeks out guys.
