We’re finally starting to climb our way out of the movie hellscape that is January as big budget movies with high expectations slowly trickling out. Leading the charge for this second weekend of February was none other than The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. The live-action debut of Bikini Bottom’s popular cleaning instrument brought in $56 million for Paramount Pictures, beating out last week’s big winner, American Sniper, which took in $24.2 million this weekend.
Following that were two big fantasy debuts, Jupiter Ascending and Seventh Son. Jupiter Ascending is The Wachowskis return to big science fiction since they brought us The Matrix, and it took in a relatively weak $19 million, considering its huge $179 million budget. Seventh Son is a much smaller project starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore. It took in $7 million during its opening weekend, despite overwhelmingly poor reviews culminating in a 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The lovable English bear Paddington rounded out the top five, bringing in $5.4 million as it slowly begins to leave theaters.
These newcomers to the top five knocked quite a few way down the charts. Black or White, previously number four, dropped all the way to number nine this weekend, and made 27.5% less revenue. As well, The Boy Next Door dropped like a rock amid unfavorable reviews. It brought in $4.1 million for a 32.6% drop week-over-week.
With Oscar votes getting locked in and several other awards already completed, many big name contenders are beginning to leave theaters in droves. The Imitation Game, Selma, Birdman, Boyhood, and Whiplash all had down weeks thanks to dwindling theater numbers. The Theory of Everything, while it also left 203 theaters, had a small bump week-over-week bringing in $1 million for a 4% increase.
Overall, this weekend was a big leap over last weekend’s barren landscape. All 48 movies counted in the list brought in $153 million, for a 49.6% bump over last week’s box office that was hindered by poor weather and The Superbowl. This was the highest second weekend in February of the past four years.
Last year at this time was another good weekend for lining pockets. The LEGO Movie debuted to the tune of $69.1 million. Despite not garnering any Oscar attention besides one nomination for its catchy song “Everything is Awesome,” The LEGO Movie is still loved by many movie fans. Some details about its sequel were also revealed earlier this week. A solid trailer and fun premise helped The Monuments Men soar to the top of charts during its debut weekend as well, as it took it $22 million before it quickly faded thanks to poor reviews and not living up to its own hype. Frozen made more money.
[button type=”link” link=”http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2015&wknd=06&p=.htm” variation=”btn-danger” target=”blank”]Source: Box Office Mojo[/button]
Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
