The Boss Baby and Beauty and the Beast Continue Their Box Office Domination
April, the last month of spring box office before the summer movie season, kicked off rather meekly with three new movies in wide release that weren’t able to dethrone the PG-rated powerhouses of DreamWorks Animation‘s The Boss Baby in its second weekend and Walt Disney Pictures‘ Beauty and the Beast in its fourth.
Despite the release of a slew of new movies in wide and limited release, The Boss Baby, featuring the voices of Alec Baldwin, Miles Bakshi, Steve Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, and Tobey Maguire, remained in the #1 spot for a second weekend in a row. Released by 20th Century Fox, the film directed by Tom McGrath (Madagascar) dropped 48% from its opening weekend, but still brought in $26.3 million to bring its 10-day domestic total to $89.3 million.
The Boss Baby also added another $37.5 million internationally this weekend to bring its overseas total to $110 million. Russia accounted for $24 million, while Mexico did $12 million, and it grossed $10 million in the United Kingdom and slightly less in France.
Meanwhile, Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson, crossed the $400 million mark domestically earlier in the week, and then it added another $25 million (down 45%) over the weekend, remaining in second place to The Boss Baby. With its $432.3 million grossed domestically so far, Beauty and the Beast is now in the Top 15 of highest grossing films domestically of all time, just behind Steven Spielberg’s E.T: the Extra-Terrestrial (not accounting for 35 years of inflation).
The box office beast also added another $36 million overseas this weekend to bring its international total to $545 million, putting it just $23 million away from hitting the $1 billion global benchmark.
Sony Pictures Animation–in an attempt to retain the rights to the popular cartoon and comic faves The Smurfs–released an all-animated Smurfs: The Lost Village, featuring a voice cast including Demi Lovato, Rainn Wilson, Julia Roberts, Joe Manganiello, Jack McBrayer, Mandy Patinkin, Michelle Rodriguez, Gabriel Iglesias, Ellie Kemper and Ariel Winter, on Friday. It opened with $4.1 million on Friday, including $375,000 from Thursday previews, and ended up with an estimated $14 million for the weekend in 3,610 theaters and around $3,900 per theater.
That’s significantly less than the $35.6 million opening for 2011’s The Smurfs and also less than the $17.5 million opening of 2013’s The Smurfs 2, although both of those opened in the middle of summer.
New Line and Warner Bros. Pictures’ ensemble comedy Going in Style, starring Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Alan Arkin, Christopher Lloyd and Ann-Margret, opened in fourth place with $12.5 million in 3,061 theaters, scoring a better per-theater average than The Smurfs movie.
After a rather mediocre opening last weekend, Paramount’s Ghost in the Shell, starring Scarlett Johansson and directed by Rupert Sanders, took a major tumble of 61% down from that opening weekend, falling to fifth place with $7.3 million and $31 million total.
Lionsgate’s Power Rangers took sixth place with $6.2 million, down another 57% from last week, as its domestic total reached $75 million. Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures’ Kong: Skull Island followed with $5.8 million (down 33%), bringing its own domestic total to $156.5 million. Kong: Skull Island has also grossed $377 million internationally with $161 million in China alone.
PureFlix’s faith-based drama The Case for Christ, starring Mike Vogel, Erika Christensen, Robert Forster and Faye Dunaway, opened in eighth place with an estimated $3.9 million in 1,176 theaters, with a $3,300 per-theater average.
Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine movie, Logan (20th Century Fox), directed by James Mangold, and Jordan Peele’s directorial debut Get Out, closed out the Top 10 with around $4 million each. The former has grossed $218 million so far nationwide, while the latter is sitting pretty with $162.8 million.
Focus Features’ The Zookeeper’s Wife, starring Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh, and Daniel Brühl, expanded into over 800 theaters on Friday where it grossed $2.9 million, down 12% from its opening weekend. It has grossed $7.6 million so far.
Makoto Shinkai’s hit Japanese anime Your Name. (Funimation Films) opened in 303 theaters across the nation on Friday where it grossed a solid $1.6 million with a $5,200 per-theater average that was better than the three new wide releases.
Opening in limited release, director Marc (The Amazing Spider-Man) Webb’s Gifted (Fox Searchlight), starring Chris Evans, Jenny Slate and Octavia Spencer, brought in $476,000 in 56 theaters, an average of $8,500 per theater. The well-reviewed film will expand into nearly 1,000 theaters nationwide on Friday.
The debut release from fledgling distributor Neon, Nacho Vigalondo’s twisted giant monster film Colossal (A24), starring Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis, opened in four theaters in New York and L.A. where it grossed $125,000 or $31,452 per theater, the best average of all films currently in release.
Also opening in four theaters in New York and L.A., Lone Scherfig’s Their Finest (STX Entertainment), starring Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin and Bill Nighy, brought in around $77,000 over the weekend, about $19,250 per location. It will also expand to more cities on April 14.