Box Office: Noah Causes Controversy, Gets Church Groups To Get It To #1 For The Weekend

Box Office: Noah Causes Controversy, Gets Church Groups To Get It To #1 For The Weekend

The big story going into the weekend is if church groups and faith-based audiences would buy tickets to see Darren Aronofsky’s Noah. Studio Paramount seem to shut out a majority of critics as it decided to withhold screenings in cities like Houston, Dallas and Washington, D.C. But with any curiosity people get intrigued. And when you have political commentators like Glen Beck vilifying a movie he hasn’t personally seen (which I totally disagree – if you are going to vehemently be negative towards something at least watch it so you can back up your opinion) all the better. In the end it made an estimated $44 million. For Aronofsky it is his best opening as a director. Sadly, I fear it will hard when matched against Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It may have some legs overseas, but I can’t honestly see this getting above $100 million in the U.S. Be sure to check out Scott Sawitz’s review and read his take.

The other new mainstream for the weekend was Sabotage. With a $5 million opening, which is worst than Ah-nuld Schwarzenegger’s last outing, The Last Stand. Definitely not a career highlight for either Schwarzenegger or writer-director David Ayer. The advertisements were very much misleading to the general storyline, and I discussed as much with my review.

Last week’s number one, Divergent, got bumped down to second place but it maintained well. The drop was 51%, but compared to Twilight this is performing strong and its hold is better than the original Hunger Games. So any hesitation about the series continuing with a film adaptation of the second in the series can be put to rest. Plus, I’m sure Lionsgate likes being the reigning king of YA adaptations with all the different series mentioned in this paragraph.

Films like Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Need for Speed and 300: Rise of An Empirecontinue to perform well overseas, with the latter also becoming the third movie this year to make it pass $100 million. That’s one success for Warner Bros. The other would be The Lego Movie which has made over $400 million worldwide.

And speaking of worldwide totals, the international earnings of Disney’s Frozenvaulted it past Toy Story 3 to become the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. The current gross now is $1,0722,400 and counting!

In limited release, Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel had a $8.8 million weekend, but I’m astonished at how well it has been doing overseas. The film’s setting and subject makes it accessible to a foreign audience, because it has already made $45 million internationally (plus another $24 million in the U.S.).God’s Not Dead had the lowest percentage drop in attendance for a top 10 release as it only went down 1.5%. Lionsgate’s biopic Cesar Chavez rolled out onto 664 screens and just missed the top 10 with a $3 million.

01. Noah (Paramount) – $44 million
02. Divergent (Lionsgate) – $26.5 million ($95 Million)
03. Muppets Most Wanted (Buena Vista) – $11.3 million ($33.2 Million)
04. Mr. Peabody & Sherman (Fox) – $9.5 million ($94.9 Million)
05. God’s Not Dead (Freestyle Releasing) – $9 million ($22 Million)
06. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Fox Searchlight) – $8.8 million ($24.4 Million)
07. Sabotage (Open Road Films) – $5.3 million
08. Need For Speed (Buena Vista) – $4.3 million ($37.7 Million)
09. 300: Rise Of An Empire (Warner Bros.) – $4.3 million ($101.1 Million)
10. Non-Stop (Universal) – $4 million ($85.1 Million)