Leading the opening films in fourth place was McFarland, USA, which opened modestly for a Disney sports drama. With a $11.3 million debut, the Mouse House couldn’t get much excitement for the inspirational drama starring Kevin Costner. The film debuted below the starts of winter openers Miracle ($19.4 million) and Glory Road ($13.6 million). On the bright side, it was a slight improvement on Million Dollar Arm ($10.5 million), as well as Draft Day ($9.8 million), which also featured Costner in the lead role. With an A CinemaScore and much appeal with older audiences (a reported 70% of the audience was over 25), the film could have good legs at the box office – fitting for a movir about cross-country runners.
In fifth place with surprisingly solid results was The DUFF, which overcame a small marketing effort and little-known cast to muster $11 million. The high-school comedy was budgeted at $8.5 million and expected to come in with the least of the three openers, so a finish in double-digit territory was solid business for Lionsgate. High-school comedies are rare in the 21st century, and although the start was far below Easy A ($17.7 million), it wasn’t far from She’s the Man, which began with $10.7 million in March 2006.
The mild openings for McFarland, USA and The DUFF look much bigger next to Hot Tub Time Machine 2, which didn’t generate any excitement and stumbled into seventh place with an estimated $5.8 million. That is a measly 41% of the original’s opening ($14 million in March 2010) and indicates that fans of the first were not that excited for more time-based humor. Awful reviews, a five-year wait between installments and the lack of John Cusack probably factored in the film’s disappointing debut.
Only two Best Picture nominees finished in the Top 10: American Sniper fell 41% to earn $9.7 million in sixth place, while The Imitation Game held strongly again, dipping 26% to add another $2.6 million to its total. At $319.6 million and $83.9 million, those films clearly benefitted from playing in theaters at the same time as the lead-up to Oscar night. Best Picture frontrunners Birdman and Boyhood – both of which are now available on DVD/Blu-Ray – finished far outside the Top 10. Totals for those likely Oscar winners are $37.7 million for the dark showbiz comedy and $25.3 million for Richard Linklater’s coming-of-age drama.
Here are the numbers for the Top 10 films at the North American box office for the weekend of February 20 through February 22, 2015:
1. Fifty Shades of Grey – $23.2 million ($130.1 million total)
2. Kingsman: The Secret Service – $17.5 million ($67.1 million total)
3. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – $15.5 million ($125.2 million total)
4. McFarland, USA – $11.3 million (NEW)
5. The DUFF – $11 million (NEW)
6. American Sniper – $9.7 million ($319.6 million total)
7. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 – $5.8 million (NEW)
8. Jupiter Ascending – $3.7 million ($39.5 million total)
9. The Imitation Game – $2.6 million ($83.9 million total)
10. Paddington – $2.3 million ($67.7 million total)
NOTE: These numbers are weekend estimates based on Friday and Saturday’s estimated takes. Actual numbers for the three-day weekend are reported on Monday afternoon.
