After a solid start last weekend, Insurgent lost a lot of ground, dropping 58% to earn an estimated $22.1 million. That is steeper than the 53% Divergent dipped in its sophomore weekend. With $86.4 million in 10 days but eroding at a quicker rate than its predecessor, a finish of around $130 million is likely for the dystopian adaptation. That finish would be 15% behind the pace of the original and signals a bit of fatigue in the franchise, which currently has the first chapter of Allegiant due out next March.
Meanwhile, likely due to enhanced competition from Home, Cinderella lost half of its audience this weekend, taking in another $17.5 million and fourth place. In 17 days, the live-action fairy tale has earned a stellar $150 million. With the Easter holiday ahead and minimal competition for families in April, the Disney film hopes to stabilize going forward. $200 million is still likely, but not a guarantee with such sizeable drops so far. Cinderella is performing similarly to last summer’s Maleficent on the weekends, but since the Angelina Jolie film benefitted from kids being out of school during the week, Cinderella is running behind that title’s gross.
In other news, Radius-TWC took a risk this weekend releasing the critically-acclaimed horror thriller It Follows in more than 1,000 theaters, but it paid off with a decent $4 million debut. With strong reviews and good audience reactions, the low-budget film should find its way to double-digit millions. That will be a big result for the company, which helps to distribute many titles On Demand. Instead of opening the film on those services this weekend, Radius-TWC decided to open the film widely in theaters – the first time any of the studio’s indie titles has been in that many cinemas. With a $4.7 million take so far, it is just a day or two away from usurping 20 Feet From Stardom to be Radius-TWC’s biggest grosser.
Down in the art house circuit, While We’re Young had the biggest limited opening of the year for a film without the word “sniper” in the title. The Noam Baumbach comedy starring Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts began what could be a solid run in limited release with $242,000 from just four theaters, for an average of more than $60,000 per cinema. No Baumbach film has ever been in wide release, but While We’re Young is set to expand in the coming weeks. It only needs to earn $7.4 million to be the director’s biggest domestic hit.
Here are the numbers for the Top 10 films at the North American box office for the weekend of March 27 through 29, 2015:
1. Home – $54 million (NEW)
2. Get Hard – $34.6 million (NEW)
3. The Divergent Series: Insurgent – $22.1 million ($86.4 million total)
4. Cinderella – $17.5 million ($150 million total)
5. It Follows – $4 million ($4.7 million total)
6. Kingsman: The Secret Service – $3 million ($119.4 million total)
7. Run All Night – $2.2 million ($23.8 million total)
8. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – $2.2 million ($28.1 million total)
9. Do You Believe? – $2.2 million ($7.1 million total)
10. The Gunman – $2 million ($8.8 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.
