Box Office Report: Chappie Has Crappy #1 Opening

Two strong February performers rounded out the top five. Kingsman: The Secret Service kept its strong holds for a comic-book adaptation, dropping just 30% to add another $8.3 million to its total. With $98 million after 24 days, the film is poised to finish with between $110 and $120 million and a sequel should be announced any day now. Meanwhile, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water kept absorbing family audiences, adding another $7 million to boost its cume to $149 million. Although Cinderella should grab the attention of young viewers next weekend, the comedy should still get to around $165 million by the end of its theatrical run.

Adding yet another box office bomb to 2015 was Unfinished Business, the new comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Dave Franco. That flop opened in tenth with just $4.8 million. Poor reviews and little marketing ensures that this title should be On Demand by the summer. It has been more than five years since the Wedding Crashers star has seen one of his broad comedies open to more than $20 million and this is one of the worst openings in the actor’s career. Perhaps Vaughn’s turn on True Detective this year will help to rescue his floundering star.

One last significant box office note: American Sniper is now officially the highest-grossing film of 2014 in North America. (Although it was released widely in 2015, it began its record-breaking run on Christmas Day.) The Oscar-winning drama dropped 39% to take eleventh place and $4.5 million in its eighth weekend in wide release. A total of around $350 million should result. Worldwide, Sniper surpassed the $500 million mark this weekend. It is the first R-rated movie to hold the title as the year’s highest-grossing film in North America since another Oscar-winning war drama: Saving Private Ryan, from 1998.

Here are the numbers for the Top 10 films at the North American box office for the weekend of March 6 through 8, 2015:

1. Chappie – $13.3 million (NEW)
2. Focus – $10 million ($34.6 million total)
3. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – $8.6 million (NEW)
4. Kingsman: The Secret Service – $8.3 million ($98 million total)
5. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – $7 million ($149 million total)
6. Fifty Shades of Grey – $5.6 million ($156.4 million total)
7. McFarland, USA – $5.3 million ($29.4 million total)
8. The Lazarus Effect – $5.1 million ($17.4 million total)
9. The DUFF – $4.9 million ($26.1 million total)
10. Unfinished Business – $4.8 million (NEW)

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.