"Divergent" Defeats "The Muppets" at Weekend Box Office

[JamesG]

Weekend Report: Divergent Dominates, The Muppets' Misses, God Lives
by Ray Subers
March 23, 2014


Young-adult adaptation Divergent ruled the box office this weekend with an estimated $56 million. While that's a step down from the first Twilight, it's still good enough to justify Lionsgate/Summit's aggressive sequel plans.

Among the other new releases, Muppets Most Wanted opened significantly lower than its predecessor, while Christian drama God's Not Dead put up some surprisingly strong numbers.







Divergent's $56 million debut was down 20 percent from the first Twilight, and wasn't in the same league as The Hunger Games. Still, it ranks second among 2014 movies, and eighth all-time for March releases.

It also earned more in its first three days than the combined totals of YA flops Beautiful Creatures, The Host and Vampire Academy.



Recognizing that this potential franchise was a key part of the company's long-term prospects, Lionsgate/Summit executed a blockbuster-level marketing campaign for Divergent. While it wasn't explicitly stated in marketing material, Divergent was essentially sold as the heir to the Twilight and Hunger Games franchises.

That may have made the movie look derivative to some people, but it did manage to connect with many outside of the book's fanbase: only half of the audience read the book ahead of time, which compares favorably to Twilight (74 percent) and The Hunger Games (76 percent).



Some other positive metrics: the audience was more evenly split between men (41 percent) and women, and between older and younger (50 percent were over the age of 25).

Only 40 percent of its opening weekend gross was earned on Friday, which makes it less front-loaded than any of the Twilight or Hunger Games movies. It also received an "A" CinemaScore, suggesting word-of-mouth will be solid.



Long-term, Divergent seems poised to earn at least $130 million at the domestic box office. As long as it does decent business overseas, this is enough to justify moving forward with sequels Insurgent and Allegiant, which are currently scheduled for March 2015 and March 2016.







In second place, Muppets Most Wanted opened to an estimated $16.5 million. In contrast, the last Muppets movie earned $29.2 million in its first weekend.

That's not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison: 2011's The Muppets burned off some demand with a Wednesday opening, but also got a weekend bump from Black Friday. Regardless, this is a significant decline.



Muppets Most Wanted's audience skewed young (54 percent under 25) and female (54 percent). They gave the movie a "B+" CinemaScore.

Considering this is playing to family audiences, it should hold up decently in the next few weeks; still, it's unlikely to make it much higher than $50 million or so.







Mr. Peabody & Sherman fell 46 percent to $11.7 million.

To date, the DreamWorks Animation movie has earned $81 million.







300: Rise of An Empire dropped 55 percent to $8.7 million.

The sequel has now grossed $93.8 million.







At just 780 locations, God's Not Dead earned an incredible $8.56 million.

That ranks seventh all-time among faith-based movies, and ranks first among those opening in fewer than 1,000 theaters. It's a bit below Courageous ($9.1 million), but above Fireproof ($6.8 million).



God's Not Dead had a grassroots marketing effort targeted specifically at Christians, who often feel neglected by Hollywood. The movie featured "Duck Dynasty" stars Willie and Korie Robertson, along with popular Christian rock band Newsboys (who have an album titled 'God's Not Dead').

At least as important was its intriguing story, which centered around a devout Christian college student's philosophical battle with his atheist professor.



Distributor Freestyle Releasing is looking to expand the movie next weekend. With good word-of-mouth, this could ultimately earn over $30 million total.







In its second weekend, Need for Speed stalled out with $7.78 million (down 56 percent).

Through 10 days, the video game adaptation has earned a disappointing $30.4 million.







Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel expanded to 304 locations and earned $6.75 million. That translates to a very strong $22,204 per-theater average.

The movie has already grossed nearly $13 million, and is set to expand nationwide to over 800 theaters next weekend.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3804&p=.htm









March 21-23, 2014 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. Divergent $56,000,000
2. Muppets Most Wanted $16,514,000
3. Mr. Peabody & Sherman $11,700,000 / $81,002,000
4. 300: Rise of An Empire $8,665,000 / $93,753,000
5. God's Not Dead $8,564,000
6. Need for Speed $7,781,000 / $30,404,000
7. The Grand Budapest Hotel $6,750,000 / $12,961,000
8. Non-Stop $6,346,000 / $78,621,000
9. The LEGO Movie $4,115,000 / $243,352,000
10. Tyler Perry's The Single Moms Club $3,100,000 / $12,910,000

[Dude111]

My parents went to see this last week....... I asked them what it was about and I couldnt believe it James!! (Thats what they are trying to do!!! (NWO,etc))


Its quite scary how movies usually end up becoming reality!!

[Tubehead]

I want to go see divergent and mummpets I did go see gods not dead it my favorite cd form newsboys gods not dead pulse I seen them twice in concert it probably be week or more before I see them next movie is Noah then captain American winter solider

[MacLeaper]

Great to see "God's Not Dead" doing so well. I'm interested to see this movie when I get a chance. I wish "Muppets Most Wanted" had done better- I went to see it this last weekend- great, fun and funny movie!

[irehtman]

If "Divergent" continues its own sequel, then "The Host" should continues its own sequel, even if it flops:

"The Seeker" and "The Soul".