"Captain America" Narrowly Defeats "Rio 2" at Weekend Box Office

[JamesG]

Weekend Report: Captain America Wins Close Fight with Rio 2
by Ray Subers
April 13, 2014


In a strange turn of events, Rio 2 took first place at the box office on Friday, but fell back to second place for the three-day weekend. Chalk this up to nice weather throughout most of the country, which kept family audiences away from the multiplexes on Saturday.

As a result, Captain America: The Winter Soldier was able to narrowly hold on to the top spot for the second-straight weekend. The superhero sequel added $41.4 million, which was off 56 percent from its debut. That's a slightly better hold than Iron Man 3 (58 percent) and Thor: The Dark World (57 percent), but it's also a bit worse than the movie's strong reviews and word-of-mouth would suggest.

So far, Captain America: The Winter Soldier has earned $159 million at the domestic box office. If it remains on pace with the Thor and Iron Man sequels, it will finish with at least $225 million.







Playing at 3,948 locations, Rio 2 wasn't far behind with $39 million. That's essentially identical to the first Rio's $39.2 million debut around the same time in 2011. Among recent animated movies, it's noticeably higher than Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 ($34 million) and Mr. Peabody & Sherman ($32.2 million).

The first Rio was well-liked, and Rio 2's marketing promised more of the same broad humor. It also changed the setting—though the Amazon rainforest is arguably less interesting than Rio de Janiero—and added a few new characters voiced by Kristen Chenoweth, Andy Garcia and Bruno Mars.

The movie also had a scheduling advantage, as Mr. Peabody & Sherman and Muppets Most Wanted are essentially played out at this point.



According to distributor 20th Century Fox, the audience was 57 percent female. Only 31 percent of ticket sales were in 3D, which is consistent with the recent track record for family movies.

Moviegoers awarded Rio 2 a strong "A" CinemaScore. With the Easter holiday coming up—and without any serious family competition for a long, long time—Rio 2 should hold well. It's possible that it eventually matches the first movie's $143.6 million total.







The supernatural horror movie Oculus took third place with an estimated $12 million. That's roughly on par with Insidious ($13.3 million) and Mirrors ($11.2 million). It's not a fantastic start, but it is good enough for a low-budget festival acquisition.

Oculus benefited from a solidly creepy, targeted marketing effort, and from above-average reviews. It also helped that it was the first supernatural horror movie in nearly three months.



According to Relativity Media, the audience was 51 percent female and 52 percent under the age of 25. The movie received a poor "C" CinemaScore, though that hasn't been a strong indicator of long-term performance for horror movies.

Still, with direct competition from The Quiet Ones in two weeks, it would be surprising if this cracked $30 million.







Draft Day took fourth place with $9.75 million, which is roughly half of Moneyball's $19.5 million debut.

It's also a bit lower than star Kevin Costner's recent action movie 3 Days to Kill ($12.2 million), and April 2008 football movie Leatherheads ($12.7 million).

Draft Day received a "B+" CinemaScore. With an audience that skews older, it should play well in the next few weeks; a total close to $30 million is likely.








Divergent rounded out the Top Five with $7.5 million (down 42 percent).

So far, the young-adult adaptation has grossed a very good $124.5 million.







In its third weekend, Noah once again took a dive at the domestic box office. Darren Aronofsky's Biblical epic plummeted 56 percent to $7.45 million, which brings its 17-day total to $84.9 million.

If it continues on this trajectory, it could fall short of $100 million.







Indonesian action movie The Raid 2 expanded to 954 locations and earned a weak $1.01 million. In comparison, the first Raid grossed $961,454 from 881 theaters in its nationwide expansion.

Essentially, demand for this franchise hasn't really changed in the past two years.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3820&p=.htm









April 11-13, 2014 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier $41,398,000 / $159,006,000
2. Rio 2 $39,000,000
3. Oculus $12,000,000
4. Draft Day $9,750,000
5. Divergent $7,500,000 / $124,877,000
6. Noah $7,450,000 / $84,872,000
7. God's Not Dead $5,485,000 / $40,700,000
8. The Grand Budapest Hotel $4,050,000 / $39,470,000
9. Muppets Most Wanted $2,193,000 / $45,670,000
10. Mr. Peabody & Sherman $1,825,000 / $105,215,000