That is not an opinion as the numbers indicate a slow down that was much greater than anticipated going in. The Wrap noted that the box office was down a whopping 40 percent over the previous year for this frame. The overall yearly box office is up and this weekend will hurt those numbers, too.
Whether this is a blip or a trend still remains to be seen, but it hurts. “Chappie” took the top spot with $13.3 million. Even the projection of around $16-18 would have been low, so the tally was brutal. In second was last week’s winner, “Focus,” at around $10 million
Weekend
1. “Chappie” – $13.3 million
2. “Focus” – $10.02 million
3. “The Second Best Marigold Hotel” – $8.6 million
4. “Kingsman: The Secret Service” – $8.3 million
5. “SpongeBob: Sponge Out of Water” – $7 million
Neill Blombkamp wrote and directed “Chappie” and “District 9” it is not. It feels like “Robocop” but did not play like it. A nice surprise did enter the scene and that would be “The Second Best Marigold Hotel” with “$8.6 million. The small film and follow-up to “The Best Marigold Hotel.”
All the public relations in the world could not boost Vince Vaughn’s “Unfinished Business.” It finished in 10th with a very low $4.8 million. It opened in 2,777 and will be one of the worst openings for him with movies that open in more than 1,000 houses.
Now comes the shuffling of the top films of 2104. “American Sniper” has now taken over the top spot for last year’s box office. It is now the winner, domestically.
Top Films of 2014, domestically
1. “American Sniper” – $337,209,000
2. “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” – $336,962,000
3. “Guardians of the Galaxy” – $333,176,600
These numbers are reported by Box Office Mojo
Last year, “Guardians of the Galaxy” was the champ for quite some time and then came “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1,” which overtook it at the end of January.
“American Sniper” opened in only four theaters on Christmas Day, so the bulk of its money is being made in 2015, but it still qualifies as a 2014 film. It opened small on Christmas to make that Oscar qualifying run, and that worked well for it.
