Weekend Box Office: ‘Captain America’ Still On Top, Kevin Costner On The Bottom


Captain America
stayed on top of the box office this weekend, despite getting outgrossed by Rio 2 on Friday, leading some to blame nice weather on Saturday keeping families outdoors for the difference (comic book fans don’t need sunlight being the unspoken message there). Either way, Rio 2 continued the trend of animated films being moderate successes even when I have no idea what they’re even about. Parrots or some shit? Anyway, it managed a modest $39 million, slightly more than its predecessor, on a “mere” $103 million budget.

Captain America, meanwhile, did decent, if not great, business domestically, possibly proving inadvertently that quality doesn’t matter.

…the hope was that sterling word-of-mouth and strong reviews would perhaps stem the traditional second weekend bleeding just a bit. But nope, it’s a 56% drop come hell or high water. In terms of weekend drops, 57-60% is the general average among Marvel stand-alone entries outside of Thor (-47%) and Iron Man (-48%), so I guess a 56% drop qualifies as “leggy” by comparison.

Oh well, I still thought it was boring anyway. Nonetheless, Cap did make some unexpectedly big money, it just happened in international markets:

After just over two weeks of international play, Captain America: The Winter Soldier has earned $476m worldwide, decimating the first film’s $371m worldwide cume and even topping the $449m cume of Thor for sport. [Forbes]

Hooray? That’s neat-o for Disney, I guess. The real fun comes when X-Men, Star Wars, and Spider-Man all try to copy the Marvel Universe strategy.

Elsewhere, Draft Day, Kevin Costner’s football movie (directed by Ivan Reitman) got beat by a low-budget horror movie (Oculus) and did so poorly that someone actually compared it to Leatherheads. Ouch.

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). [BoxOfficeMojo]

Check that, someone compared it negatively to Leatherheads. Double ouch.

If Ivan Reitman hadn’t already offered to step aside as director on Ghostbusters 3, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Sony made the decision for him. Other than the awful Kutcher vehicle No Strings Attached, Reitman hasn’t had a hit since the early 90s. His last five films as a director have been Draft Day, No Strings Attached, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Evolution, and Six Days and Seven Nights.

Maybe try something religious? God’s Not Dead has earned more than $40 million so far, despite a cast that includes Dean Cain and Kevin Sorbo. Let’s say Reitman directs, and Costner stars as scientist who proves that atheists are big jerks. $20 million opening weekend, easy. It could be the big comeback for both of them.

Next week brings us Transcendence, starring Johnny Depp inside a computer, and Heaven Is For Real, about a little boy who barks like a dog and goes up to heaven.

Domestic numbers, based on early estimates:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – $41.3 million ($159 mil.)
2. Rio 2 – $39 million
3. Oculus – $12 million
4. Draft Day – $9.7 million
5. Divergent – $7.5 million ($124.8 mil)
6. Noah – $7.4 million ($84.8 mil)
7. God’s Not Dead – $4.4 million ($40 mil)
8. The Grand Budapest Hotel – $4 million ($39.4 mil)
9. Muppets Most Wanted – $2.1 million ($45.6 mil)
10. Mr. Peabody & Sherman – $1.8 million ($105.2 mil)

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