The box office giveth and the box office taketh away, but this weekend was bountiful for four different movies.
DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox's “Home” took the top spot with $54 million. That's the biggest debut for DWA since “Madagascar 3: Europe Most Want” in 2012 and the first real smash opening for the company since Fox became their distribution and marketing partner. This is a huge win for DreamWorks since “Home” is their only major release in 2015. The family film also earned an A Cinemascore rating which means it should have good word of mouth with family audiences over the coming weeks. Globally, the $135 million budgeted flick has earned $101.5 million so far.
It's one of Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell's worst reviewed films of their careers, but audiences didn't seem to care as “Get Hard” took the second spot with $34.6 million. The Warner Bros. release is actually Ferrell's biggest opening since 2010's “The Other Guys” and is Hart's second largest opener ever after 2014's “Ride Along.” It earned only a B Cinemascore (A is considered average), but outside of “Fast 7” the R-rated comedy has little competition until another WB comedy, “Hot Pursuit,” hits theaters in May.
Last weekend's champ “Insurgent” dropped to no. 3 with another $22 million for $86.3 million in its first 10 days. The sequel is now $8 million behind where its predecessor, “Divergent,” was at the same point in its release a year ago. The arrival of the aforementioned “Fast 7” may push it even further behind next weekend, but a $100 million plus gross is still guaranteed. The worldwide cume now stands at $180 million.
Walt Disney's “Cinderella” fell to no. 4 with another $17.5 million and $150 million so far. It's going to be close, but Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of the classic fairy tale has an excellent shot to hit the $200 million mark. More importantly for the Mouse House, “Cinderella” has now earned $336.2 million around the world.
Somewhat at the last minute, Radius-TWC expanded “It Follows” to 1,218 theaters and the critically acclaimed horror flick earned $4 million for a solid $3,301 per screen. “Follows” has now made $4.7 million overall and should pass “20 Feet From Stardom” to become the distributor's highest grossing film ever sometime tomorrow or Tuesday.
A24 has something to crow about today as Noah Baumbach's “While We're Young” took in $242,000 from just four theaters. That $60,500 per screen is the highest of the year so far and an excellent sign that the company may have a Spring art house hit on its hands.
In other art house news, Magnolia Pictures released “Serena” starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence and it earned a very disappointing $110,000 in 60 theaters.
New films opening this week include “Woman in Gold” on Wednesday and “Fast 7” on Friday.
Weekend actuals are released on Monday.