Final numbers will tell the true story on Monday, but based on estimates we can confirm the “Divergent” fan based definitely showed up for the the series' second installment this weekend.
“Insurgent” took in an estimated $54 million over the three-day compared to the $54.6 million “Divergent” earned a year ago. Initially, “Insurgent” was behind the original by $1.4 million following Friday's opening day. On Saturday, however, “Insurgent” actually grossed more than “Divergent did by roughly $220,000 and Lionsgate has the Sunday estimate for “Insurgent” as $870,000 higher than how “Divergent” performed. That's a bit aggressive and might help the studio with shareholders paying attention to weekend box office reports, but Monday's finals will prove whether the estimate holds or not. Even if it doesn't, the sequel basically preformed on par with the first film in the franchise. The results also let the studio know that despite pre-release polling that claimed more men were interested in “Insurgent,” 60% of the audience were still women. Unless something dramatic happens with the film's international release, you can assume the two planned “Allegiant” sequels are still happening.
Dropping to no. 2 was Walt Disney Studios' “Cinderella.” The Kenneth Branagh adaptation of the classic fairy tale took in another $34.4 million for $122 million in just 10 days. The 49% drop from opening weekend probably was slightly more than the studio was looking for, but considering how much “Insurgent” stole from its core audience “Cinderella” held up quite well. It's global cume now stands at $253.1 million.
“Run All Night” managed to take the third spot with another $5.1 million and $19.7 million also in its first 10 days. The Liam Neeson thriller is going to have to preform very strongly overseas if it is going to make up its reported $50 million budget.
Barely missing out at the no. 3 slot was Pierre Morel's critically lambasted “The Gunman” at no. 4. The Sean Penn thriller took in just $5 million after studio tracking predicted a $9-10 million debut. Distributor Open Road Films was only responsible for the movie's marketing expenses but after a stellar 2014 this is their second dud in a row following January's “The Loft.”
“Kingsman: The Secret Service” continues to benefit from strong word of mouth as it took the no. 5 slot with another $4.6 million and has made $114.5 million to date. Globally, the 20th Century Fox franchise starter is itching toward the $300 million mark with $295.1 million so far.
Barely missing out on the top 5 was “Do you Believe?” with $4 million. The Christian themed drama starring Mira Sorvino and Sean Astin, among others, had a solid $3,000 per screen in just 1,320 theaters, but it doesn't look like it will duplicate last year's surprise success of Sony Pictures' “Heaven is For Real.”
In limited release, Radius-TWC expanded “It Follows” to 32 screens and took in another $352,000 for $576,000 so far. There had been reports that “Follows” would expand to possibly 1,000 theaters before its scheduled VOD release, but its still unclear if and when that will happen.
New releases on Friday include the Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell comedy “Get Hard” and DreamWorks Animation's “Home.”