300: Rise of An Empire seemed like the last hangover fart of a long played out genre to most of us, but by “most of us” I’m speaking mainly to people who read for fun (ie, not the film’s target audience). While not quite as popular as the original, the $110 million budgeted sequel (almost double the $65m original) opened in first place with $45 million in domestic box office and another $87 million worldwide. Which is weird, because you would’ve thought that the ending to the first 300 is about as close as a film could get to achieving full closure.
As expected, Rise of an Empire‘s audience skewed male (62 percent). No age information was provided. They awarded the movie a weak “B” CinemaScore, which suggests it will fall off quickly in the coming weeks.
Who wants to see shirtless dudes hit other dudes with swords? OTHER DUDES. Yep, no surprises there.
3D showings accounted for 63 percent of earnings, which is abnormally high: in comparison, Thor: The Dark World‘s 3D share was 39 percent. The movie also did strong business in IMAX, where it earned $6.8 million. [BoxOfficeMojo]
And all this time, no one told me that one of the lead actors was named “Sullivan Stapleton.” Somewhere, a lacrosse team is missing their captain.
Elsewhere, Peabody and Sherman was a mild disappointment for Dreamworks, a studio that specializes in mild disappointments. It grossed $32.5 million domestic and $65.8m internationally. You’d think little kids would be dying to see a movie based on a cartoon even my parents barely remember, but it’s almost as if today’s six and seven year olds just don’t respect history.
[$32.5 million is] on the low side for DreamWorks, as their last three March releases all had $40m+ debut weekends. Even The Croods, which was a completely original project, earned $43.6m over its first weekend. [Forbes]
Peabody’s audience was 56 percent female and 52 percent above the age of 25. It received a strong “A” CinemaScore, which means word-of-mouth should be quite positive.
Yep, an A CinemaScore. It’s even tracking at 77 percent on RottenTomatoes. I like the idea of a word-of-mouth bump, because it makes me imagine some guy at the party going “No, seriously, the Peabody and Sherman movie is actually pretty good!” as the crowd at the dip bowl scatters.
Get excited for next week, when we’ve got Need for Speed, the Veronica Mars movie, and The Single Moms Club, with Grand Budapest Hotel expanding.
[numbers based on early estimates, chart via BoxOfficeMojo]