Audiences were much more interested in taking a “Ride Along” with Kevin Hart and Ice Cube than seeing Chris Pine star in “Jack Ryan.”
The Universal comedy kicked off the long Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend with $14.5 million on Friday. Costing just a slim $25 million to produce, “ride” could cruise to $45 million for the weekend.
Friday’s second slot went to Peter Berg’s war film “Lone Survivor,” which grossed $6.7 million and is likely to earn around $26 million range for the weekend.
Starring Mark Wahlberg and Emile Hirsch, “Survivor” has so far earned a strong $57.5 million domestically.
The news was less happy for “Jack Ryan,” which debuted at No. 3 with $5.4 million, and will muster up around $17 million or $18 million over the long weekend.
Paramount’s reboot of the Tom Clancy character stars Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley and Kenneth Branagh, who also directed.
The last Ryan adventure, “The Sum of All Fears” — starring Ben Affleck in the lead role — debuted to $10 million on its opening day way back in 2002. The part was previously played by Alec Baldwin in 1990’s “Hunt For Red October” and Harrison Ford in 1992’s “Patriot Games” and 1994’s “Clear and Present Danger.”
Originally targeting a Christmas Day release, “Ryan” was instead shifted to this weekend to give the studio’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” some room.
In fourth place was Open Road’s animated film “The Nut Job,” which made off with $4.8 million on Friday and could pull ahead of “Ryan” by Monday as families head to the multiplex.
Rounding out the top five was 20th Century Fox’s low-budget horror film “Devil’s Due”, which scared up $3.5 million. However, it may end up lower on the list by Monday, as hit holdovers and newly-minted Oscar nominees “Frozen” and “American Hustle” weren’t far behind on Friday.