Box Office: Captain America Shows Muscle, Transcendence Bombs Showing Johnny Depp Isn’t A Star

Box Office, Columns, News, Top Story

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is for real. Once the actuals come in it will have spent three weeks in the number one spot. Things were a bit hairy in its second weekend with the release of Rio 2, but it managed to come on top in the end. The film finished with $26.6 million to pass the $200 million domestic mark. Combined with overseas totals the film has amassed $586 million, which is more than 1.5 times the original made before it left theaters in 2011. Before is all said and done it will most likely be the third highest-grossing MCU movie behind The Avengers (with $1.5 billion) and Iron Man 2 (with $1.2 million).

The success of Captain America has been very good for Disney. As has Frozen which continues to make money theatrically despite being a hot-seller on DVD and Blu-ray. It’s now at $1.129 billion worldwide, now making it the 6th highest-grossing movie all-time and the highest-grossing animated release ever. I know you want me to “let it go” with all this talk with Frozen, and maybe I will if someone wants to help me build a snowman.

With a tepid opening Johnny Depp proves once again that he isn’t a movie star. It seems like a broken record where I’ve made countless observations before that the star of Pirates of the Caribbean wasn’t a movie star. Seriously, outside of playing Captain Jack Sparrow Depp has shown that he isn’t worth a $20 million paycheck. His latest, Transcendence, was budgeted at $100 million, and depending on who you ask if the actual sum of the production was either $80 million (excluding Depp’s salary) or $120 million (if including Depp’s salary). Directed by Christopher Nolan’s longtime cinematographer Wally Pfister, his transition to the director’s chair wasn’t as graceful as Jan De Bont, who would lens Die Hard before directing Speed several years later.

The non-success of Transcendence means Depp will have his fourth consecutive flop in a row following the likes of The Lone Ranger, Dark Shadows and The Rum Diary. This is also his worst wide opening (3000+ theaters) since Pirates made him a star(?). It also doesn’t help that this release looked like The Lawnmower Man with a bigger CPU.

How bad did Depp’s movie perform? Put it this way, Marlon Wayans’ A Haunted House sequel played on 1,145 less screens, cost $96 million less and made $9.1 million vs. Transcendence‘s $11.15 million. Ouch.

As I stated in the tagline Rio 2 holds steady and kept the #2 position, taking in an estimated $22.5 million, which is only a 35% drop from last weekend. Showing that faith-based films are still a cash cow for church groups, Sony’s Heaven Is For Real made $21.5 million during Easter weekend, which is a little more than half of what the other religious drama God’s Not Dead has made in four weeks. The film’s $9,200 per screen average was higher than any movie in the top 10.

Speaking of religious films, Darren Aronofsky’s Noah is still doing brisk business. While it hasn’t made its budget ($125 million) back domestically, worldwide it is closing in on $300 million. With more than two-thirds majority of critics giving it a favorable review (it has an aggregate score of 77% fresh on RT) it has weathered some bad mainstream press to keep afloat longer than the three-hour tour the S.S. Minnow took one sunny afternoon – before the seas got rough.

Sadly, Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel has left the top 10, but don’t fret: It’s his highest grossing film ever internationally. Stateside it has cleared $44 million, just a $8 million shy of The Royal Tenenbaums‘ $52 million back in 2001. Though by summer’s end it should have eclipsed that total. Worldwide it $118.9 million.


01. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – $26,612,000 ($586.6 mil worldwide)
02. Rio 2 – $22,500,000 ($275 mil worldwide)
03. Heaven is for Real – $21,500,000 ($28,500,000)
04. Transcendence – $11,150,000
05. A Haunted House 2 – $9,100,000
06. Draft Day – $5,900,000 ($19,548,000)
07. Divergent – $5,750,000 ($209.2 mil worldwide)
08. Oculus – $5,202,000 ($21,191,000)
09. Noah – $5,000,000 ($290.6 mil worldwide)
10. God’s Not Dead – $4,801,000 ($48,327,000)

Travis Leamons is one of the Inside Pulse Originals and currently holds the position of Managing Editor at Inside Pulse Movies. He's told that the position is his until he's dead or if "The Boss" can find somebody better. I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order!