Box Office: The Other Woman Wins Dismal Weekend; Heaven Shows That It’s Still For Real

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There’s no accounting for taste. Audiences didn’t seem to mind the multitude of terrible reviews The Other Woman received going in to the weekend. It was definitely lady’s choice when it came to picking what to see. Girl power abounds in a comedy featuring Cameron Diaz, who scored a hit with Bad Teacher some years back, Leslie Mann (a utility player in the Judd Apatow camp, and she’s his wife), and Kate Upton, who is probably more known for certain assets not related to acting. Though in Ms. Upton’s defense she’s only appeared in the comedies Tower Heist and Three Stooges. I have yet to see the comedy, but the advertisements make it out to be like the female version of Saw where three gals screwed over by the same guy devise diabolical ways at getting back at the douche. The marketing must have done the trick as the movie was #1 with approximately $24.7 million and unseated Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

In its fourth weekend the Marvel superhero still grossed $16 million to bring its worldwide total to $645 million! That figure makes it the third-highest grossing Marvel movie so far, outperforming all sequels in the MCU except for Iron Man 3, and it probably won’t eclipse that movie’s $1.2 billion. So much for Steve Rogers being the least entertaining Avenger. (Though if you read my review, you’d know why I think he’s the best Avenger in the group.)

Okay so religious dramas are all the rage in 2014. We had Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, which Glen Beck condemned despite not having seen it. (My feeling is until you see something completely you can’t really make a valid argument. Which is why I can write all the crap I want about the Twilight Saga!), God’s Not Dead continues to be a sleeper hit when comparing its production budget to overall success. But Heaven Is For Real that may have the biggest success. Because here you are dealing with a release that was based on a popular religious nonfiction work. With no major headlining stars (sorry Greg Kinnear and Thomas Haden Church fans) the drama finished in third position and only fell 43% in its second week. As for Paul Walker’s last completed film before his untimely passing, Brick Mansions‘ audience was more slow and bored than fast and furious to see it. Playing on nearly 2500 screens, it grossed an underwhelming $9.6 million. And when Scott Sawitz is already labeling it one of the year’s worst you know something went horribly wrong with its execution.

If a sequel does about the same as an original does that qualify as a success? That’s probably what Fox and Big Sky Studios is mulling over with the performance of Rio 2, which fell 66% in its third weekend. Having grossed $343 million worldwide so far, it still has another $150 million or so to hit the international numbers of the original. Methinks Big Sky will still greenlight a sequel. After all there’s like a bajillion Ice Age movies. And for any Frozen fans out there, it finally crossed $400 million in its 23rd week of release. If I ever said that Frozen didn’t have a snowball chance in hell of making it to that mark, well I stand corrected.

Johnny Depp’s Transcendence flopped once again in theaters. In its two weeks of release it has grossed a paltry $18.4 million off a $100 million budget. Unless it strikes fire overseas, like The Tourist did several years ago, Warner Bros. is going to be in red with this one.

Internationally, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 debuted to, um, amazing numbers. Having already been given some mediocre scores from U.S. critics that have already seen and tracking at lower than expected numbers for a Hollywood blockbuster, it still has grossed $132 million worldwide. The first ASM debuted at $95 million. Anyone think it will surpass that mark?

In limited release the biggest news-maker was Locke starring Tom Hardy. Debuting on four screens, the Steven Knight film opened to $89.2k with a per-screen average of $22,300, the best of any film playing in theaters.


01. The Other Woman – $24.7 million
02. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – $16 million ($645 mil worldwide)
03. Heaven Is For Real – $13.8 million ($51,911,00)
04. Rio 2 – $13.65 million ($343 mil worldwide)
05. Brick Mansions – $9.6 million
06. Transcendence – $4.1 million ($18,472,000)
07. The Quiet Ones – $4 million
08. Bears – $3.606 million ($11,153,000)
09. Divergent – $3.6 million ($232.6 mil worldwide)
10. A Haunted House – $3.26 million ($14,246,000)

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!