The second weekend for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was good, not amazing. After an estimated $92 million opening for its first three days of release, the superhero sequel took a sizable drop in terms of attendance losing around 59.4 percent of its audience from the previous week. Before those Spidey defenders that say Yeah, but, Iron Man 3 had almost the same percentage drop for its second weekend. Okay, I’ll give you that, but it also had the second-biggest opening of all time with $174 million.
Yep, when it came down to the weekend’s #1, Spidey was no match for Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and their debate on who was the real Batman – Christian Bale or Michael Keaton. The comedy, which pitted a fraternity against young parents opened big with a $51 million opening. The figure made it Seth Rogen’s biggest opener as a comedic lead by a sizable margin. Closest competition is 2011’s The Green Hornet with $33.5 million.
Its monster opening was the fourth-best for a restricted comedy, behind the likes of The Hangover Part II, Ted, and, um, Sex and the City (really?). Overseas it’s just a strong with $34.4 million. For comparison, Rogen’s last big hit, This Is the End only made around $26 million for its entire international gross. And if the audience I saw it with this past Saturday night is any indication, the majority of people seeing it are female. That could be on account of Zac Efron or Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne’s cute little baby girl, and the number of “Awww” moments throughout. Considering that its cost was minimal compared to the tentpole titles of summer (only costing $18 million), this could be a huge success for Universal for May, hopefully to be followed Seth MacFarlane’s sophomore effort behind the camera, A Million Ways to Die in the West, starring Seth, Charlize Theron, Neil Patrick Harris and Liam Neeson.
Looking at the rest of the top ten, The Other Woman and Heaven Is for Real continues steady earnings, making $9.25 million and $7 million, respectively. April favorite Captain America: The Winter Soldier inches closer to overtaking The Lego Movie as the best domestic performer of 2014. In six weekends it has amassed an estimated $245 million. New releases Moms’ Night Out and Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return fizzled, but their appearances at spots #7 and #8 on the list knocked Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel out of the top 10. Nevertheless, Anderson has the last laugh as Budapest Hotel passed The Royal Tenenbaums to become Anderson’s best performing domestic release.
In limited release, Jon Favreau’s Chef had the best per-screen average of any release with $204,000 on six screens (or $34,000 at each location). Gia Coppola’s Palo Alto also opened strong with $80,630 on four screens.
This weekend we have Godzilla taking on Disney’s Million Dollar Arm. I’m sure Godzilla’s roar will stifle MD’s arm strength. But don’t be surprised if the Disney release becomes a sleeper this summer through word of mouth. Apparently, it is one of the studio’s best tested movies.
01. Neighbors – $51,070,000
02. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – $37,200,000 ($147,900,000)
03. The Other Woman – $9,250,000 ($61,730,000)
04. Heaven is for Real – $7,000,000 ($75,220,000)
05. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – $5,619,000 ($244,997,000)
06. Rio 2 – $5,125,000 ($113,165,000)
07. Moms’ Night Out – $4,200,000
08. Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return – $3,705,000
09. Divergent – $1,700,000 ($145,024,000)
10. Brick Mansions – $1,480,000 ($18,328,000)
