It should come as no surprise that Disney’s Zootopia finished the first weekend of March in first place. Debuting on more than 3800 screens, Disney Animation’s spin on the buddy cop formula in a utopia that’s anything but opened to stellar reviews (99% approval on Rotten Tomatoes as of March 7th) and stellar earnings. In fact its $75 million weekend was the best debut for a Disney Animated release, besting the likes of Big Hero 6 and Frozen.
Also in new release we had Gerard Butler starring in London Has Fallen (No. 2 with $21.6M), a sequel to 2013’s Olympus Has Fallen. Like John McClane in Die Hard 2: Die Harder, you’re probably thinking how can the same thing happened to the same guy twice? A better question is who thought it was okay to release two Gerard Butler movies in back-to-back weekends? At least for Focus Features (I thought they only handled arty stuff like The Danish Girl) London‘s debut was better received than the disastrous Gods of Egypt, which plummeted from its second-place debut last week to a fifth place finish with $5.1 million.
Tina Fey’s Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (or WTF, for short) finished in fourth place with $7.4 million. Fox’s Deadpool may have taken bronze with the arrival of two big releases raking in $16.7M but it also hit a milestone. The film has grossed more than $300 million domestic and has collected more than $670 million worldwide. Not bad for a mercenary who doesn’t know when to shut up.
After taking home some Oscar gold, The Revenant saw it rise in the standings – from tenth to the eighth spot – as Triple 9 and How to Be Single exit the Top 10. Elsewhere, it looks like Kung Fu Panda 3 lost a big chunk of its audience with the arrival of Zootopia. In six weeks the third installment of the hit DreamWorks Animation franchise has made $133.8 million, and it probably won’t match the performance of Kung Fu Panda 2 before exiting theaters. A24’s The Witch rounds out the top 10 with $2.4M. The horror release has made $20.8 million in three weeks and is A24’s best performer since Ex Machina‘s $25.4M last year.
In limited release, FUNimation’s The Boy and the Beast debuted on 122 screens and made $274k, while Magnolia’s Norwegian disaster flick The Wave raked in $60.3k from 33 locations. Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups dropped in NY/LA on four screens and had a $15,138 per-screen average to finish with $60.5k.
This weekend openings include the mysterious 10 Cloverfield Lane, Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Brothers Grimsby, The Perfect Match, and The Young Messiah. Look for Zootopia to retain its #1 spot followed by 10 Cloverfield Lane that may or may not be a sequel/spin-off to 2008’s Cloverfield.
Full Top 10 below.
01. Zootopia – $75 Million
02. London Has Fallen – $21.6 Million
03. Deadpool – $16.7 Million ($311.4M)
04. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot – $7.4 Million
05. Gods of Egypt – $5.1 Million ($23M)
06. Risen – $3.9 Million ($28.6M)
07. Kung Fu Panda 3 – $3.5 Million ($133.8M)
08. The Revenant – $3.4 Million ($176M)
09. Eddie the Eagle – $3.1 Million ($10.8M)
10. The Witch – $2.4 Million ($20.8M)
