It was a typical February weekend, with just about everything performing not great and a couple films taking huge hits. The winner for the third weekend in a row was The Lego Movie, which took $31.4 million to bring it to $183 million total. It was the largest third weekend for an animated film since Shrek 2, and the film will likely get a full month on top, unless Liam Neeson comes in next week to knock it off, as he is prone to do.
The weekend’s new openings both opened soft, though only one is likely to bomb in the States. Kevin Costner’s Taken-esque movie 3 Days to Kill opened in second with $12.3 million, which is about on par for producer Luc Besson’s action films (Taken was a rare exception). The film had a low budget of $28 million, so it’ll likely rack up around $30 million and break even in the coming weeks. The Paul W.S. Anderson-directed Pompeii, on the other hand, will have to make a hefty profit overseas – the $100 million disaster movie took in a mere $10 million in third place, suggesting that 2014 is not the year for major disaster movies or CGI-heavy retellings of old legends.
Most of the other films in the top 10 had drops on par for course, but the hardest hit were last weekend’s Valentine’s Day offerings, two of which are financially set regardless but one that can officially be called a bomb. About Last Night tumbled 71 percent to $7.4 million, which is nearly half the budget, and Endless Love fell 67 percent with $4.3 million, having already broke even on its $20 million cost. Winter’s Tale, on the other hand, fell 70 percent with $2.1 million and an $11 million total, and is miles away from its $60 million production cost.
In arthouse news, the limited release of Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, The Wind Rises, made $306,000 at 21 locations, and will likely be on track for Miyazaki’s typical $5-15 million US gross.
Source: BoxOfficeMojo
