Overseas, DreamWorks Animation’s ‘Home’ opens in nine markets, earning an outstanding $19.2 million debut.
Lionsgate's YA sequel Insurgent saw a $54 million debut and a first place finish at the domestic box office this past weekend, matching the $54.6 million launch of Divergent on the same weekend a year ago. Topping the charts in 66 of 76 markets, the second installment of the Divergent trilogy made $47 million overseas for a worldwide total of $101 million.
Directed by Robert Schwentke under a budget of $110 million, Insurgent sees the return of stars Shailene Woodley and Theo James. The story continues to center on Woodley's character, a young woman named Tris who does not fit in with the futuristic dystopian society that divides people into five strictly categorized factions.
In second place, Disney’s live-action remake, Cinderella, took in $34.5 million over its sophomore weekend, a 49 percent drop from opening weekend. Overseas, the fairy tale -- costing $49 million to make -- grossed another $41.1 million for a global tally of $253.1 million.
In its second weekend, Warner Bros.’ Run All Night added an additional $5.12 million to its domestic take. Through 10 days, the Liam Neeson action movie directed by Jaume Collet-Serra has earned $19.7 million.
Directed by Pierre Morel, Open Road Films’ The Gunman eked out a fourth-place finish with a $5 million debut. Starring Sean Penn, Javier Bardem, Idris Elba and Ray Winstone, the film centers on an international operative who is pursued across Europe by the organization he works for after he tries to retire.
Rounding out the top five in its sixth weekend in theaters, 20th Century Fox’s Kingsman: The Secret Service made $4.6 million. Matthew Vaughn's well-received comic book adaptation has now grossed a total of $114.6 million at the domestic box office, while overseas the film has made $180.6 million for a total of $295.2 worldwide.
Faith-based drama Do You Believe? opened in sixth place, taking in $4 million from 1,320 locations. Directed by Jonathan M. Gunn and starring Ted McGinley, Mira Sorvino, Lee Majors, Cybill Shepherd and Brian Bosworth, the film is about a pastor who encounters a street-corner preacher. Believe was written by Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon, the writer of God's Not Dead, which opened on the same weekend a year ago to $9.1 million. Both films were produced by Pure Flix Entertainment.
Now in its third week out, Fox Searchlight’s The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel came in seventh place, taking in $3.4 million for a domestic total of $24.1 million. Overseas the specialty box office film has made $34.4 million for a total of $58.5 million globally.
Will Smith's R-rated romantic heist movie Focus came in eighth place, taking in $3.3 million for distributor Warner Bros. Now in its fourth week out, Focus has made a total of $71 million overseas for a global tally of $120.4 million.
Now in its third week in theaters, director Neil Blompkamp’s Chappie came in ninth place, taking in $2.7 million for distributor Sony. Made for $49 million, the sci-fi feature has made a total of $28.3 million domestically and $43.3 million overseas for a grand tally of $71.6 million worldwide.
Rounding up the list at number 10 is Paramount and Nickelodeon’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. Now in its seventh week out, the 2D/3D/live-action hybrid made $2.4 million this past weekend, pushing the film’s domestic total to $158.8 million. Overseas it has made $121.s million for a total of $280 million globally.
DreamWorks Animation and Fox's Home also opened this weekend overseas, albeit it in only nine markets. The animated film earned an outstanding $19.2 million, including a hefty $9.3 million in the U.K., where it easily bested Insurgent and scored the top opening for any DWA title outside of the Shrek franchise. Home, which rolls out in North America March 27, also beat Insurgent in Russia.
Box office numbers were obtained on boxofficemojo.com.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
