Weekend Box Office Report: January 31 – February 2 2014

By Kip Mooney • On • In News News 0

 

BOX OFFICE REPORT January 31 - February 2, 2014(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 51. Ride Along ($12.3 million)2. Frozen ($9.3 million)3. That Awkard Moment ($9.0 million)4. The Nut Job ($7.6 million)5. Lone Survivor ($7.1 million)

 

Everyone must have been gearing up for the Super Bowl as audiences avoided theaters this weekend. Ride Along finished No. 1 for the third straight weekend, but only took in $12.3 million. Frozen somehow made more money this weekend than last, pulling in $9.3 million.

That meant That Awkward Moment was the weekend's best debut, opening at No. 3 with $9 million. That's not very much, but still better than the film's $8 million budget. Romantic comedies are a dime a dozen, but at least this one offered some variation. Still, its talented cast is bound for better things.

The other two films in the Top 5 hit milestones of their own. The Nut Job passed $50 million, decent for an unheralded animated film opening in January, and Lone Survivor became the 35th film released in 2013 to pass $100 million.

Outside the top 5: - This Weekend's Indie Champ: Penn & Teller's doc Tim's Vermeer, about Tim Jenison, who follows an interesting theory about legendary painter Johannes Vermeer. It averaged $14,475 on each of its four screens.

- The Wolf of Wall Street also surpassed $100 million, which makes only the fourth Best Picture nominee to do so.

- Finally, as some of you may have heard already, Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the greatest actors of all time, was found dead on Sunday morning. He claimed a Best Actor Oscar for Capote and co-starring in the highest-grossing movie of 2013 (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), among many other incredible accomplishments. I'll miss his presence onscreen dearly.

Next week: The Lego Movie is going to build its way to No. 1 or put up a brick. Sorry about the puns. It's definitely going to be No. 1 with at least $45 million. The Monuments Men is the option for adults without kids and it will open with around $20 million. Vampire Academy will just be the latest in a line of failed franchise launches. $10 million at best. 

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

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