The Wedding Ringer arrives second
There are some films that see a healthy jump when they expand their release strategy – The Imitation Game was a recent one. But few have seen quite the embrace enjoyed by American Sniper, which added 3,555 screens and leapt from 21st place to the top of the US box office charts with an impressive $90.2 million, according to studio estimates.
The film, the true story of American military man Chris Kyle, has drawn Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Adapted screenplay, editing, sound editing and mixing and for leading man Bradley Cooper as Best Actor. But it’s unlikely anyone could have foreseen this, as the film is already breaking records for the Martin Luther King holiday weekend and, with approximately $105 million across four days, seems set to break January records while also giving director Clint Eastwood his most successful directorial opening.
Sniper’s success meant that Kevin Hart’s latest comedy, The Wedding Ringer, had to make do with a second-place opening, earning $21 million for the story of a man (Josh Gad) who hires Hart’s character to organise some groomsmen for his wedding. It’s not the most auspicious start for Hart, who enjoyed several top of the charts openings last year, but is far from a failure. Paddington, fresh from its success here, arrived in the States third, which is no mean feat given how much lower awareness of the character is in America. It made $19.2 million. The new arrivals meant that Taken 3 had to drop to fourth, earning $14 million for a $62.8 million total so far. And Selma, which suffered something of a snub in the Oscar nominations, dropped from second to fifth with $8.3 million. It’ll be interesting to see how the MLK weekend figures affect that in the final tally, given that the film is about King himself.
Talking of The Imitation Game, the film stayed put at sixth with $7.1 million and $50.7 million to date domestically. Into The Woods fell swiftly, dropping from third to seventh with $6.5 million, while The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies slid to eighth with $4.8 million. Unbroken was down to ninth, earning $4.2 million, but the real loser of the weekend was Michael Mann, who has seen Blackhat become one of his lowest openers for years. Hindered by fairly horrible word of mouth, the hacking thriller scored just $4 million despite a 2,567 screen count, which does not bode well for its future.
To see Bradley Cooper muscle Kevin Hart and a cuddly bear out of the way in the full chart listings, head to Box Office Mojo.
from Empire News
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