This Weekend in Past Years:





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Young-adult adaptationruled the box office this weekend with an estimated $56 million. While that's a step down from the first, it's still good enough to justify Summit Entertainment's aggressive sequel plans.Among the other new releases,opened significantly lower than its predecessor, while Christian dramaput up some surprisingly strong numbers.'s $56 million debut was down 20 percent from the first, and wasn't in the same league as. Still, it ranks second among 2014 movies, and eighth all-time for March releases. It also earned more in its first three days than the combined totals of YA flopsandRecognizing that this potential franchise was a key part of the company's long-term prospects, Summit Entertainment (a Lionsgate company) executed a blockbuster-level marketing campaign for. While it wasn't explicitly stated in marketing material,was essentially sold as the heir to theandfranchises. That may have made the movie look derivative to some people, but it did manage to connect with many outside of the book's fanbase: only half of the audience read the book ahead of time, which compares favorably to(74 percent) and(76 percent).Some other positive metrics: the audience was more evenly split between men (41 percent) and women, and between older and younger (50 percent were over the age of 25). Only 40 percent of its opening weekend gross was earned on Friday, which makes it less front-loaded than any of theormovies. It also received an "A" CinemaScore, suggesting word-of-mouth will be solid.Long-term,seems poised to earn at least $130 million at the domestic box office. As long as it does decent business overseas, this is enough to justify moving forward with sequelsand, which are currently scheduled for March 2015 and March 2016.In second place,opened to an estimated $16.5 million. In contrast, the lastmovie earned $29.2 million in its first weekend. That's not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison: 2011'sburned off some demand with a Wednesday opening, but also got a weekend bump from Black Friday. Regardless, this is a significant decline.'s audience skewed young (54 percent under 25) and female (54 percent). They gave the movie a "B+" CinemaScore. Considering this is playing to family audiences, it should hold up decently in the next few weeks; still, it's unlikely to make it much higher than $50 million or so.fell 46 percent to $11.7 million. To date, the DreamWorks Animation movie has earned $81 million.dropped 55 percent to $8.7 million. The sequel has now grossed $93.8 million.At just 780 locations,earned an incredible $8.56 million. That ranks seventh all-time among faith-based movies, and ranks first among those opening in fewer than 1,000 theaters. It's a bit below($9.1 million), but above($6.8 million).had a grassroots marketing effort targeted specifically at Christians, who often feel neglected by Hollywood. The movie featuredstars Willie and Korie Robertson, along with popular Christian rock band Newsboys (who have an album titled "God's Not Dead"). At least as important was its intriguing story, which centered around a devout Christian college student's philosophical battle with his atheist professor.Distributor Freestyle Releasing is looking to expand the movie next weekend. With good word-of-mouth, this could ultimately earn over $30 million total.In its second weekend,stalled out with $7.78 million (down 56 percent). Through 10 days, the video game adaptation has earned a disappointing $30.4 million. Wes Anderson 'sexpanded to 304 locations and earned $6.75 million. That translates to a very strong $22,204 per-theater average. The movie has already grossed nearly $13 million, and is set to expand nationwide to over 800 theaters next weekend.For the second weekend,led the overseas box office with $29.2 million. Its biggest new market was Germany, where it opened in first place with $3 million. The real story, though, is's performance in China: to date, its earned $41.7 million there, which is significantly higher than its U.S. total.has grossed $96.1 million total, and still has Spain, France, South Korea and Japan on the way.added $21 million, which brings its total to $195.4 million. Its top market so far is Russia with $16.6 million. It still has Japan and (possibly) China on the way, and should ultimately match the original's $245 million total.A week ahead of its U.S. debut, Darren Aronofsky 'sopened to $8.3 million in South Korea and $5.7 million in Mexico. That's a combined $14 million, which is more thanoracross those two markets. All of this suggests that—which is being shown in 3D in most overseas territories—is poised to do strong business as it starts to expand next weekend.added $11.4 million for a new total of $102.2 million. Unfortunately, it only has three markets left, and will probably fall short of $200 million total.Three weeks before it reaches U.S. theaters,opened to $10.4 million in Russia and Ukraine. Most of that came from Russia, where the movie took first place with $9.8 million. The firstearned $341 million overseas; it remains to be seen if the sequel can come close to that figure.With $33.1 million,is already director Wes Anderson's highest-grossing movie overseas.held first place in Japan with $8 million ($28.9 million total). Sometime this weekend,passedto move in to 12th place on the all-time worldwide chart. The movie has now earned $1.05 billion total, and is poised to pass($1.063 billion) in the next week or so.Box Office Mojo