Bad weather’s influence felt
As moviegoers along the East Coast battled snowstorms, floods and other inclement conditions, cineplexes across the influential region found themselves rather empty this past weekend. That left new releases including “The 5th Wave,” “Dirty Grandpa” and “The Boy” all well behind box-office holdovers.
Placing first was “The Revenant,” with an estimated $16 million in the U.S. and Canada, falling well below expectations. In the fifth week, the Leonardo DiCaprio-fronted western epic has grossed $119.2 million.
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” took second place, adding $14.3 million to its record-breaking run. The latest installment of the space saga has grossed $1.9 billion globally, making it the No. 3 movie of all time.
Falling to third was the previous weekend’s winner, “Ride Along 2.” Though expected to gross around $20 million for the weekend, the Kevin Hart- and Ice Cubestarring buddy cop sequel took in only an estimated $13 million. Many of the locations where the film performed best in its first weekend were affected by the winter storm, and more than half of the sequel’s audience then was under 25, a demographic typically less dedicated than, for example, “The Revenant’s” audience.
Of the new releases, “Dirty Grandpa” fared best with a fourth-place finish. The R-rated comedy met expectations with $11.5 million in ticket sales. Starring Robert De Niro as Zac Efron’s foul-mouthed, raunchy grandfather, the film follows the duo as they take a wild spring-break trip to Daytona Beach, Fla., before Efron’s character marries.
The film received a B grade from audience polling firm CinemaScore but only an 8% positive rating on critic site Rotten Tomatoes.
Rounding out the top five was “The Boy.” With a production budget of only $10 million, the film brought in $11.3 million in its debut. The PG-13 supernatural thriller follows an American nanny hired by an English family to care for a life-sized doll that the family treats like a living child.
It tracked best with women (62%), those younger than 25 (75%) and with Latinos, who constituted 41% of the audience.
“The 5th Wave” landed in sixth place. Starring Chloë Grace Moretz, it grossed an estimated $10.7 million, falling below the $11-million to $13-million expectations for its domestic debut. Granted, the studio did project a more conservative $8 million for the young-adult novel adaptation.
In the film, Moretz plays a teen trying to save her younger brother amid a series of devastating alien attacks. It cost $38 million.