|
 Walt Disney Co's "Captain America," which set an April ticket
sales record when it opened a week ago, pulled in another $41.4
million from Friday to Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters.
The "Rio" sequel from 20th Century Fox debuted with $39 million
in ticket sales, according to estimates from tracking firm
Rentrak.
Low-budget horror flick "Oculus," a new film from "Paranormal
Activity" producer Jason Blum, finished in third place,
collecting $12 million.
Ahead of the weekend, box office forecasters had predicted
"Captain America" and "Rio" would battle in a close race, with
each taking in $40 million-plus.
"Rio 2" is a sequel to a 2011 film about a vibrantly colored
family of rare macaw birds in Brazil. Jesse Eisenberg and Anne
Hathaway provide voices for the avian parents who take their
family to the Amazon in search of a possible colony of their
critically endangered brothers and sisters.
Global sales for the film, which cost $103 million to make,
reached $164 million through Sunday, according to Fox.
"Our target was to equal the first one, and that's what we did,"
said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution for 20th
Century Fox, a unit of 21st Century Fox, referring to "Rio,"
which took in $39.2 million on its opening weekend.
Aronson said the film was positioned well going forward as well,
with spring break and school holidays in the coming weeks.
"There's not another animated film (opening) for nine weeks, so
it gives us a nice long runway," he said, adding that exits
polls for both parents and children were strong, and that the
film was playing better than expected with African-American and
Hispanic audiences.
"Captain America," which stars Chris Evans as a scrawny World
War Two reject given super powers from an experimental serum, is
the latest superhero hit from Disney's Marvel Studios.
[to top of second column] |
The film has earned a total of $476 million since it started rolling
out internationally on March 26, validating the strategy of
distributor Disney to ramp up its pipeline of films featuring Marvel
Comics super heroes.
Since Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion in 2009, Marvel characters
have starred in some of Hollywood's biggest hits. "Iron Man 3" was
last year's second-highest grossing film with domestic sales of $409
million, while 2012's "Marvel's The Avengers" was the third-biggest
film in Hollywood history, with $623.4 million in domestic sales and
$1.5 billion worldwide.
"Oculus," distributed by Relativity Media, stars British actress
Karen Gillan as a young woman who is convinced an ornate mirror in
her home is haunted. Like Blum's other horror hits, it cost less
than $5 million to make. Relativity paid $2.5 million for rights to
distribute the film in the United States and Canada.
Football drama "Draft Day" earned the No. 4 slot, grossing $9.75
million. The movie stars Kevin Costner as fictional Cleveland Browns
general manager Sonny Weaver Jr., who races the clock to maneuver
for the best players while dealing with upheaval in his personal
life. Several scenes were filmed during last year's real-life NFL
draft.
Rounding out the top five, the dystopian action film "Divergent"
pulled in $7.5 million. Its worldwide grosses have reached $175
million.
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp released "Draft Day" and "Divergent."
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Chris Michaud;
editing by Sandra Maler)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
