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‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ topples the reigning champion to take top spot at the weekend box office

‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ topples the reigning champion to take top spot at the weekend box office

Exodus Gods

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1‘s three-week reign at the box office came to an end this week, as the third entry in the series surrendered its crown to new release Exodus: Gods and Kings. The Ridley Scott-directed feature, which had come under some fire in the weeks leading up to its release due to some racially questionable casting, took in $24.5 million over the weekend. The low opening figure (for comparison, the third Hunger Games movie took in $21.6 million last week, in its third week of wide release), marks an overall downturn in the box office, which dropped 46% from the same weekend in 2013.

Exodus: Gods and Kings was not the only new release to make it to the top ten, as the Chris Rock feature Top Five also announced its presence, coming in fourth place with a total of $7.2 million, which put it just behind Penguins of Madagascar‘s $7.3 million haul. Last week’s box office champion continued its strong run, making $13.2 million over the weekend, with Big Hero 6 rounding out the top five. A notable absence from the list is David Fincher’s Gone Girl, as the film’s run in the top ten finally came to an end this week. A wider release also helped the Reese Witherspoon-starring Wild to make its way into the tenth spot of the chart, despite only playing in 116 theatres.

Among limited releases, the key opener was Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice, which made $330,000 over the weekend in five theatres, leading to a PSA of $65,592. The other surprise limited release opening was the Tamil-language feature Lingaa, whose $1.5 million take left it just shy of the tenth spot at the US box office. The film, which was playing on 136 screens, ended up with a PSA of $11,029.

The top earners at the US box office for the weekend is as follows:

  1. Exodus: Gods and Kings — $24,500,000
  2. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1 — $13,200,000
  3. Penguins of Madagascar — $7,300,000
  4. Top Five — $7,210,000
  5. Big Hero 6 — $6,145,000
  6. Interstellar — $5,500,000
  7. Horrible Bosses 2 — $4,630,000
  8. Dumb and Dumber To — $2,757,000
  9. The Theory of Everything — $2,525,000
  10. Wild — $1,550,000
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