Home, the newest feature from animation studio Dreamworks, won the top spot in its opening weekend, beating out competitors with a $54 million opening. The total marks Dreamworks’ first box office top finish since Mr. Peabody and Sherman achieved the feat a year ago, and the studio’s first opening weekend victory since 2013’s The Croods. The PG-rated Home was joined at the top by fellow new opener and R-rated Get Hard, as the Will Ferrell-Kevin Hart comedy took in $34.6 million in its opening weekend, good for a second place finish.
Among the rest of the films, the other big entry was the indie horror film It Follows. Distributors’ plans to forego a VOD opening this weekend in favour of taking the film to a wide theatrical release instead paid off, as the movie made $4 million in its expansion, finishing in fifth place on the chart with a $4 million total. Last week’s box office champion The Divergent Series: Insurgent took a tumble of over 57% to finish with $22 million, with Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella taking the fourth spot with a $17.5 million haul in its third weekend. The biggest drop of the weekend wasn’t the YA adaptation, however, as the Sean Penn-starring The Gunman fell over 59%, finishing its second weekend in tenth place with $2 million.
Among limited releases, the big opener was Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young. The film, which reteams Baumbach with Ben Stiller, opened in four theatres and earned $242,152, finishing with a PSA of $60,538. Abel Ferrera’s newest feature Welcome to New York opened in one theatre in conjunction with VOD, earning $400 over the weekend in theatres. Lone Scherfig’s latest film The Riot Club earned $14,000 in the five theatres it ran in, garnering a PSA of $2,800 to go with its VOD earnings, where it also was released this weekend. Hungarian feature White God made $16,000 in its opening in two theatres, for a PSA of $8,000, while The Salt of the Earth, a documentary co-directed by Wim Wenders, made $44,936 in four theatres, which gave it a PSA of $11,234. Susanne Bier’s Serena, which opened in theatres a month after its VOD release, earned $110,000 in 60 theatres, garnering a PSA of $1,833.
The top earners at the US box office for the weekend is as follows:
- Home — $54,000,000
- Get Hard — $34,610,000
- The Divergent Series: Insurgent — $22,075,000
- Cinderella — $17,515,000
- It Follows — $4,021,000
- Kingsman: The Secret Service — $3,050,000
- Run All Night — $2,205,000
- The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel — $2,185,000
- Do You Believe? — $2,150,000
- The Gunman — $2,045,000