Weekend Report: 'Jupiter Ascending' Crushed By Super 'SpongeBob'
by Ray Subers --- February 8, 2015
Over a decade after the first SpongeBob movie hit theaters, moviegoers were more than ready for another trip to Bikini Bottom this weekend.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water opened to a massive $56 million, which is one of the best debuts ever in the month of February.
The other new releases weren't so hot: the Wachowskis' Jupiter Ascending opened below $20 million, while Seventh Son fell short of $10 million.
The Top 12 earned an estimated $139.3 million, which is roughly on par with the same weekend last year. Look for a big jump next weekend when Fifty Shades of Grey and Kingsman: The Secret Service hit theaters.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water's $56 million debut is up 75 percent from the first SpongeBob's $32 million opening. It ranks fifth all-time in the month of February behind Valentine's Day ($56.3 million). It couldn't quite reach the same level as last year's The LEGO Movie and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), but its impressive that it came as close as it did.
This is a stunning result for a brand that arguably hit its peak a decade ago, and Paramount and Nickelodeon deserve credit for making some very savvy choices throughout the entire process here. Recognizing that a traditionally hand-drawn SpongeBob movie wasn't going to cut it, they chose to differentiate this movie by adding a live-action/CGI section. While that represents a fairly small portion of the movie—less than 50 percent—it accounted for the overwhelming majority of the marketing campaign.
They also gave super powers to SpongeBob and his friends, which allowed them to piggyback on—and satirize—the current superhero movie craze. Add this on top of the show's trademark humor, and there was plenty here to interest parents (a key to success with family entertainment).
It's also worth noting that this is the second year in a row that a family-friendly movie over-performed on the first weekend of February (last year, of course, was The LEGO Movie). It's unclear if this is just a coincidence, or if this is actually a great time to release a family movie; regardless, it's something to keep in mind when Illumination Entertainment's Untitled Pets Project opens around the same date next year.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water's audience was 53 percent male and 60 percent under the age of 25. They awarded the movie a "B" CinemaScore, which is below-average for this genre. Still, with zero competition for the next four weeks, The SpongeBob Movie will almost certainly earn over $150 million total.
After holding the top spot for the past three weeks, American Sniper dropped down to second place this weekend with an estimated $24.2 million (down 21 percent). That ranks eighth all-time among fourth weekends, and is the biggest one since The Avengers in 2012.
American Sniper has now earned $282.3 million, which is the second highest total ever for an R-rated movie behind The Passion of the Christ ($370.3 million). It's also as much as the combined earnings of all of the other 2014 Best Picture nominees. American Sniper now appears on track to earn around $350 million total.
Playing at 3,181 locations, Jupiter Ascending opened in third place with a very disappointing $19 million this weekend. That's only a fraction above the Wachowskis' Speed Racer ($18.6 million); with seven years of ticket price inflation and the addition of 3D premiums, it's likely that attendance for Jupiter was substantially lower.
Jupiter Ascending's opening was also around $10 million less than recent big-budget sci-fi movies like Elysium ($29.8 million), Edge of Tomorrow ($28.8 million), After Earth ($27.5 million) and Ender's Game ($27 million), all of which were considered misses on opening weekend.
The marketing for Jupiter Ascending never quite found a way to sell the convoluted story, and also struggled to hide the movie's sillier elements. It also doesn't help that the Wachowski brand is essentially worthless now: the massive amount of goodwill generated by The Matrix has faded thanks to two lukewarm sequels followed by odd originals Speed Racer and Cloud Atlas.
Warner Bros. is reporting that the audience was 57 percent male and 82 percent over the age of 25. Showings in 3D accounted for 52 percent of ticket sales.
Moviegoers awarded Jupiter Ascending a weak "B-" CinemaScore; combine that with poor reviews, and it's a foregone conclusion that this fades quickly. There's a realistic chance that this falls short of $50 million, which would be a huge loss considering the movie's massive price tag ($176 million). There's always a chance that overseas saves the day, though it's hard to imagine it generates much more than $200 million or so outside of the U.S.
In fourth place, Seventh Son bombed with an estimated $7.1 million. That's lower than early 2014 flops I, Frankenstein ($8.6 million), The Legend of Hercules ($8.9 million) and Pompeii ($10.3 million). It is, at least, better than fellow Legendary Pictures movie Blackhat's $3.9 million, though that's not saying much.
Seventh Son has been gathering dust on various shelves since completing principal photography two-and-a-half years ago. If a movie is well-made and has some kind of interesting hook, it's possible to overcome this kind of delay. Seventh Son, on the other hand, would probably have looked like a derivative mess regardless of when it opened, and this lengthy delay only served to exacerbate the problem.
According to distributor Universal Pictures—who picked up the movie when production company Legendary Pictures moved over from Warner Bros.—the movie's audience was 61 percent male and 53 percent were 30 years of age or older. They awarded the movie a "B-" CinemaScore, which fits in nicely with the movie's 10 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Look for Seventh Son to fall off quickly in the coming weeks on its way to less than $20 million total.
Paddington rounded out the Top Five with $5.37 million, which is off a light 35 percent from last weekend. The movie has now earned $57.3 million, and remains on track to close with at least $70 million total.
Project Almanac dipped 36 percent to an estimated $5.33 million. That's a strong hold for this teen-friendly title, though part of that can be attributed to the Super Bowl weekend effect. So far, Project Almanac has banked $15.8 million total.
The Imitation Game held steady at $4.9 million—off three percent—and has now grossed $74.7 million total. Meanwhile, Black or White eased 27 percent to an estimated $4.5 million. Through 10 days, the Kevin Costner drama has earned $13.1 million.
