Weekend Report: 'LEGO Movie' Dominates President's Day Weekend
by Ray Subers -- February 16, 2014
With its strong date night appeal, About Last Night opened strong on Valentine's Day and wound up ahead of fellow 80s remakes RoboCop and Endless Love this weekend. Still, it was no match for The LEGO Movie, which easily led the box office over President's Day weekend.
In its second outing, The LEGO Movie added $50 million. That's a very light 28 percent drop, which is way ahead of most comparable titles (for example, The Lorax fell 45 percent in its second weekend). For the four-day frame, LEGO earned $63.5 million, which is a new record for President's Day weekend.
So far, LEGO has earned $143.8 million, and remains on track to easily surpass $200 million.
Playing at 2,253 locations, the About Last Night remake opened to an estimated $25.7 million. That's the best opening for a romantic comedy since 2012's Think Like a Man ($33.6 million), which also featured Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy and Regina Hall. It is noticeably lower than recent Kevin Hart movie Ride Along ($41.5 million), though that's a tough number to match.
According to Sony, About Last Night's audience was 63 percent female and 57 percent over the age of 30. They awarded the movie a solid "A-" CinemaScore.
After a very slow mid-week start, the Robocop remake rebounded a bit over the weekend. Still, its $21.7 million three-day tally was a bit lower than comparable President's Day action movies A Good Day to Die Hard ($24.8 million) and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance ($22.1 million). It's also off from 2012's Total Recall ($25.6 million), which was also a Sony remake of a Paul Verhoeven sci-fi movie.
Sony reported that the audience for RoboCop was 62 percent male and 64 percent over the age of 25. IMAX showings accounted for $4.5 million. With a "B+" CinemaScore, it would be surprising if RoboCop made it past $70 million.
In fourth place, The Monuments Men added $15.5 million, which is only off 30 percent from last weekend. With $44.2 million total, it's already the highest-grossing movie ever from director George Clooney.
The Endless Love remake opened in fifth place with $13.2 million. Over 56 percent of that debut came on Friday (Valentine's Day), which makes this one of the most front-loaded debuts ever. It's also not a particularly strong figure: in comparison, last year's Safe Haven took in $21.4 million without help from Valentine's Day.
According to Universal, Endless Love's audience was predominantly young women (80 percent female, 76 percent under the age of 25). They gave the movie an "A-" CinemaScore, which is a fine mark. Based on the front-loaded weekend figure, though, this movie seems poised to fall off quickly in the coming weeks.
In seventh place, Winter's Tale bombed with just $7.3 million. This is the latest disappointment for star Colin Farrell: he has also recently headlined Dead Man Down ($5.3 million) and Seven Psychopaths ($4.2 million).
Note: A full Around-the-World Roundup will not be available this week. Major movies this weekend include The LEGO Movie, RoboCop and Frozen—please check their individual pages for new totals.
