Weekend Box Office: Angry Birds Catapult To The Second Highest Video Game Opening
You've been playing the games on your phone and tablets for years, and the flock of pig-pelting birds have brought in millions of dollars through billions of downloads and untold numbers of sweaters, pillows, plushies and more. But when it came to a major motion picture, audiences weren't quite as excited to hand over the same kinds of time or money.
The Angry Birds Movie comes from a franchise with only the thinnest of narratives, but it's still based on a video game, making it one of the few success stories in that genre. The movie opened at number one with $39 million, the second highest ever video game adaptation opening after Lara Croft: Tomb Raider ($47 million, 2001). Only one video game movie has ever banked more than $100 million domestically (again, Tomb Raider), but if Angry Birds holds strong going into next week it might be the second to break into that bracket. That's a much more rosy perspective than looking at the movie as an animated feature. $39 million ranks it as a third tier entry in the animation box office department with the likes of Over The Hedge and Chicken Little. Foreign sales topped $100 million, eclipsing the $70 million production budget and leaving Sony with plenty of room to green light a sequel.
Captain America slipped to second place, adding $33 million to a $347 million total, the second highest gross this year and within shot of overtaking number one Deadpool by next weekend.
It was a rough weekend for sequel Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. The raunchy buddy comedy re-united Seth Rogen and Zac Efron from the original Neighbors which opened at $49 million and went on to command $150 million. The sequel settled for a limp third place this weekend with $21 million, less than half of its predecessor.
Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling teamed up for the other rated-R comedy opening this weekend, The Nice Guys. Audiences were even less interested here, handing over just $11 million for a fourth place start.
For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below:
The Angry Birds Movie *
$39,000,000Total: $39,000,000LW: N
THTRS: 3,932
Captain America: Civil War
$33,114,000Total: $347,390,153LW: 1
THTRS: 4,226
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising *
$21,790,000Total: $21,790,000LW: N
THTRS: 3,384
The Nice Guys *
$11,270,000Total: $11,270,000LW: N
THTRS: 2,865
The Jungle Book (2016)
$11,017,000Total: $327,497,565LW: 2
THTRS: 3,460
Money Monster
$7,080,000Total: $27,103,677LW: 3
THTRS: 3,104
The Darkness
$2,363,000Total: $8,460,482LW: 4
THTRS: 1,769
$1,703,000Total: $334,403,528LW: 6
THTRS: 1,377
The Huntsman: Winter's War
$1,190,000Total: $46,668,690LW: 7
THTRS: 1,246
Mother's Day
$1,115,214Total: $31,288,936LW: 5
THTRS: 1,719
CINEMABLEND NEWSLETTER
Your Daily Blend of Entertainment News
Most Popular
By Ryan LaBee
By Riley Utley
By Riley Utley
By Ryan LaBee
By Erik Swann
By Mike Reyes
By Carly Levy
By Adam Holmes