It was the battle of the two sequels of two very popular
movies – one an animated family friendly film
with a cuddly dragon, and the other, a violent, profane R-rated buddy comedy.
Now logic would assume that the animated film would be
the victor, appealing to a larger, more mainstream audience of all ages; but
instead it was the R-rated film that won this weekend.
Who saw that coming?
“22
Jump Street” grossed $60
million, making it the 4th highest weekend tally for any R-rated film (“The Matrix Reloaded” is still No. 1 with
an opening $91.5 million).
“How
to Train Your Dragon 2” came in second with $50 million, which is being considered a
disappointment, despite the aggressive marketing, phenomenal word of mouth and stellar reviews
the film has gotten. However, look for “Jump Street” to drop off quickly in the
following weeks, while “Dragon” does steady business, with no competition for the
next few weeks, when it comes to family movies. It’s fairly certain that “Dragon” will eventually out gross “Jump Street” in the long run.
Last week’s No. 1 film, “The Fault in Our Stars,” dropped a whopping 67%, indicating most likely that of the audience for the film
(teenage girls) saw it during the first week of its release. But with a box office total of almost $82 million, “Stars,” with its very low $12 million production cost,
is already well into the black.
As for Tom Cruise’s “Edge of Tomorrow,” the film dropped a more modest 43%, beating out “Stars” this week, and indicating a much stronger word of mouth for the film.
And as for “Belle,”
the film dropped to 14th place, with
$510,000 for the weekend, with a total so far of $8, 569,000.
