Who was worrying? Paramount
was actually.

They were worrying if they had a major disaster on their
hands with Noah. After months of hype,
the studio began to get worried when high profile Christian organizations and
leaders did not totally embrace Noah, or flat-out had objections to it, and
weren’t going to endorse the film.

And to add insult to injury, the film even got banned in some countries, such as Indonesia. As a result, the studio started getting cold feet about the
film, and, in an unusual move for such a highly publicized, very expensive film, held up advance media screenings for most of the national media until
just two days before it opened.

And some box office predictions were for the film
struggling to break past $30 million, which meant trouble for the reportedly $130
million production (though some estimates have the figure much higher than
that).

Well it turned out, as I said, that Paramount had nothing to worry
about. Thanks to huge interest and crossover appeal, a great media campaign and
good reviews, Noah came in at No.1 this weekend, earning $44 million, which was much better than expected. And add to that the $51 million that the film has made
overseas to date, and Paramount execs are breathing a sigh of relief.

On the opposite end, Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s third attempt at a comeback in the movies, with David Ayer’s Sabotage, completely
fizzled, earning a lousy $5.3 million
this weekend. It seems obvious that his time has come and gone.

Last week’s No. 1 film Divergent dropped 51%, and yet was still
able to hang on to the No. 2 slot; while Muppets Most Wanted came in third.

And 12 Years A Slave proves once again the falsehood that
black films don’t make money overseas. With $121 million to date grossed in foreign markets alone, twice the almost $57 million it’s made domestically, and with
a worldwide total of $178. 6 million,
at the rate it’s going, it will soon hit the $200 million mark worldwide.