The film adaptation of Electronic Arts best-selling video game franchise "The Need for Speed" found itself stuck in neutral for most of the weekend; The classic cartoon upgrade "Mr. Peabody & Sherman"and the 300 follow-up "300: Rise Of An Empire" bested the action film for the top two spots.
The Kickstarter funded return of Veronica Mars did ok all things considered--Tyler Perry's Single Moms Club stumbles.
Pamela McClintock of THR:
DreamWorks' new Aaron Paul racing movie Need for Speed stalled in its North American debut, coming in No. 3 with $17.8 million behind holdovers Mr. Peabody & Sherman and 300: Rise of an Empire.
The $66 million movie made up ground overseas, however, where it took in $45.6 million, including a $21.2 million launch in China, for a worldwide start of $63.2 million.
Peabody, falling a slim 34 percent in its second weekend, topped the North American chart with $21.2 million from 3,951 theaters for a solid 10-day domestic total of $63.2 million for DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox.
Warner Bros. and Legendary's Rise of an Empire -- hurting Need for Speed, since both appeal heavily to males -- grossed $19.1 million from 3,490 locations for a 10-day North American total of $78.3 million. The sequel fell 58 percent, normal for its genre (Need for Speed, Peabody and Rise of an Empire are all 3D releases).
Need for Speed, playing in 3,115 theaters and receiving poor reviews, opens at a crucial time for Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider's DreamWorks. The company is at a time of transition, with Snider being wooed for a top job at 20th Century Fox. And DreamWorks is coming off of two box-office misses, The Fifth Estate and Delivery Man. Need for Speed appealed heavily to younger adult males and earned a B+ CinemaScore.
Males made up 70 percent of the audience, with the majority of ticket buyers between the ages of 18 and 34 (56 percent).
Disney is distributing the movie in North America in select international territories, while Mister Smith Entertainment is handling Europe and other markets.
Need for Speed, directed by Scott Waugh, is adapted from the wildly popular Electronic Arts game, which has racked up sales in the $4 billion range. Paul -- looking to propel his Breaking Bad role into a movie career -- plays Tobey Marshall, who sets off on a cross-country race to avenge the death of a friend.
The weekend's other new nationwide theory, Lionsgate's female-centric Tyler Perry's The Single Moms Club, also stumbled, grossing $8.3 million from 3,183 theaters. That's the worst opening of Perry's prolific feature directing career behind the $11.2 million launch of Daddy's Little Girls in February 2007 and despite an A- CinemaScore.
Directed and written by Tyler Perry, Mom's Club stars Nia Long, Amy Smart, Cocoa Brown, Terry Crews, William Levy, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Perry. Nearly 80 percent of the audience was female; an equal number were over the age of 25.
At the specialty box office, Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel continued to absolutely wow, grossing a whopping $3.6 million as it expanded from four to 66 theaters in its second weekend. From Fox Searchlight, film came in No. 8 and boasts an early domestic total of $4.8 million. Its location average was $55,152 -- the best of the weekend by far.
Another film hardly disappointing is Rob Thomas' Veronica Mars, the feature based on the Kristen Bell series that was made a reality after a $5.7 million fundraising campaign on Kickstarter. The movie, playing in only 291 theaters in North America, including 265 in the U.S., grossed $2 million to place No. 10. It is unheard of for a Hollywood studio to open a film in theaters and also make it available to buy or rent online. Warner Bros., however, rented out the theaters.
Veronica Mars, posting a location average of $6,945, fell off a steep 39 percent from Friday to Saturday, indicating the movie was front-loaded by fans eager to see the film on Friday.
Elsewhere, Jason Bateman's R-rated black comedy Bad Words opened in six theaters, grossing $120,000 for a so-so location average of $20,000. Focus Features acquired the film out of the 2013 Toronto Film Festival. Bateman both directed and stars in Bad Words, about a high-school dropout who tries to prove his worth by entering a spelling bee as an adult.
Next Up: Summit Entertainment's big screen adaptation of author Veronica Roth's young adult novel "Divergent" arrives. The Muppets are back in Muppets Most Wanted.
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