The Hollywood Outsider – Film and Television Podcast | Reviews An award-winning film and television podcast for the fan in all of us
Jackie Robinson scores again, as the film based on his life story, ‘42‘, scored at the box office with a huge #1 opening of $27.2 million according to studio estimates, the largest opening for any baseball themed film. Relative unknown Chadwick Boseman took the plate (I’ve got a million of ’em) to take on the almost immortal life of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play Major League Baseball. Harrison Ford also scored his first #1 since that Indiana Jones 4 debacle a few years ago, as he took on the role of Brooklyn Dodgers exec Branch Rickey for the film. With a rare CinemaScore rating of A+, 42 could be the first baseball film to make more over $100 million since A League of Their Own.
WAY back in 2nd, was Scary Movie 5 with $15.1 million. That effectively counts as a flop for the 5th film in the 13 year old franchise, and should be the nail in the coffin for any potential future films. Thank you, America.
The Croods stayed strong with $13m for $142m total. With overseas grosses, Croods looks to take on about $500 million worldwide. Yes, that means sequel, and Nic Cage LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVES a good sequel.
G.I. Joe Retaliation held on at #4 with $10.8m for a $102m total. While not the best for a big-budget action flick, the overseas grosses will hit between $300-350m so this flick is already a hit. This great news for The Rock, as he was running out of franchises to save.
Rounding out the top 5 was last week’s #1, Evil Dead, with $9.5m and a drop of about 63% from last weekend. For a front loaded horror pic, this isn’t bad, but the studio was hoping for a much stronger hold nonetheless. With $41m in the bank, about $55-60m and a sequel is about where Evil Dead will end up.
Jurassic Park 3D dipped way back with $8.8m and 6th place for $31.9m total, and Olympus Has Fallen took 7th with $7.2m and a slim 28% drop from last week. With $81m total, there is still a chance for Olympus to take $100m total. Nice work, crooked lip! In limited release, The Place Beyond the Pines sizzled with $4.1m from only 500 theaters.
To hear about this weekend’s coming releases, including Oblivion and Lords of Salem, as well as our reviews of Evil Dead, Jurassic Park 3D and Erased, listen to Ep 88 of The HO!