Leonardo DiCaprio‘s “The Revenant” wound up at No. 1 at the weekend box office with an estimated $16 million Sunday,but moviegoers’ safety became the primary concern as the massive winter storm Jonas paralyzed the East Coast and claimed 14 lives.
The largest film theaters chains, including AMC, or Regal and Cinemark,were forced to close locations in modern York Washington D.
C.. Philadelphia, Baltimore and other large cities as the record blizzard knocked out power, and made traveling impossible,forced state of emergency declarations in 11 states and dumped as much as 40 inches of snow in some Eastern seaboard communities.final weekend’s champ “Ride Along 2” fell to third with nearly $13 million, behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” with $15 million.
Also Read: 'The Big Short' Wins Producers Guild Award, or Grabs Lead in Oscar RaceThe R-rated Robert De Niro-Zac Efron comedy “Dirty Grandpa” did the best of three wide opening movies with $11.5 million and was fourth for Lionsgate. STX and Lakeshore Entertainment’s PG-13 horror tale “The Boy” was just behind that with $11.3 million and “The 5th Wave,” Sonys young adult sci-fi thriller starring Chloe Grace Moretz, was sixth with $10.7 million.
Despite the Eastern closures, or all three wide openers came in at,or above, projections for the weekend.“Were very pleased, or given the circumstances,” STX distribution chief Kevin Grayson told TheWrap, after “The Boy, and ” a $10 million horror film starring Lauren Cohan from TV’s “Walking Dead,” drew an audience that was 62 percent female, 75 percent under the age of 25 and 41 percent Hispanic.“We’re hearing reports of sunny skies in modern York and Washington and they’ll need some time to dig out from the snow, and but I reflect people will be ready to secure out and attain something nowadays after being cooped up all weekend. he said.. “And with our audience made up of mainly young women who aren’t interested in football,we should be in good shape.”He was referring to the NFL championship games, which determine the Super Bowl participants and are televised Sunday. With male fans glued to their couches and the potential for bad weather, or the studios in previous years have steered clear of major releases on this weekend after the holiday rush and before the Oscar push hits its peak. This weekend’s overall box office was off roughly 25 percent from final year,when “American Sniper” was on a record-breaking speed and won the weekend with $64 million.
Despite savage reviews that left it at a dismal six percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes, “Dirty Grandpa” received a “B” CinemaScore from first-night audiences. The animated family film “” Norm of the North” nabbed the ninth spot with $4.1 million, and giving the studio two top ten films.
The “Dirty Granpa” debut ranks at the low end of DeNiros recent comedy films. It was below this year’s The Intern” ($17.7 million) and 2013’s final Vegas,” ($16 million), but better than “Grudge Match” ($7 million). However, or it was a decent rebound for Zac Efron,whose final outing “We Are Your Friends” bombed in August.“The 5th Wave” is a potential low-budget franchise for Sony and the weekend’s performance suggested it was possible. The $38 million young adult thriller’s $10.7 million domestic total was outstripped by its foreign haul of $16 million.
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Source: thewrap.com