Box Office: ‘Captain America,’ ‘Rio 2′ Both Aiming at $46 Million Weekend
In the closest box office race of 2014, Disney-Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Solder” and Fox-Blue Sky Studios’ “Rio 2″ are both looking to finish the weekend as high as $46 million.
Studio estimates showed “Winter Soldier” leading on Friday with $13.2 million — enough to edge “Rio 2″ in the $11 million to $12.5 million range.
The early numbers represent positive news for both titles with many moviegoers starting on Easter week holidays.
“Winter Soldier,” which grossed $117.6 million domestically in its first week, is holding impressively with a projected weekend-to-weekend decline of 53% — a much better hold than 2011′s “Captain America: The First Avenger,” which slid 61% in its second frame to $25 million.
As for “Rio 2,” the weekend looks likely to easily exceed the U.S. opening of its predecessor, which launched $39.3 million in 2011 on its way to a $143 million domestic cume. “Rio 2″ has already grossed $60 million in a dozen overseas markets and is widening over the weekend to 55 markets including China and Mexico.
With only 10% of schoolchildren on vacation Friday, the Saturday showings of “Rio 2″ are expected to jump impressively.
Lionsgate’s Kevin Costner starrer “Draft Day” and Relativity’s supernatural scarer “Oculus” are battling for third place with the latter taking in around $5.6 million on Friday — projecting to a weekend in the $13.5 million to $16 million range.
“Oculus,” with a modest $5 million budget, pulled in $475,000 at late-night Thursday showings.
Friday estimates for “Draft Day” came in between $3.5 million to $4 million for a weekend in the $11 million to $15 million range. Positive word-of-mouth appeared to the better than average.
Lionsgate’s fourth weekend of “Divergent” appeared likely to wind up in fifth with $7.5 million to $8 million, which would bring its domestic cume to about $125 million in 24 days.
Lionsgate announced Friday that it plans to make two films from “Allegiant,” the final book in Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” trilogy.
The closest box office races so far this year came on the Jan. 3-5 frame, when “Frozen” grossed $19.6 million, beating the fifth “Paranormal Activity” by $1.3 million; Feb. 28-March 2 weekend, when “Non-Stop” took in $28.9 million to edge “Son of God” by $3.3 million; and on the March 14-16, when “Mr. Peabody” won with $21.8 million, $2.6 million ahead of “300: Rise of an Empire.”
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