The summer of 2014 is off to a great start following last week’s showing for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, although it wasn’t able to hold the #1 spot for long, as it faced the R-rated frathouse comedy Neighbors (Universal Pictures), starring Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne and Dave Franco.
Last week, it looked like it may be a tight race for the top spot with many thinking Neighbors might pull in somewhere in the mid-to-high $30 millions or even low $40 million for the weekend, but after a huge opening day with $19.6 million, the four-quadrant buzz for the hard-R comedy helped it hold up well. It ended the weekend with an estimated $51 million, making it the biggest non-animated opening for both Rogen (his previous best being The Green Hornet with $33.5 million) and Efron, besting High School Musical 3‘s $42 million opening. Based on estimates, Neighbors also claims the third-biggest opening for an R-rated-comedy just behind Seth MacFarlane’s Ted and The Hangover Part II and putting it just ahead of Jackass 3D.
The comedy made another $34.4 million overseas (where it’s called “Bad Neighbours”) to bring its global weekend total to $85.5 million. Not bad for a movie that reportedly cost $18 million to produce.
Meanwhile, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 took a significant plunge in its second weekend, dropping 59% as it settled into second place with $37.2 million. The superhero sequel has grossed $147.9 million domestically, but it’s still doing better overseas where it took in another $69.5 million this weekend–$25.1 million of that from China alone–to push its international gross over the $400 million mark. Its $550 million global take, with $38 million of that coming from IMAX screenings, puts it in second place for the year to Marvel Studios’ Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Fifth place went to Marvel Studios’ Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Disney) with $5.6 million, followed by the animated sequel Rio 2 (20th Century Fox) with $5.1 million for sixth place. The former has grossed $245 million domestically since opening in early April, while the latter’s domestic gross is $113 million after opening one week later. What’s interesting is that Captain America actually did better domestically than internationally this weekend, where it took in just $3.5 million, but its $695.6 million global gross still makes it the highest-grossing movie of the year so far.
Visit ComingSoon.net for more of this weekend’s box office estimates.
