NORTH AMERICA: 4-Day Weekend Estimates: ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Seizes Presidents Day Weekend Record with $94.4M; ‘Kingsman’ Exceeds Expectations with $42.0M Debut; ‘The SpongeBob Movie’ Takes Third with $40.0M

Monday Update: Universal’s Fifty Shades of Grey lived up to the hype at the box office this weekend with an estimated four day-day holiday start of $94.4 million. The highly anticipated erotic romantic drama opened in line with its massive (and wide-ranging) pre-release expectations, which had surged in the weeks leading up to the film’s release due in part to extremely strong pre-sales. Fifty Shades of Grey seized control of the record for the largest four-day Presidents Day weekend debut of all time; as it outpaced the $63.14 million four-day start of 2010’s Valentine’s Day by a very impressive 49.5 percent.

With the film’s revised three-day estimate now standing at $85.04 million, Fifty Shades of Grey also claimed the largest opening weekend ever for the month of February (without adjusting for ticket price inflation). The previous record holder was 2004’s The Passion of the Christ, which opened with $83.85 million back in 2004. Fifty Shades of Grey also claimed the fourth largest R-rated three-day opening weekend of all-time (behind only 2003’s The Matrix Reloaded, last month’s debut of American Sniper and 2011’s The Hangover Part II).

The four-day to three-day ratio for Fifty Shades of Grey stands at 1.11 to 1. It is possible that Fifty Shades of Grey may be quite front-loaded going forward, due in part to the opening weekend rush out of the film’s pre-existing fanbase. The film’s lackluster C+ CinemaScore rating and poor critical reviews aren’t promising early signs either when it comes to long term holding power. The audience breakdown for Fifty Shades of Grey skewed heavily towards female moviegoers (68 percent) and towards moviegoers over the age of 25 (58 percent).

Fox’s Kingsman: The Secret Service was off to a nice start of its own this weekend with an estimated second place four-day take of $42.0 million. The Matthew Vaughn directed graphic novel adaptation starring Colin Firth exceeded expectations and likely received an added boost from serving as counter-programming for audiences not interested in Fifty Shades of Grey this weekend. Without adjusting for ticket price inflation, Kingsman claimed the seventh largest four-day Presidents Day weekend debut ever. Kingsman opened a very impressive 96 percent stronger than the $21.39 million four-day start of 2010’s Kick-Ass.

The revised three-day estimate for Kingsman: The Secret Service stands at $36.23 million. That gives the film a four-day to three-day ratio of 1.16 to 1. Kingsman received a solid B+ rating on CinemaScore.

After last weekend’s stronger than expected debut, Paramount’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water fell two spots and 28 percent to claim third place over the four-day frame with an estimated $40.0 million. While The SpongeBob Movie experienced a significant second weekend decline for a family film over Presidents Day weekend, the film still continues to exceed expectations in a big way thanks to getting off to such a strong start last weekend. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is set to surpass the $100 million mark on Monday and has grossed $103.13 million through eleven days of release. The revised three-day estimate for The SpongeBob Movie is $31.68 million.

Warner’s American Sniper placed in fourth with an estimated four-day take of $19.46 million. In the process the Clint Eastwood directed blockbuster starring Bradley Cooper surpassed the $300 million mark this weekend; making it just the third release of 2014 to do so. American Sniper was down a healthy 16 percent from last weekend, as the film continues to hold up well. The film has grossed a massive $307.16 million after 32 days of wide release and remains on course to become the highest grossing release of 2014. The revised 3-day estimate for American Sniper is $16.53 million.

Fellow Warner Bros. release Jupiter Ascending rounded out the weekend’s top five with an estimated $10.68 million over the holiday frame. The expensive 3D sci-fi film from The Wachowskis starring Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis was down a sizable 42 percent from last weekend. Jupiter Ascending has grossed $33.80 million in eleven days, which is very disappointing with the film’s price tag in mind. The film is currently running 9 percent ahead of the $30.95 million eleven-day take of 2008’s Speed Racer. The revised 3-day estimate for Jupiter Ascending stands at $9.24 million.

Sunday Update: Universal’s Fifty Shades of Grey lived up to the hype at the box office this weekend with an estimated three-day start of $81.7 million. The highly anticipated erotic romantic drama opened in line with its massive (and wide-ranging) pre-release expectations, which had surged in the weeks leading up to the film’s release due in part to extremely strong pre-sales. Fifty Shades of Grey seized control of the record for the largest three-day Presidents Day weekend debut of all time; as it outpaced the $56.26 million three-day start of 2010’s Valentine’s Day by a very impressive 45 percent. Without adjusting for ticket price inflation, Fifty Shades of Grey claimed the second largest opening weekend ever for the month of February, as it placed just behind the $83.85 million opening weekend performance of 2004’s The Passion of the Christ. Fifty Shades of Grey also claimed the fifth largest R-rated opening weekend of all-time (behind only 2003’s The Matrix Reloaded, last month’s debut of American Sniper, 2011’s The Hangover Part II and The Passion of the Christ). Universal’s current four-day estimate for Fifty Shades of Grey is $90.7 million.

Fifty Shades of Grey opened with $30.3 million on Friday (which included an estimated $8.6 million from Thursday night shows), experienced a healthy 21 percent Valentine’s Day boost on Saturday to take in $36.7 million and is estimated to decline 60 percent on Sunday to gross $14.7 million. That gives the film an estimated opening weekend to Friday ratio of 2.70 to 1. It is possible that Fifty Shades of Grey may be quite front-loaded going forward, due in part to the opening weekend rush out of the film’s pre-existing fanbase. The film’s lackluster C+ CinemaScore rating and poor critical reviews aren’t promising early signs either when it comes to long term holding power.

The audience breakdown for Fifty Shades of Grey skewed heavily towards female moviegoers (68 percent) and towards moviegoers over the age of 25 (58 percent). The film grossed $2.1 million over the four-day frame from its limited IMAX run in 85 locations, which was announced fairly last minute.

Fox’s Kingsman: The Secret Service was off to a nice start of its own this weekend with an estimated second place take of $35.6 million over the three-day frame. The Matthew Vaughn directed graphic novel adaptation starring Colin Firth exceeded expectations and likely received an added boost from serving as counter-programming for audiences not interested in Fifty Shades of Grey this weekend. Without adjusting for ticket price inflation, Kingsman claimed the seventh largest three-day Presidents Day weekend debut ever. Kingsman opened a very impressive 79.5 percent stronger than the $19.83 million debut of 2010’s Kick-Ass. BOXOFFICE is currently projecting a four-day start of $40.5 million for Kingsman.

Kingsman: The Secret Service opened with $10.5 million on Friday (which included an estimated $1.4 million from Thursday night shows), increased 47 percent on Saturday to gross $15.45 million and is estimated to decline 37.5 percent on Sunday to take in $9.65 million. That places the film’s estimated opening weekend to Friday ratio at 3.39 to 1. Kingsman received a solid B+ rating on CinemaScore.

After last weekend’s stronger than expected debut, Paramount’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water fell two spots and 45 percent to claim third place over the three-day frame with an estimated $30.54 million. While The SpongeBob Movie experienced a significant second weekend decline for a family film over Presidents Day weekend, the film still continues to exceed expectations in a big way thanks to getting off to such a strong start last weekend. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water has grossed $93.67 million through ten days of release and is set to surpass the $100 million mark on Monday. Paramount is currently estimating a four-day take of $37.6 million for The SpongeBob Movie.

Warner’s American Sniper placed in fourth with an estimated $16.44 million. In the process the Clint Eastwood directed blockbuster starring Bradley Cooper surpassed the $300 million mark this weekend; making it just the third release of 2014 to do so. American Sniper was down a healthy 29 percent from last weekend, as the film continues to hold up well. Without adjusting for ticket price inflation, American Sniper claimed the eighth largest fifth weekend performance of all time. American Sniper has grossed a massive $304.13 million after 31 days of wide release and remains on course to become the highest grossing release of 2014. BOXOFFICE is currently estimated a four-day take of $19.0 million for American Sniper.

Fellow Warner Bros. release Jupiter Ascending rounded out the weekend’s top five with an estimated $9.43 million. The expensive 3D sci-fi film from The Wachowskis starring Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis was down a sizable 49 percent from last weekend. Jupiter Ascending has grossed $32.55 million in ten days, which is very disappointing with the film’s price tag in mind. The film is currently running 7.5 percent ahead of the $30.28 million ten-day take of 2008’s Speed Racer (which fell 56 percent in its second weekend to gross $8.12 million). BOXOFFICE is currently estimating a $10.8 million take for Jupiter Ascending over the four-day frame.

Saturday Update: Universal reports that Fifty Shades of Grey bagged a whopping $30.2 million on opening day, including Thursday night’s $8.6 million early start. Fifty Shades‘ first day take is the fourth highest ever for an R-rated film, only behind The Matrix Reloaded ($37.5 million), The Hangover Part II ($31.6 million), and American Sniper ($30.3 million). Yesterday also wasn’t far behind the $36 million first day of the original Twilight considering that film opened over a standard non-holiday weekend. The adaptation has certainly lived up to and beyond expectations following record pre-sales, with a very busy Valentine’s Day yet ahead of it on Saturday (as well the benefit of an extended weekend due to President’s Day on Monday). BoxOffice is currently projecting $77 million for the 3-day frame and $87 million for the 4-day. Still, this film is in a very unique position, so comparisons are very slim at this point.

Fox’s Kingsman: The Secret Service posted an impressive opening day all its own with $10.5 million. The well-reviewed graphic novel adaptation notably topped the $7.7 million opening day of Kick-Ass, which also was directed by Matthew Vaughn. Reviews are in the positive range at 70 percent on Rotten Tomatoes right now, while the site’s audience word of mouth is markedly better with 89 percent so far. Kingsman is on pace to earn around $34 million for the 3-day weekend and $39 million over the 4-day.

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water was down 56 percent from opening day last week to $6.53 million yesterday, although it will certainly get a major boost from families and young audiences over the next three days. The sequel’s domestic total is now $69.7 million. BoxOffice projects $32 million for the 3-day frame and $40.5 million for the 4-day.

American Sniper was off just 38 percent from last Friday to $3.81 million. The blockbuster biopic’s total stands at $291.5 million as it heads toward $15.5 million and $17.8 million for the 3- and 4-day frames.

Filling out Friday’s top five was Jupiter Ascending, down 68 percent from opening day last week to $2.0 million. With $25.1 million in the bank, look for $7.9 million and $9.2 million 3- and 4-day hauls.

Our top 10 4-day projections can be found below. Meanwhile, check BoxOffice on Sunday for official weekend estimates from the studios.

Top 10 Weekend Projections

1. Fifty Shades of Grey ($87 million 4-day)
2. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water ($40.5 million 4-day)
3. Kingsman: The Secret Service ($39.0 million 4-day)
4. American Sniper ($17.8 million 4-day)
5. Jupiter Ascending ($9.2 million 4-day)
6. Paddington ($4.9 million 4-day)
7. The Imitation Game ($4.6 million 4-day)
8. Seventh Son ($3.5 million 4-day)
9. The Wedding Ringer ($3.4 million 4-day)
10. Black or White ($3.0 million 4-day)

Friday Update #2: Sources tell BoxOffice that Fifty Shades of Grey should have no problem hitting $85 million during its first four days of release in North America after grabbing what looks to be $27 million on Friday.

Kingsman is also doing very well. The action flick is on pace for at least $40 million during the holiday frame.

Check back tomorrow for updated projections and official studio estimates.

Friday Update #1: Universal reports this morning that Fifty Shades of Grey bagged an impressive $8.6 million from Thursday’s opening night shows beginning at 8pm in 2,830 theaters. That figure represents the second-highest R-rated late night debut ever, trailing only The Hangover Part II ($10.4 million). Grey also claimed the best late night figure ever in February, while surpassing Fast & Furious 6‘s $6.5 million to become Universal’s best preview gross in company history.

Also of note, Fifty Shades blew past Gone Girl‘s $1.3 million Thursday night debut last fall. Even though both films were highly anticipated book adaptations, Fifty Shades shares a portion of the Twilight audience segment given its origins in connection to the latter series — hence the much stronger Thursday turnout than Gone Girl. Additionally, moviegoer curiosity appears to be a major driving force behind Grey considering its controversial aspects.

Despite the fan rush last night, Grey‘s audience will continue expanding throughout the next 48 hours based on MovieTickets.com’s report that those pre-shows only accounted for 14.5 percent of advance sales as of Wednesday — compared to Friday’s 28.3 percent and Saturday’s (Valentine’s Day) 42.3 percent. BoxOffice previously broke down the full potential of what Fifty Shades could accomplish as it expands into 3,646 theaters this weekend.

Also opening this weekend is Fox’s Kingsman: The Secret Service, which is poised to successfully counter-program based on positive early word of mouth and reviews. That flick took in $1.4 million last night, a solid start ahead of the long holiday frame.

Meanwhile, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water and American Sniper will remain forces to be reckoned with.

Stay tuned for further updates today and throughout what promises to be a record-breaking weekend at the box office.