NORTH AMERICA: ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Seizes $136.8M in Two Weeks; ‘Kingsman’ Claims $73.9M

Universal’s Fifty Shades of Grey took in $1.79 million on Thursday to continue to lead the daily box office. The successful erotic romantic drama was up 1 percent over Wednesday’s performance and down a sizable 58 percent from last Thursday. With Warner’s Focus arriving in theatres today, Fifty Shades of Grey is widely expected to fall out of first place this weekend. Fifty Shades of Grey was the week’s top film with a weekly take of $29.93 million. That was down a massive 72 percent from the film’s opening week performance. Despite the second weekend decline, Fifty Shades of Grey continues to perform very well with $136.84 million through two weeks of release.

Fox’s Kingsman: The Secret Service held steady in second place with $1.36 million. The Matthew Vaughn directed graphic novel adaptation was up 3 percent over Wednesday and down a solid 41 percent from last Thursday. Kingsman claimed second place for the week with $24.36 million. That was down a respectable 51 percent from the film’s opening week performance and brings the film’s two-week total to a stronger than expected $73.95 million.

Warner’s American Sniper took in $0.822 million to remain in third place. The blockbuster Clint Eastwood directed film starring Bradley Cooper was up 4 percent over Wednesday and down just 29 percent from last Thursday. American Sniper placed in fifth for the week with $13.45 million. That represented a 40 percent decline from the previous frame and places the film’s total gross at $323.41 million after 42 days of wide release.

McFarland, USA stayed in fourth place with $0.740 million. After experiencing a very sharp daily percentage decline on Wednesday, Disney’s well received sports drama starring Kevin Costner rebounded nicely on Thursday by increasing 12 percent over Wednesday. McFarland, USA took fourth place this week with a seven-day start of $14.18 million, which was on the higher end of pre-release expectations.

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water rounded out the day’s unchanged top five with $0.675 million. The successful 3D animated film from Paramount was up 14 percent over Wednesday and down 65 percent from last Thursday. The SpongeBob Movie took third place for the week with $19.45 million. That was down a sharp 58 percent from the previous week and brings the film’s three-week total to $129.12 million.

The DUFF rounded out its first week of release with a sixth place take of $0.675 million. The low-budget PG-13 rated comedy from CBS Films and Lionsgate was up 17 percent over Wednesday, which is a good sign for the film heading into the weekend. The DUFF exceeded expectations this week with a $12.90 million sixth place start for the frame.

Meanwhile, Paramount’s Hot Tub Time Machine 2 continued to drown with a seventh place gross of $0.389 million. The low-budget R-rated comedy sequel was down a troubling 7 percent from Wednesday. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 landed in seventh place for the week with a very disappointing seven-day take of just $7.87 million.