NORTH AMERICA: Weekend Actuals: ‘Batman v Superman’ Falls Sharply, But Easily Remains in First with $51.3M; ‘Zootopia’ Holds Strong with $19.3M

Monday Update: With weekend actuals now in, Warner’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice took in $51.34 million this weekend. That represented a very sharp 69 percent decline from last weekend’s debut and brings the film’s ten-day total to $260.41 million.

Disney’s Zootopia was down a slim 20 percent from last weekend with $19.33 million and has grossed a massive $275.26 million in 31 days. Universal’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 followed in third place with $11.22 million. That was down 37 percent from last weekend and places the film’s ten-day total at $36.58 million.

Pure Flix’s God’s Not Dead 2 placed in fourth with an opening weekend take of $7.62 million, while fellow faith-based film Miracles from Heaven followed closely behind in fifth with $7.26 million. The Sony release was down just 25 percent and has grossed a healthy $46.53 million in 19 days.

Sunday Update: Warner’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice easily remained in first place this weekend with an estimated $52.39 million. However, the blockbuster superhero film starring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill was down an even sharper than expected 68 percent this weekend. Poor critical reviews, mixed word of mouth among moviegoers and built-in front-loading for the film to begin with have all had a clear effect on Batman v Superman. With that said, Batman v Superman has already passed the $250 million mark with a ten-day gross of $261.46 million. Without taking into account ticket price inflation, that represents the eleventh largest ten-day start of all-time. Batman v Superman is currently running 4 percent ahead of the $251.52 million ten-day take of last year’s Furious 7 (which fell 59.5 percent in its second weekend to gross $59.59 million) and 17 percent behind the $313.40 million ten-day gross of last year’s Avengers: Age of Ultron (which declined 59 percent in its second weekend to gross $77.75 million). After this weekend’s decline, it will be especially important for Batman v Superman to attempt to stabilize next weekend.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice took in an estimated $4.2 million from IMAX locations this weekend. That represented 8 percent of the film’s overall grosses this weekend. The film has grossed $25.3 million to date from IMAX locations.

Zootopia held steady in second place with an estimated $20.0 million. The blockbuster 3D computer animated film from Walt Disney Animation Studios continued to hold up exceptionally well, as it was down a slim 17 percent from last weekend. Zootopia continues to be aided greatly by terrific word of mouth and animated films in general also tend to hold up very well the weekend after Easter weekend. Zootopia registered the seventh largest fifth weekend gross of all time. With a 31-day total of $275.94 million, Zootopia is running 23 percent ahead of the $224.88 million 31-day take of 2014’s The LEGO Movie and 10 percent behind the $306.25 million 31-day gross of last year’s Inside Out.

Universal’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 took in an estimated $11.13 million to remain in third. The long-awaited comedy sequel starring and written by Nia Vardalos held up well, as it was down 38 percent from last weekend’s debut. With fellow Universal comedy The Boss entering the marketplace this coming Friday, it was important for My Big fat Greek Wedding 2 to hold up well this weekend. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 continues to perform on the very high end of expectations with a ten-day take of $36.49 million. That places the film just behind the $36.59 million ten-day take of last year’s The Intern (which fell 34 percent in its second weekend to gross $11.69 million).

God’s Not Dead 2 debuted in fourth place with an estimated $8.10 million. The faith-based sequel from Pure Flix performed below expectations and opened 12 percent below the $9.22 million debut of 2014’s God’s Not Dead. God’s Not Dead 2 opening below its predecessor was especially underwhelming given that God’s Not Dead 2 opened in 2,419 locations this weekend, while God’s Not Dead opened in just 780 locations. At the same time, God’s Not Dead 2 was still off to a respectable start with its low production cost in mind. God’s Not Dead 2 also received a strong A rating on CinemaScore, which could point towards strong holding power for the film going forward.

Fellow faith-based film Miracles from Heaven followed closely behind in fifth place with an estimated $7.55 million. The Sony release starring Jennifer Garner was down only 22 percent this weekend. That represented an especially strong hold given the new competition the film faced from God’s Not Dead 2. Miracles from Heaven has grossed a healthy $46.82 million through 19 days of release. With continued strong word of mouth and the launch of God’s Not Dead 2 behind it, Miracles from Heaven is likely to continue to hold up very well going forward.

Freestyle’s Meet the Blacks opened in eighth place with an estimated $4.09 million. The R-rated comedy starring Mike Epps was playing in a relatively modest 1,015 locations this weekend, which gave the film a solid per-location average of $4,026. Meet the Blacks opened towards the higher end of expectations. The film did open 31 percent below the recent $5.90 million start of fellow parody Fifty Shades of Black, but had been widely expected to open below that film.

Meanwhile, Bleecker Street’s Eye in the Sky had a successful expansion this weekend with an estimated ninth place take of $4.06 million. The critically acclaimed film starring Helen Mirren and the late Alan Rickman played in 1,029 locations, which gave the film a per-location average of $3,941 for the frame. Eye in the Sky has grossed $6.15 million in 24 days and will soon pass by the $7.86 million final gross of last year’s Trumbo to become the highest grossing Bleecker Street release to date in the young history of the distributor.

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