Kevin Hart is clearly a box office draw as Ride Along hit theaters this weekend and smashed expectations, bringing in $41.2 million, making it the largest January opening ever, topping Cloverfield‘s previous record of $40 million. Word of mouth on this one might not be too bad either as it scored an “A” CinemaScore from opening day audiences.
I expect Ride Along 2 will be announced shortly and I can only hope this time they surround Hart’s comedic talent with a good screenplay.
Speaking of January records, last weekend Lone Survivor tried to break Cloverfield‘s record, but fell a little shy as it now has the third largest January opening ever. Even better news for the film is that it only dipped 39% off that opening number for $23.2 million this weekend, bringing its cume to over $78 million. Yes, that’s more than Peter Berg‘s Battleship made in its entire domestic run ($68 million).
As for the weekend’s other newcomers, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit was overshadowed by the animated feature The Nut Job, which managed to bring in $20.5 million, the best debut yet for an Open Road feature and it did it in the face of some terrible reviews.
As for Jack Ryan, the reboot of the classic Tom Clancy character managed only $15.5 million and a “B” CinemaScore. Unless the character catches on overseas, where it managed $22.2 million this weekend, I don’t think we should expect to see much more of Mr. Jack for quite a while. Maybe next time actually use some of Clancy’s stories instead of just a screenplay filled with Hollywood tropes? Just an idea.
Couple of interesting facts about Jack Ryan‘s opening, 85% of its audience was over the age of 25. Perhaps it was the same people that turned out for the opening of The Hunt for Red October back in 1990, when it opened to $17.1 million. Of course, adjusted for inflation that amounts to $33.8 million in today’s dollar.
Last newcomer to mention is Devil’s Due, which didn’t exactly impress, opening with only a $8.5 million and a “D+” CinemaScore from audiences. Of course, with a budget of only $7 million calling this opening a flop would be a bit of an exaggeration, though it’s quite clear there is only room for one low budget horror film each January and Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones drew first blood.
Finally, this was also a weekend where some of the Oscar contenders expanded into more theaters for something of a “re-release” and Gravity and 12 Years a Slave brought in an estimated $1.9 and $1.5 million respectively. And Best Documentary nominee The Square brought in $35,615 from seven theaters as it was simultaneously released on Netflix.
Next weekend sees the release of the Vanessa Hudgeons drama Gimme Shelter and I, Frankenstein starring Aaron Eckhart, which tells me Ride Along may be looking at a second weekend in a row.
