We assumed it was a possibility, but with $69.1 million, The Lego Movie opened more than $25 million higher than its $43.8 million tracking number and more than enough to become the second highest February opening ever. The highest February opener was The Passion of the Christ back in 2004 with $83.8 million, a number that will only be exceeded once ticket prices are high enough that the number of tickets sold hardly matter, but even if you adjust for inflation the Lego number is still enough for a third best February opening ever as the $58 million Hannibal made back in 2001 was also a hefty sum.
As for carryover, expect a lot from Lego as it scored an “A” CinemaScore and is the lone animated feature for families until Mr. Peabody & Sherman on March 7. And with a budget of only $60 million you better believe Lego Movie 2 is going to be here soon.
The weekend’s second new wide release was The Monuments Men and despite the Olympics and terrible reviews, the film managed $22.7 million and a decent, “B+” CinemaScore, which means it should have pretty standard legs, though that $70 million budget is a little steep. It’s clear there was a little bit of Oscar hope for this one when it went into production with a number like that.
The weekend’s final wide release was Vampire Academy, which bombed, opening with only $4.1 million. But hey, Amazon is trying to make the most of its release by all six “Vampire Academy” books on Kindle for only $1.99 each today. As far as the movie is concerned, it can’t even hang its hat on a solid CinemaScore as a “B-” spells certain doom for the film the Weinstein Co. did its best to bombard press with emails, but not a screening. We now know why.
Next weekend could be an interesting one as the RoboCop remake arrives on Wednesday ahead of the Valentine’s Day weekend rush, which is where three films will square off for the romantic dollar. The first is the Kevin Hart rom-com About Last Night while the other two are straight romance features, one being the Endless Love remake and the other the fantasy romance Winter’s Tale. I’d expect Lego Movie to take #1 again due to the amount of competition in the romance department and with RoboCop opening two days early, though early reviews on the latter aren’t too bad.
