Box Office Results: Captain America Fights His Way to a Third Week at #1

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.

Moviegoers seem to have simultaneously gotten smarter and more spiritual over the first quarter of 2014 and that was clearly shown by this week’s box office as four new movies opened–two with horrible reviews–and moviegoers decided to stick with the “sure things”–the sequels already in theaters and a movie based on a Christian bestseller–over the Easter weekend.

Winning the battle for #1 for a third weekend in a row was Marvel Studios’ Captain America: The Winter Soldier, starring Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie and Robert Redford, capitalizing on its strong reviews and solid word-of-mouth for an estimated weekend take of $26.6 million, down just 36% in its third weekend as it crossed the $200 million mark domestically. On top of that, it added an additional $35.3 million overseas to bring its international total to $385 million and its global total to $586.6 million.

Internationally, Captain America: The Winter Soldier had to take on the release of Sony Pictures’ The Amazing Spider-Man 2 into 14 markets where it grossed $47 million with $2.3 million of that amount on 50 IMAX screens. $15 million of that amount came from the UK and Ireland where Spidey opened bigger than Captain America a few weeks back, while Mexico amounted for $11.1 million of the movie’s international opening, Germany took in $6.2 million and Australia did $5.2 million. The movie also opened in Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland and Austria with more markets opening next week, well ahead of the movie’s May 2 North American release.

Still unable to surpass the Marvel juggernaut, the animated family sequel Rio 2 (20th Century Fox) settled for second place for a second weekend in a row with $22.5 million, down 43% from opening weekend, as it didn’t hold up as well after Good Friday as “Cap.” It has grossed $75.4 million domestically since opening ten days ago.

To anyone who hadn’t been paying attention for the past few weeks, the biggest surprise of the weekend might have been the success of the faith-based drama Heaven is for Real (Sony/Tristar Pictures), starring Greg Kinnear, based on the bestselling book by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent. It fared better than the other three new movies in wide release despite the others having bigger star power, more money for marketing, more theaters and other factors. It opened on Wednesday in 2,417 locations with $3.7 million, added another $3.3 million on Thursday but then really broke out on Good Friday with $7.8 million, well ahead of the other new movies. It held up well through the Easter weekend to amass $21.5 million, putting it closer to the returning sequels than anything else opening this weekend. Including Easter Sunday, the movie that’s received an A CinemaScore has grossed $28.5 million in its first five days, compared to a reported production budget of just $12 million.

The presence of a once A-list box office star like Johnny Depp did very little for Wally Pfister’s directorial debut, the sci-fi thriller Transcendence (Warner Bros.) co-starring Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy and Kate Mara, which opened poorly in fourth place with just $11.1 million in 3,455 theaters. Although that’s the widest release in theaters other than the Top 2, it averaged just $3,213 per theater, probably not helped by the horrendous reviews that started showing up on Wednesday (having wisely been embargoed by Warner Bros.)

Despite being a sequel to a fairly successful comedy spoof from just last year, Marlon Wayans’ A Haunted House 2 (Open Road) didn’t perform nearly as well as the original, taking in just $9.1 million in 2,310 locations for fifth place, doing slightly better per theater than Transcendence at a thousand fewer sites.

Summit Entertainment claimed the 6th and 7th places for Kevin Costner’s football drama Draft Day (Summit Entertainment) and the hit adaptation of Veronica Roth’s young adult novel Divergent, both with just under $6 million. Down just 40% from its opening weekend, Draft Day was slightly ahead with $5.9 million, bringing its total to $19.5 million, while Divergent‘s Easter weekend take of $5.8 million brings its domestic total to $133.9 million.

The generally well-received horror flick Oculus (Relativity Media) from Mike Flanagan took a nasty plunge in its second weekend, down 57% to bring in just $5.2 million to take eighth place, down five spots from its opening.

Ninth and tenth place went to two more movies taking advantage of the faith-based holiday weekend as Darren Aronofsky’s biblical epic Noah (Paramount) and the indie breakout God’s Not Dead brought in $5 million and $4.8 million, respectively. Noah has grossed $93.3 million domestically compared to the latter’s $48.3 million, although that amount is far more profitable when your movie only costs a reported $2 million to make.

After having had success in the past with their April releases, Disneynature’s Bears, narrated by John C. Reilly, had the poorest showing for one of Walt Disney Pictures’ recent nature docs, probably not helped by being released over Easter weekend against the stronger Rio 2 and the fact that Earth Day–its normal target tie-in holiday–doesn’t take place until the middle of next week. After making $2.3 million on Good Friday, it was hurt by slower moviegoing on Easter Sunday to end up with an estimated $4.8 million for the three-day weekend, which puts it just outside the Top 10 at #11.

The Top 10 movies of the weekend brought in approximately $117 million, which is about $20 million more than the same weekend last year when Tom Cruise’s sci-fi thriller Oblivion won the weekend with $37 million, although it’s good to note that Easter weekend took place nearly three weeks earlier last year.

As far as the limited releases, John Turturro’s comedy Fading Gigolo (Millennium), co-starring Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Vanessa Paradis and Sofia Vergara, opened in just five theaters where it grossed an estimated $198 thousand or just $40,000 per site. That’s a pretty good start for a movie that’s looking to fill in the gap before Woody Allen’s next movie is released over the summer.

Derek Hough’s dance movie Make Your Move didn’t fare as well, bringing in just $81 thousand in 142 theaters or $570 per location.

Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.