Box office: The Angry Birds rule the weekend, while Captain America becomes the year’s first billion-dollar movie

Box office: The Angry Birds rule the weekend, while Captain America becomes the year’s first billion-dollar movie May 22, 2016

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The Angry Birds Movie may be an awful, awful film — full of peeing, pooping, farting, male-stripper visual gags, pseudo-swearing (“Pluck my life!”) and more — but that didn’t stop families from turning out to see it in droves this week.

The film, based on the popular video-game app, led the box office with an estimated $37.8 million to $39 million between Thursday and Sunday nights.

If the higher estimate is correct, then Angry Birds would have the fifth-best opening of any animated non-sequel released in May — behind Finding Nemo, Up, Madagascar and Shrek. If the lower estimate is correct, then Angry Birds would also open behind Dinosaur ($38.9 million) and Over the Hedge ($38.5 million).

The Angry Birds Movie also has the third-best opening of any animated film released by Sony, behind the two Hotel Transylvania movies, though it was not produced by Sony Pictures Animation, per se. Instead, it was animated by Vancouver-based Sony Pictures Imageworks, which is a different branch of the Sony empire.

Angry Birds has made another $112 million overseas since opening in a couple dozen foreign territories last week. Its global total currently stands at $151 million.

Captain America: Civil War got bumped down to second place in its third week in North American theatres, but Marvel fans still had something to celebrate, as it became the first movie this year to gross over a billion dollars worldwide.

The film earned $33.1 million in North America and raised its cume to $347.4 million: the second-best domestic gross of the year, behind Deadpool’s $362.7 million. The film has earned another $706.1 million overseas for $1,053.5 million globally.

Captain America now ranks 19th on the all-time worldwide chart. It is currently the fifth-highest-grossing superhero movie worldwide, behind three other films that co-star Iron Man (Iron Man 3 and the Avengers films) and The Dark Knight Rises.

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising opened in third place with $21.8 million, which is less than half of the $49 million that the original Neighbors opened to in 2014. The film does, however, have one of the top six or seven non-animated, non-cameo openings for co-stars Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and newcomer Chloe Grace Moretz.

The Nice Guys, a slapstick noir starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling as a couple of detectives in 1970s Los Angeles, opened in fourth place with $11.3 million.

X-Men: Apocalypse won’t open in North America until next week, but it had a solid opening of $103.3 million overseas this week — slightly better than X-Men: Days of Future Past’s foreign debut in 2014, after exchange rates are taken into account.

Meanwhile, in other box-office news…

The Jungle Book grossed $11 million and ranked fifth in its sixth week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $327.5 million. The film has earned another $530.2 million overseas for a global total of $857.7 million.

The Jungle Book had already passed Iron Man 2 to become the top-grossing film directed by Jon Favreau overseas and worldwide, and as of this week, it has passed the original Iron Man to become his top-grossing film in North America, too.

Zootopia grossed $1.7 million and ranked eighth in its twelfth week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $334.4 million. The film has earned another $647.4 million overseas for a global total of $981.8 million. (Will it reach a billion, too?)

There were no estimates for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice this week.

Now for a bit of extra data on Zootopia’s ranking among animated films:

In North America, the film still ranks ninth:

  • 2004 — Shrek 2 (DreamWorks) — $441.2 million
  • 1994 — The Lion King (Disney) — $422.8 million
  • 2010 — Toy Story 3 (Pixar) — $415.0 million
  • 2013 — Frozen (Disney) — $400.7 million
  • 2003 — Finding Nemo (Pixar) — $380.8 million
  • 2013 — Despicable Me 2 (Universal) — $368.1 million
  • 2015 — Inside Out (Pixar) — $356.5 million
  • 2015 — Minions (Universal) — $336 million
  • 2016 — Zootopia (Disney) — $334.4 million
  • 2007 — Shrek the Third (DreamWorks) — $322.7 million

Overseas, the film still ranks sixth:

  • 2013 — Frozen (Disney) — $875.7 million
  • 2015 — Minions (Universal) — $823.4 million
  • 2012 — Ice Age: Continental Drift (Fox) — $715.9 million
  • 2009 — Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Fox) — $690.1 million
  • 2010 — Toy Story 3 (Pixar) — $648.2 million
  • 2016 — Zootopia (Disney) — $647.4 million
  • 2013 — Despicable Me 2 (Universal) — $602.7 million
  • 1994 — The Lion King (Disney) — $564.7 million
  • 2003 — Finding Nemo (Pixar) — $555.9 million
  • 2012 — Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (DreamWorks) — $530.5 million

And worldwide, the film now ranks fifth:

  • 2013 — Frozen (Disney) — $400.7 + 875.7 = 1276.5 million
  • 2015 — Minions (Universal) — $336.0 + 823.4 = 1159.4 million
  • 2010 — Toy Story 3 (Pixar) — $415.0 + 648.2 = 1063.2 million
  • 1994 — The Lion King (Disney) — $422.8 + 564.7 = 987.5 million
  • 2016 — Zootopia (Disney) — $334.4 + 647.4 = 981.8 million
  • 2013 — Despicable Me 2 (Universal) — $368.1 + 602.7 = 970.8 million
  • 2003 — Finding Nemo (Pixar) — $380.8 + 555.9 = 936.7 million
  • 2004 — Shrek 2 (DreamWorks) — $441.2 + 478.6 = 919.8 million
  • 2009 — Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Fox) — $196.6 + 690.1 = 886.7 million
  • 2012 — Ice Age: Continental Drift (Fox) — $161.3 + 715.9 = 877.2 million

Meanwhile, Miracles from Heaven still ranks fifth among “faith-based” films:

  • 2004 — The Passion of the Christ — $370.8 million
  • 2014 — Heaven Is for Real — $91.4 million
  • 2015 — War Room — $67.8 million
  • 2014 — God’s Not Dead — $60.8 million
  • 2016 — Miracles from Heaven — $60.4 million
  • 2014 — Son of God — $59.7 million
  • 2011 — Soul Surfer — $43.9 million
  • 2006 — The Nativity Story — $37.6 million
  • 2016 — Risen — $36.9 million
  • 2011 — Courageous — $34.5 million

Next week will bring us X-Men: Apocalypse and Alice through the Looking Glass.


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