Finally, a movie took American Sniper off its perch. This weekend, The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water swept into theaters, drawing in family crowds and keeping moviegoers away from Jupiter Ascending and Seventh Son.
Spongebob was expected to do well, but the early numbers still left Hollywood surprised. The first film to star the sponge and his friends in over a decade earned a whopping $56 million. Internationally, the Paramount/Nickelodeon film added $16.2 million this weekend.
Sniper held on to the second spot with $24.2 million, according to Rentrak data. It is now up to $282.3 million domestically now, making it the top-grossing Best Picture Oscar nominee easily.
The Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending grossed just $19 million. Considering it cost $175 million to make, that’s a tough pill for Warner Bros. to take. The film was supposed to be out last summer, but whatever tinkering the directors did since then clearly didn’t help.
Seventh Son, which Warner Bros. was supposed to release two years ago, did even worse, only making $7.1 million. The film is a Legendary production, which Universal ended up releasing.
Paddington added $5.4 million, bringing its domestic total to $57.2 million.
The rest of the Top 10 included Project Almanac ($5.3 million); The Imitation Game ($4.9 million); The Wedding Ringer ($4.8 million); Black Or White ($4.5 million); and The Boy Next Door ($4.1 million).
image of ‘Spongebob’ stars Tom Kenny & Antonio Banderas courtesy of Roger Wong/INFphoto.com
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