Weekend Box Office: Neighbors is No Joke as It Tops Spider-Man 2 in Impressive Debut

By Chris Kavan - 05/11/14 at 08:41 PM CT

There was a good deal to like about Neighbors going into the weekend - but I don't think anyone was expecting something this impressive out of the R-rated comedy. Meanwhile, Spider-Man 2 took the brunt of the brutal beat-down, even if its second weekend was well within line with similar super hero titles. The weekend's other new films couldn't even crack the top five - but it probably wouldn't have mattered that much - the weekend couldn't match the might of last year's Iron Man 2, as the box office trailed last year by nearly $20 million.

1) NEIGHBORS

There was a lot of buzz surrounding Neighbors - including a hefty marketing push and good critical response. What did that amount to? How about a great $51.07 million opening weekend. That was enough to nearly triple the film's $18 million budget - and puts in near the top of the list for original R-rated comedies. It also represent the best opening for Seth Rogen, easily topping the $33.5 million opening of The Green Hornet. Audiences gave it a "B" - a little on the low end for comedies, meaning its longevity may not hold up to other such films - but it should still have no problem nearing the $150 million mark. Surprisingly females made up more of the audience (53%) than males, probably thanks to Zac Efron and Rose Byrne - and 47% of that audience was under 25. Considering it will be the de facto comedy choice for the near future, it should have a good run - we'll see how it compares to the likes of Ted, Bridesmaids and The Hangover series.

2) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

With Neighbors getting the good news, Spider-Man 2 had to settle for second place. The film took a 59.4% dive (in line with fellow hero films Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier - all which fell between 56 to 58% in their second weekends). With another $37.2 million in the bank, the film has now earned $147.9 million - by no means a slouch, but considering it faces much bigger competition in Godzilla and X-Men: Days of Future Past in the coming weeks, it's now looking like it won't top out much about the $210 million mark. The best news for the The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is that its international numbers are thus far tracking ahead of the first film - and it should wind up well above the $490 million mark that film set.

3) THE OTHER WOMAN

Even though it faced direct competition in the comedy department from Neighbors, The Other Women held up pretty well, dipping just about 36% in its third weekend. With another $9.25 million added to its total, the female-centric comedy now stands at $61.7 million and is still on pace to cross the $75 million mark in the next couple of weeks. The film will likely double its $40 million budget before it finally exits the scene.


4) HEAVEN IS FOR REAL

The faith-based drama continued to show strong legs, dropping just under 19% (the best hold of any film in the top 10) and taking in $7 million. That helped the film to a new total of $75.2 million. It still has a chance to cross the $100 million mark - though it is looking likely it may fall just short. Still, this continues to be an impressive showing for the genre.



5) CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

America's favorite super hero also had a good hold, dropping just 27.7% in its sixth weekend. The $5.62 million it brought it gives the film a new total of $245 million and with that push, it tops My Big Fat Greek Wedding ($241.4 million) to become the highest-grossing April release on record. It is a foregone conclusion it will top $250 million at this point - though that is likely the last major (domestic) milestone it will be able to reach.


Outside the top five: The week's other two wide-release films failed to gain much traction with audiences. Despite the obvious Mother's Day tie, Moms' Night Out could only scratch up $4.2 million (7th place). The film didn't push its faith-based story - which is strange given the success of such other films this year. So it could only count a modest return, though its modest $5 million budget means there wasn't much on the line.

Things were even worst for the animated Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return. With a story that seemed to appeal only to the very young, it was counting on families to boost it and, unfortunately, they weren't won over. With $3.7 million (8th place) it couldn't even top Rio 2 in its fifth weekend ($5.12 million - 6th place) and is likely to burn out quick - lucky to even reach $10 million.

The only other release of not was John Favreau's limited-release Chef, which opened to six theaters with $204,000 - a decent $34,000 per-theater average.

Next week the big monster on the block will be Godzilla (one of my more anticipated movies of the summer, I must say - good for the marketing department on that one!). The other release of note is the feel-good Million Dollar Arm - based on the true story of Indian cricket players recruited to the big leagues by a scout looking to redeem himself. I expect it to open to modest numbers while Godzilla literally stomps the competition flat.

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