Box Office Weekend: Lego Movie Builds Big Opening Weekend

Lego fans rejoice! The Lego Movie has arrived, and with it much to be thankful for. With high critical praise and an estimated $69.1 million in the domestic box office bank, it has already turned a profit against its $60 million production costs. It was enough to put more traditional Hollywood fare to shame, as George Clooney’s war film The Monuments Men fell apart financially and critically. Directed by Clooney, the star-studded cast made an estimated $22.7 million, not necessarily a bad start, but at a $70 million budget and a critical bashing, it may be in for a poor finish. At least it may have comfort in knowing it will do better than Vampire Academy…though directed by Mean Girls director Mark S. Waters, which turned into a mega-hit, this one appears to have a much less bright future ahead. With no reported budget and an estimated $4.1 million (giving it a seventh-place finish), it started on bad footing critically and financially, and looks to sink from there.

Ride Along finally got moved from the top spot, but still clings on as the best of the rest, in third with an estimated $9.4 million. Despite over $100 million in total domestic sales at the box office, it still pales in comparison to Frozen. The Disney blockbuster, though in fourth with an estimated $6.9 million, leads the entire top ten with $368.7 million in domestic earnings. While not quite as successful, That Awkward Moment’s low budget saved it from the critics, as its estimated $5.5 million second weekend take gives it enough total domestic gross to cover its $8 million costs. Lone Survivor is a strong success by any measure, its estimated $5.3 million only adding to its $112.6 million earnings. Also joining the successes is The Nut Job (estimated $3.8 million), though a modest success at best with $55.1 million over a $40 million budget.

Finally, the two last films on the list include two domestic failures, but only one true bomb counting worldwide sales. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (estimated $3.6 million weekend) continues to fall short domestically, but has been a success outside of the States. On the other hand, the romantic drama Labor Day (estimated $3.2 million) has no foreign box office as of yet, and struggles to make back its low $18 million budget.

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Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."

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