Warner Brothers has reasons to shout with both joy and shame this week. The studio’s American Sniper estimated $24.1 million puts it at $282.3 million and, most likely, the film to beat for 2015 box office (at least at this point), but it was finally topped in weekend earnings by The SpongeBob 
Movie: Sponge Out of Water (estimated $56 million). Adding major injury to this minor insult, Warner came up almost totally dry with Jupiter Ascending. At $176 million in budget costs alone, the latest offering from the Wachowskis debuted in third with an estimated $19 million, continuing a string of big budget flops for the director/writers. However, while likely not doing well, the unreported budget of the debuting Seventh Son is no consolation for the action fantasy epic and its estimated $7.1 million.
Paddington remains a domestic anomaly with an estimated $5.4 million giving it a $57.3 million total, but it has done much better overseas, with $208.1 million in worldwide revenue. Project Almanac, with an estimated $5.3 million, is nowhere near as successful, with $15.8 million in total domestic take. The Imitation Game, with an estimated $4.9 million, rests comfortably in-between, doing decent business here and abroad, even with an unreported budget.
The Wedding Ringer picked up an estimated $4.8 million and proved a mild success, which is more than can be said for Black or White, the Kevin Costner drama picking up only an estimated $4.5 million this weekend and $13.1 million in domestic totals. But perhaps not surprisingly, The Boy Next Door proved a very strong success with an estimated $4.1 million (more than its reported budget costs) and $30.9 million in domestic gross, proving once again that a low budget can prove a film successful against almost all critical reviews.
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Weekend Box Office (February 6th – February 8th)
- The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water…$56 million
- American Sniper…$24.1 million
- Jupiter Ascending…$19 million
- Seventh Son…$7.1 million
- Paddington…$5.4 million
- Project Almanac…$5.3 million
- The Imitation Game…$4.9 million
- The Wedding Ringer…$4.8 million
- Black or White…$4.5 million
- The Boy Next Door…$4.1 million
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