This weekend will not head into the record books as a good one for the American box office. Despite several varied offerings, none of the movies launching this weekend performed spectacularly, even the first-place finisher. Neill Blomkamp’s latest sci-fi, Chappie, faced mixed reviews and a dearth of excitement from audiences, landing in first place but with a disappointing $13.3 million, a far cry from his previous movies Elysium ($29.8 million) and District 9 ($37.2 million).
Worldwide, the film is up to $27 million, which still isn’t great news for Sony. The new robo-arrival pushed last week’s champ, Focus, down to second, with the Will Smith con man pic losing 46 per cent for $10 million in its second weekend. The film has now earned more than $34 million in the US. Perhaps the best news came for The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which was the top performer of the weekend given its lower screen count compared to some of the competition. The new outing for the likes of Judi Dench and Maggie Smith earned $8.6 million from 1,573 screens.
Kingsman: The Secret Service fell a couple of places to fourth, adding $8.3 million for a $98 million US total, making it likely to cross $100 million before too long. Globally, Matthew Vaughn’s new film has taken more than $248 million. And rounding out the top five we find The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water slipping slightly, but still adding $7 million to its coffers.
Fifty Shades Of Grey dropped to sixth place with $5.6 million, while sports drama McFarland, USA sprinted down to seventh and $5.3 million. Horror pic **The Lazarus Effect **tumbled to eighth and $5.1 million, and high-school comedy The DUFF was ninth with $4.8 million.
But the biggest loser of the week? That would have to be Vince Vaughn’s new comedy, Unfinished Business, which finds him reuniting with Delivery Man’s Ken Scott for a comedy about a bloke trying to save his company with a big deal. Vaughn might also need some new deals soon, as his latest tanked, stumbling into tenth place with a dismal $4.8 million, the worst wide release opening of his career.
To see Chappie go gangster on Will Smith in the full chart listings, head to Box Office Mojo.