What looked like a close race for first this weekend between Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Rio 2, has slanted in favor of the animated sequel. Both films were expected to come in around $40 million for the three day frame but, after Rio 2 took in an estimated $12 million yesterday, it looks like the Fox feature will wind up closer to $45 million through Sunday. That’s better than the $39.2 million the original Rio earned on its opening weekend in 2011. As for the First Avenger, Captain America 2 appears to be headed for about $42 million in its sophomore frame, or a drop of 58%. Captain America was down 61% on its second frame in 2011, with Iron Man 3 declining 58% last summer.
As expected, this weekend’s two additional new releases were playing for smaller stakes. Oculus, the latest supernatural horror pic from producer Jason Blum, earned an estimated $4.9 million from 2,648 locations on Friday and should hit $13 million this weekend - equal to the launch of Blum’s Insidious in April 2011. Draft Day took in a reported $3.5 million from 2,781 venues yesterday. The sports drama starring Kevin Costner is now expecting $11 million for its first weekend, or the lower end of the range that Lionsgate/Summit execs were hoping for. We’ll have complete box office details tomorrow.
Title |
Friday |
Total |
|
1. |
Rio 2 |
$12,000,000 |
$12 |
2. |
Captain America 2 |
$11,900,000 |
$129.5 |
3. |
Oculus |
$4,940,000 |
$4.94 |
4. |
Draft Day |
$3,580,000 |
$3.58 |
5. |
Divergent |
$2,300,000 |
$119.6 |