Box Office Report: ‘Ride Along 2’ tops the weekend, but ‘The Revenant’ has legs

Of the weekend’s three new releases, one clearly stood out as a major hit, one found minor success, and a third was an outright flop. Meanwhile, the two big box office sensations of the past few weeks continued to rake in the dough.

The Ice Cube/Kevin Hart comedy sequel Ride Along 2 won the weekend with an opening tally nearly as high as 2014’s unexpectedly successful predecessor (though with a significantly higher per-screen average). As much as I don’t get the appeal of Kevin Hart, and as bad as most of his films tend to be, he’s obviously not going anywhere. He’s achieved that rarefied movie-star status where his presence in a film alone can guarantee success. We just have to hope that his ever-growing fame and influence will lead him to start seeking worthier projects — but there’s little evidence so far that quality matters to him. And that’s so frustrating to me, since the very best films so often struggle to find an audience, but there’s no limit to the trash that people will buy tickets to.

The Revenant held on to its #2 spot, showing no signs of slowing down. This is shaping up to be a massive hit for everyone involved, which is as gratifying as it surprising — considering the film’s huge running time and brutal violence. Whatever problems I may have with this film (and I do have a few fundamental ones), no one can deny that this is audacious, ambitious filmmaking, and it’s thrilling to see something so risky become so successful. It’s already the biggest hit of Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s career, and within DiCaprio’s top ten — which is saying something.

Falling from the top spot it has occupied for the past four weeks, Star Wars: The Force Awakens came in at #3 but continues to do unprecedented business. How far can this one go? $900 million certainly seems like a sure thing at this point. Can it reach $1 billion?

This is the very same weekend where American Sniper expanded wide a year ago to enormous box office, so it can’t be a coincidence that 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, the new war drama from Michael Bay, was released this week, where it came in at #4. This result must certainly be a disappointment to Bay and to the studio, who are accustomed to his films having gargantuan openings. Still, a real-life military incident is no match for cartoon alien robots.

At #5, Daddy’s Home slipped two spots but continued to do very good business, especially for an effects-free comedy. The new animated film Norm of the North finished the weekend at #6. This is a very weak result for a big-studio animated film — or for any wide release — and you can expect it to disappear from theatres swiftly. That 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes can’t have helped.

Last week’s sole new release, The Forest, fell three spots to #7. This level of modest success might not seem that impressive to you; however, for such a low-budget horror film, it’s pretty great. The film is already making a profit. The rest of the list is populated with familiar titles. Oscar hopeful The Big Short slipped slightly to #8, but its per-theatre average remained nearly unchanged, which is crazy. The comedy Sisters dropped four spots to #9, while Tarantino’s underperforming The Hateful Eight plummeted to #10. Say goodbye to this one; you won’t be seeing it on this chart again.

Source: Box Office Mojo

What did you see this weekend?