Box Office: Ride Along accelerates to January record!
This past Martin Luther King weekend saw the release of Ride Along starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart— which drew large crowds and set a new January opening record.
Playing at 2,663 locations, Ride Along brought in a sensational $41.2million over the three-day weekend, just beating previous record holder Cloverfield which brought in $40.1million back in January 2008.
Ride Along's success is a shot in the dark and was certainly not expected. Its success can be laid down to it having a broad appeal with it's premise— which was pushed strongly during it's marketing campaign. The previews of the film were full to capacity with numerous reports suggesting audiences did find the film funny and an enjoyable watch.
Another Universal release, Lone Survivor, came in second this past weekend bringing in an estimated $23.2million. Thats a 39% decrease from the previous week, but so far the war drama has brought in $74million in four weeks.
Animated comedy, The Nut Job, was also released this week and brought in a surprisingly strong $20.6million. That's a noticeable improvement from Open Road Films previous animation release, Free Birds, which opened with $15.8million.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit also opened this weekend to an estimated $17.2million intake which landed it fourth on this weekends box office standings. With this beong the fifth Jack Ryan movie— it's an "on par" opening.
The phenomenon that is Frozen again had a strong weekend. Even though it fell 12% from last weekend, it still brought in $12million which is the highest ever eighth weekend return. As of now, Frozen has earned itself $332million and is on course to beat Despicable Me 2, which brought in $368million.
North American Box Office: Weekend Top 10 (January 17th-19th)
1. Ride Along - $41,2million (1st Week)
2. Lone Survivor - $23.2million (4th Week)
3. The Nut Job - $20.5million (1st Week)
4. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - $17.2million (1st Week)
5. Frozen - £12million (8th Week)
6. American Hustle - $10.6million (6th Week)
7. Devil's Due - $8.5million (1st Week)
8. August: Osage County - $7.5million (4th Week)
9. The Wolf Of Wall Street - $7.5million (4th Week)
10. Saving Mr. Banks - $4.1million (6th Week)
