It’s been quite a weekend at the North American box-office. Two massive releases debuted across the pond on Friday, the first being the young-adult book adaptation of DIVERGENT, and the second, the highly anticipated sequel MUPPETS MOST WANTED. You could argue that both movies were going after different markets, but there was a clear leader, by quite some way, in terms of box-office take. DIVERGENT, directed by Neil Burger and adapted from the novel by Veronica Roth, was the clear victor taking an estimated $56 million over the three days. The film, released by Lionsgate/ Summit, are looking for the next ‘Hunger Games,’ and while DIVERGENT didn’t deliver the $150m plus that the first ‘Games’ movie did back in 2012, the $56m in green is solid, and should guarantee a fast-tracked second and third movie in the series, for which the books already exist.
MUPPETS MOST WANTED didn’t fare as well. The James Bobin directed sequel managed to pull in $16.5 million, around six or seven million less than expected, and nearly half of what the first movie made in its opening weekend back in 2011. However, the film has a very big international following, so expect worldwide numbers to pull that back into line when it opens wider this weekend.
Rounding out the top three was another kid-friendly effort, MR. PEABODY AND SHERMAN, which continued its succesful run with another $11.7m in takings, pushing it to a $81m total.
Here’s how the rest fared.
Title Weekend Total
1. Divergent $56,000,000 $56m
2. Muppets Most Wanted $16,510,000 $16.5m
3. Mr. Peabody and Sherman $11,700,000 $81m
4. 300: Rise of an Empire $8,670,000 $93.7m
5. God’s Not Dead $8,560,000 $8.5m
6. Need for Speed $7,780,000 $30.4m
7. The Grand Budapest Hotel $6,750,000 $12.9m
8. Non-Stop $6,300,000 $78.5m
9. The LEGO Movie $4,115,000 $243.3m
10. Tyler Perry’s Single Moms Club $3,100,000 $12.9m
