March 10, 2014 by Vinnie Leduc
It didn’t break any records like its predecessor did seven years ago, but the opening of 300: Rise of an Empire was strong enough for a solid win at the domestic box office over the weekend. The 3D action sequel, which has been on our list of most anticipated movies for the past two years, took in about half the number of tickets that the original did in its debut, but Rise of an Empire is lighting up the international box office, where it’s grossed nearly double its take in North America so far.
Opening in second place was Dreamworks’ 3D animated family flick Mr. Peabody & Sherman. Also with strong international numbers, its grand total so far is nearly $100 million. Last week’s stateside champion, high-altitude mystery thriller Non-Stop, landed in third place.
Awesome adventure The Lego Movie and biblical drama Son of God rounded out the top five in their fifth and second weekends, respectively. Finally, Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel was released in four theaters and broke the record for highest opening average for a live-action film with $200,000 at each location.
The upcoming weekend brings Need For Speed, a driving video game adaptation that’s an honorable mention on our list of most anticipated movies, and The Single Moms Club, a dramedy from Tyler Perry.
Here are the numbers for the top five of the domestic box office over the weekend via BOM:
- 300: Rise of an Empire — Weekend Gross: $45.0 million — Total Gross: $45.0 million (new)
- Mr. Peabody & Sherman — Weekend Gross: $32.2 million — Total Gross: $32.2 million (new)
- Non-Stop — Weekend Gross: $15.8 million — Total Gross: $52.6 million (#1 last week)
- The Lego Movie — Weekend Gross: $10.9 million — Total Gross: $224.9 million (#3 last week)
- Son of God — Weekend Gross: $10.4 million — Total Gross: $41.9 million (#2 last week)
