February 23, 2014 by Vinnie Leduc
For the third weekend in a row, everything is awesome for The Lego Movie. After opening to the second-highest debut for a February release and then setting the Presidents’ Day weekend record, the 3D animated comedy easily three-peated at the domestic box office over a couple of challengers.
Following Ride Along‘s three-peat last month, this is already the second three-peat of 2014, and it hasn’t even been a full two months. There wasn’t a back-to-back-to-back champ in 2013 until September when Lee Daniels’ The Butler accomplished the feat (although it needed an extended holiday weekend). Gravity, our pick for Movie of the Year, followed suit the next month, and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug became the third movie of 2013 to three-peat during the final weekend of last year.
It’s no wonder then that a sequel to The Lego Movie has been announced for May 2017. Its estimated $31.5 million over the weekend is the second-highest third weekend ever for an animated movie. The hit flick took less than three days to kill 3 Days to Kill, McG’s Kevin Costner spy thriller that opened in second with an estimated $12.3 million against a reported budget of $28 million.
Disaster epic Pompeii was a disaster in its third-place debut. The Paul W.S. Anderson movie cost $100 million to make and opened with only $10 million. Another $100 million movie, the RoboCop remake and our #11 most anticipated movie of the year, was close behind with $9.4 million in its second weekend.
Rounding out the top five, which you can check out below via BOM, was George Clooney’s highest-grossing directorial effort. Historical war dramedy The Monuments Men added $8.1 million in its third weekend of release.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, ranked the #12 best movie of 2013, officially cracked the top all-time domestic gross chart at #10, where it will settle behind E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and in front of the second Pirates of the Caribbean. Meanwhile, Disney’s hit musical Frozen became the second-highest grossing animated movie ever worldwide.
The upcoming weekend introduces biblical drama Son of God and Liam Neeson action thriller Non-Stop, an honorable mention for our most anticipated movies of the year. They’ll try to keep The Lego Movie from becoming the first movie since the first Hunger Games to four-peat at the domestic box office.
Here are the estimates for the top five of the domestic box office over the weekend:
- The Lego Movie — Weekend Gross: $31.5 million — Total Gross: $183.2 million (#1 last week)
- 3 Days to Kill — Weekend Gross: $12.3 million — Total Gross: $12.3 million (new)
- Pompeii — Weekend Gross: $10.0 million — Total Gross: $10.0 million (new)
- RoboCop — Weekend Gross: $9.4 million — Total Gross: $43.6 million (#3 last week)
- The Monuments Men — Weekend Gross: $8.1 million — Total Gross: $58.1 million (#4 last week)
