Exodus marches past Games

Christian Bale stars as Moses in Exodus: Gods and Kings. It came in first at last weekend’s box office and made about $24 million.
Christian Bale stars as Moses in Exodus: Gods and Kings. It came in first at last weekend’s box office and made about $24 million.

LOS ANGELES -- Exodus: Gods and Kings dominated the box office last weekend, riding past The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 1 and meeting expectations with an estimated $24 million debut.

The 20th Century Fox biblical epic, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Christian Bale as Moses, did not rely on the same base of Christian moviegoers that other religious dramas -- notably God's Not Dead and Noah -- tapped to find success this year at U.S. and Canadian box offices.

"I know there's been a lot of talk about religious movies and obviously Exodus has a biblical storyline," said Spencer Klein, Fox's senior vice president and general sales manager. "But I think with its pedigree of director and stars ... people see this as just a big movie."

Klein said the audience for Exodus was broad. Exodus played well with Hispanic moviegoers, who made up about 20 percent of the audience. Blacks also accounted for about 20 percent of the audience. An estimated 65 percent of moviegoers were older than 25, and 54 percent were male.

"It's clearly a mix of religious audience but also general moviegoers and a pretty impressively diverse audience makeup," Klein said. "I think it's a great indicator for our playability."

But with a lofty $140 million budget, Exodus needs to pull in big numbers overseas to become a hit for the studio. By comparison, Fox's Son of God, a retelling of the life of Jesus, grossed about $59.7 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters. That film, budgeted at an estimated $22 million, debuted in February at $25.6 million.

Faith Driven Consumer, an advocacy group known for petitioning the A&E network to reinstate Duck Dynasty regular Phil Robertson, rated Exodus 2.5 stars out of 5.

"Ridley Scott's Exodus represents a strong departure from the Bible and will likely fail to resonate with millions of Jews, Christians and Muslims," Chris Stone, founder of Faith Driven Consumer, said in a statement. "Ultimately, the movie misses the central point of the story."

In its fourth weekend, Lionsgate's Mockingjay fell to No. 2 while adding about $13 million to its domestic haul. The latest Hunger Games franchise film has grossed about $277 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, the second-highest of the year, behind the $332.3 million domestic haul for Guardians of the Galaxy. Mockingjay crossed the $600 million mark overseas, helping Lionsgate to surpass the $1 billion mark internationally for the third year in a row.

Fox's Penguins of Madagascar took third place over the weekend, adding about $7.2 million to its haul of about $59 million to date.

Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures' Top Five opened to about $7 million in 979 locations, putting it in fourth place for the weekend. Critics and audiences have lauded the Chris Rock film, which the studio acquired for $12 million at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, where it premiered.

"From a profitability standpoint, it's a great deal for us," said Megan Colligan, Paramount's president of domestic marketing and distribution. "We love this movie so much. ... I think we started off strong."

The movie follows New York comedian and film star Andre Allen (Rock), who has to confront his past and comedic career after doing an interview with journalist Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson).

"It's not an easy movie to define," Colligan added. "As we expand out, hopefully word of mouth and the positioning of the film will allow it to play well in suburban and smaller markets."

Disney's Big Hero 6 rounded out the top five, adding about $6 million. Its total domestic haul is about $185.3 million. The animated film has also seen success overseas, grossing about $68.2 million in international markets. It's the second-highest grossing Disney-Pixar animation release of all time in Thailand. It has also become the biggest industry animation release of all time in Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Fox Searchlight's Wild, which has rolled out to 116 locations, broke into the top 10 in its second weekend. The film, based on the memoir by Cheryl Strayed, added about $1.5 million for a strong per-screen average of more than $13,000.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. released Inherent Vice in five locations. The Paul Thomas Anderson-directed film had a strong debut of about $328,000, a per-screen average of about $66,000.

Despite the strong debuts, the box office is still down about 5 percent year to date.

With The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Annie all set to open today, studios and movie chains are hoping ticket sales in the United States and Canada will catch up to last year's record of $10.9 billion.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak:

  1. Exodus: Gods and Kings, 20th Century Fox, $24,115,934, 3,503 locations, $6,884 average, $24,115,934, one week.

  2. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 1, Lionsgate, $12,686,742, 3,731 locations, $3,400 average, $276,884,991, four weeks.

  3. Penguins of Madagascar, 20th Century Fox, $7,206,293, 3,667 locations, $1,965 average, $58,745,002, three weeks.

  4. Top Five, Paramount, $6,894,814, 979 locations, $7,043 average, $6,894,814, one week.

  5. Big Hero 6, Disney, $6,055,901, 2,943 locations, $2,058 average, $185,235,910, six weeks.

  6. Interstellar, Paramount, $5,452,904, 2,692 locations, $2,026 average, $166,752,480, six weeks.

  7. Horrible Bosses 2, Warner Bros., $4,611,437, 3,202 locations, $1,440 average, $43,582,371, three weeks.

  8. Dumb and Dumber To, Universal, $2,785,070, 2,842 locations, $980 average, $82,145,680, five weeks.

  9. The Theory of Everything, Focus Features, $2,466,251, 1,220 locations, $2,022 average, $17,089,434, six weeks.

  10. Wild, Fox Searchlight, $1,531,013, 116 locations, $13,198 average, $2,404,183, two weeks.

  11. Birdman, Fox Searchlight, $1,309,758, 606 locations, $2,161 average, $20,778,965, nine weeks.

  12. Gone Girl, 20th Century Fox, $1,032,338, 963 locations, $1,072 average, $164,408,908, 11 weeks.

  13. The Imitation Game, The Weinstein Co., $850,262, 25 locations, $34,010 average, $1,974,647, three weeks.

  14. St. Vincent, The Weinstein Co., $694,434, 1,012 locations, $686 average, $41,877,049, 10 weeks.

  15. Fury, Columbia, $600,406, 726 locations, $827 average, $84,273,208, nine weeks.

  16. Nightcrawler, Open Road, $596,893, 798 locations, $748 average, $31,087,115, seven weeks.

  17. The Pyramid, 20th Century Fox, $585,629, 685 locations, $855 average, $2,383,665, two weeks.

  18. The Homesman, Roadside Attractions, $381,392, 222 locations, $1,718 average, $1,640,949, five weeks.

  19. Foxcatcher, Sony Pictures Classics, $363,083, 79 locations, $4,596 average, $3,328,824, five weeks.

  20. Inherent Vice, Warner Bros., $328,184, 5 locations, $65,637 average, $328,184, one week.

MovieStyle on 12/19/2014

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