Caesar! debut a bust for Coens

Douglas Booth stars in Columbia’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The genre mash-up film came in sixth at last weekend’s box office and made a disappointing $5.3 million.
Douglas Booth stars in Columbia’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The genre mash-up film came in sixth at last weekend’s box office and made a disappointing $5.3 million.

The star-packed Hail, Caesar! had little to exclaim about in its North American debut, giving its directors, Joel and Ethan Coen, the worst wide-opening result of their long career and receiving a C-minus grade in CinemaScore exit polls from those who did buy tickets. Meanwhile, the Nicholas Sparks movie gleam is officially gone: Given The Choice, the 11th adaptation of one of his books, audiences stayed home.

Kung Fu Panda 3 (20th Century Fox) was the No. 1 movie at the weekend box office, taking in about $21.2 million for a two-week domestic total of $69 million, according to comScore, which compiles ticketing data. To compare, the film, made by DreamWorks Animation, has now taken in more than $100 million in China.

Hail, Caesar! (Universal Pictures) was second, collecting about $11.4 million. The film stars the likes of George Clooney, James Brolin and Channing Tatum. For the Coen brothers, the new film is roughly in line with their previous comedies Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers. Produced by the Coens and Working Title Films, it cost $22 million to make.

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (Disney) chugged away in third place, taking in about $7 million for an eight-week total of about $906 million. The Revenant (Fox) was a very close fourth, and has a seven-week domestic total of about $149.5 million; The Force Awakens crossed the $2 billion mark worldwide over the weekend, according to Disney.

The Choice (Lionsgate) was fifth. It collected about $6 million, the worst opening result -- by far -- for an adaptation of a book by Sparks. (The previous low mark was The Best of Me, which arrived to $10 million in ticket sales in 2014.) The Choice was independently financed; Lionsgate bought domestic distribution rights for $10 million.

Only 8 percent of reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes rated the picture favorably. Audiences gave it a B-plus CinemaScore.

Also of note: After bouncing between directors, stars and studios, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, financed by Cross Creek Pictures for $28 million and distributed by Columbia, became the latest genre mash-up to flop, taking in about $5.3 million.

The movie, based on author Seth Grahame-Smith's twist on the Jane Austen classic, spent a long time in development and endured a series of starts and stops before shooting began. It stars Lily James of Cinderella and Downton Abbey.

The only major limited release this week came from the Weinstein Co. with its thriller Regression. On 100 screens, the Alejandro Amenabar-directed picture pulled in an estimated $31,000. It follows a detective (Ethan Hawke) and a psychoanalyst (David Thewlis) as they uncover evidence of a satanic cult while investigating the rape of a teen played by Emma Watson.

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 comScore:

  1. Kung Fu Panda 3, 20th Century Fox, $21,242,181, 3,987 locations, $5,328 average, $69,293,138, two weeks.

  2. Hail, Caesar! Universal, $11,355,225, 2,232 locations, $5,087 average, $11,355,225, one week.

  3. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, Disney, $6,973,316, 2,262 locations, $3,083 average, $906,044,785, eight weeks.

  4. The Revenant, 20th Century Fox, $6,939,795, 3,018 locations, $2,299 average, $149,543,198, seven weeks.

  5. The Choice, Lionsgate, $6,050,443, 2,631 locations, $2,300 average, $6,050,443, one week.

  6. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Columbia, $5,324,240, 2,931 locations, $1,817 average, $5,324,240, one week.

  7. The Finest Hours, Disney, $4,826,239, 3,143 locations, $1,536 average, $18,491,899, two weeks.

  8. Ride Along 2, Universal, $4,560,715, 2,172 locations, $2,100 average, $77,247,545, four weeks.

  9. The Boy, STX Entertainment, $4,083,822, 2,214 locations, $1,845 average, $26,881,506, three weeks.

  10. Dirty Grandpa, Lionsgate, $4,040,023, 2,567 locations, $1,574 average, $29,379,776, three weeks.

  11. The 5th Wave, Columbia, $3,773,788, 2,346 locations, $1,609 average, $25,738,988, three weeks.

  12. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi, Paramount, $2,850,304, 2,059 locations, $1,384 average, $47,742,896, four weeks.

  13. Fifty Shades of Black, Open Road, $2,080,924, 2,075 locations, $1,003 average, $9,371,544, two weeks.

  14. The Big Short, Paramount, $1,710,205, 860 locations, $1,989 average, $63,660,681, nine weeks.

  15. Daddy's Home, Paramount, $1,477,840, 1,018 locations, $1,452 average, $145,237,796, seven weeks.

  16. Brooklyn, Fox Searchlight, $1,179,319, 703 locations, $1,678 average, $32,380,262, 14 weeks.

  17. Spotlight, Open Road, $835,514, 668 locations, $1,251 average, $36,104,348, 14 weeks.

  18. Room, A24 Films, $731,117, 631 locations, $1,159 average, $11,201,500, 17 weeks.

  19. 45 Years, IFC Films, $475,908, 154 locations, $3,090 average, $1,986,920, seven weeks.

  20. 2016 Oscar Shorts, Magnolia Pictures, $427,455, 170 locations, $2,514 average, $1,213,854, two weeks.

MovieStyle on 02/12/2016

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