Weekend box office: Focus is on top while Fifty Shades falls

Brad Sturdivant March 1st, 2015

The big question of the weekend was whether or not Will Smith can command an audience at the weekend box office and actually put people in the seats. The answer to that question is…kind of. His new movie, FOCUS, opened in first place, but only at around $20 million, which isn’t anything to brag about. Of course, FOCUS isn’t the kind of movie that’s going to break box office records, but I think people were expecting more than $20 million. THE LAZARUS EFFECT also debuted this weekend and it managed to open to about $10 million, which isn’t terrible for a low budget horror film. Meanwhile, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY continued its plummet at the box office, barely able to compete with THE LAZARUS EFFECT.

Next week sees the release of a few movies that should challenge each other for the top spot at the weekend box office. First we have Neil Blomkamp’s CHAPPIE, which was originally thought to be more comedy than action, but all of the previews have made it look more drama than anything else. We also get Vince Vaughn’s UNFINISHED BUSINESS, which has an “R” rating, so hopefully they won’t make the same mistakes they made with THE INTERNSHIP. Then we have THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL and normally I’d ignore this one as a contender, but the original did well and it had a lot of fans on home video, so maybe they’ll turn out to see the sequel in theaters. It’s going to be a tight race, but I’d give the edge to UNFINISHED BUSINESS, only because audiences have to be starved for a comedy now that the Oscars are over. Note: the numbers below will be updated as they become final.

1. Focus $20.2m

2. Kingsman: The Secret Service $10.8m

3. Fifty Shades of Grey $10.24m

4. The Lazarus Effect $10.22m

5. The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water $8.7m

6. American Sniper $7.3m

7. McFarland USA $7m

8. The Duff $6.3m

9. Still Alice $2.6m

10. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 $2.1m

(Deadline)