Box office
YOUR IDES OF MARCH WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Lyor Cohen’s favorite franchise (it’s Grecian Formula to him) was vanquished by a couple of cartoon characters who bit the Spartans in the leg as they switched places in the movies’ second weeks. Both outpointed the debut of the Aaron Paul-starring flick based on the videogame of the same title. The latest Liam Neeson thriller and the latest underperformer from Tyler Perry rounded out the top five on a weekend when the conference hoops tourneys provide most of the drama.
1. Mr. Peabody & Sherman (Fox) – $21.2m (-34.2%), 3,951/$5,366 avg. (week 2)
2. 300: Rise of an Empire (WB) – $19.1m (-57.6%), 3,490/$5,474 avg. (week 2)
3. Need for Speed (Disney) – $17.8m, 3,115/$5,717 avg. (debut)
4. Non-Stop (Universal) – $10.6m (-32.9%) 3,183/$3,335 avg. (week 3)
5. Tyler Perry's The Single Moms Club (Lionsgate) – $8.3m, 1,896/$4,378 avg. (debut)
The weekend’s big story is just below the #6 LEGO Movie (hanging around in week six) and #7 Son of God (hoping to hang around till Easter), where looms Fox Searchlight’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, which is off to the strongest start in the career of art-house auteur Wes Anderson, registering $3.64m, but more strikingly averaging a jaw-dropping $55,152 on 66 screens. According to Box Office Mojo, that’s an all-time record for a movie playing in over 50 locations. Next weekend, Budapest expands in to a minimum of 275 theaters. For what it’s worth, we loved it. (3/17a)
