RIDE ALONG Scores Third Straight Box Office Win With $12.3 Million

Continuing its high-flying ride at the domestic box office, Universal's stalwart holdover "Ride Along" posted its third straight weekend victory, estimating $12.3 million for a Stateside cume of $93 million and counting.

The Super Bowl weekend's only two wide releases - Focus Features' "That Awkward Moment" and Paramount's "Labor Day," both of which are targeted squarely at female audiences - underperformed, grossing $9 million and $5.3 million, respectively.

Internationally, Disney had another standout weekend with its toon all-star "Frozen," which grossed an estimated $24 million from 45 territories, representing approximately 90% of the overseas market place.

So far, the film has collected north of $504 million internationally, with $360 million Stateside (pic's sing-along re-release contributed $2.2 million out of a total estimated $9.3 million this weekend), making "Frozen" the second-highest grossing original toon of all time globally, behind "Finding Nemo."

Domestic totals managed to stay in line roughly with this time last year, down just 2%, though first-quarter 2013 box office was especially mopey.

As the clear highlight so far this year, "Ride Along's" third-straight win at the domestic box office matches what only three films total managed last year - "The Butler," "Gravity" and "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" - none of which bowed during the first quarter.

Speaking of "Gravity," Warner Bros.' large-screen re-release of the Oscar-nominated 3D epic earned more than half of its $2 million three-day gross in Imax. "Gravity" has cumed nearly $264 million million domestically in over four months.

Among the other Academy Award contenders, both "American Hustle" and "The Wolf of Wall Street" became milestone box office achievements for their respective directors: "Hustle" now stands as David O. Russell's highest-grossing film, with $133.6 million, while Martin Scorsese's "Wolf" is the director's third-highest, at $104.1 million, surpassing "The Aviator."

The adult-skewing Oscar pics took away some business from "Labor Day," which scored 71% of its opening from auds over 25. Pic also skewed 60% female.

"Labor Day," which stars Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin (both of whom were unavailable to promote the film) as tragic lovers, cost $18 million to produce. Par insists the film will be fine financially if it cumes more than three times its opening. Pic received a unenthusiastic 'B-' CinemaScore, however.

"This genre generally plays to fantastic multiples," said Megan Colligan, prexy of worldwide marketing and distribution for Par. "As a lead-in to Valentine's Day, (this weekend) felt like the perfect runway."

Meanwhile, "That Awkward Moment," the first release from the newly restructured Focus Features (CEO Peter Schlessel acquired the film while still at FilmDistrict), cost $8 million, though the distrib spent just $1.5 million for the rights. The Zac Efron starrer scored a 'B' CinemaScore and played best to young femmes.

Similar to "Labor Day," Focus hopes "That Awkward Moment" can leg out through Valentine's Day as a choice for couples. That weekend is crowded already with date movies - Sony-Screen Gems' "About Last Night" and Universal's "Endless Love."

Domestic

Film (Weeks in release): 3-day gross*; Locations; Per-theater average; Cume*; Percentage change

Ride Along (3): $12.3; 2,867; $4,295; $93.0; -42%

Frozen (11): $9.3; 2,754; $3,381; $360.0; +2%

That Awkward Moment (1): $9.0; 2,809; $3,208; $9.0; -

The Nut Job (3): $7.6; 3,472; $2,193; $50.2; -37%

Lone Survivor (6): $7.2; 3,285; $2,180; $104.9; -44%

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (3): $5.4; 2,907; $1,858; $39.0; -41%

Labor Day (1): $5.3; 2,584; $2,051; $5.3; -

American Hustle (8): $4.3; 2,216; $1,940; $133.6; -39%

The Wolf of Wall Street (6): $3.6; 1,607; $2,209; $104.1; -35%

I, Frankenstein (2): $3.5; 2,753; $1,279; $14.5; -59%

*in millions of $

To post a comment, you must register and login.