Weekend Estimates: Heaven is for Real Leads Easter Openers
April 20, 2014
Moviegoers are celebrating Easter weekend by turning out in big numbers to see Heaven is for Real. The Christian-themed movie will be the biggest opener this weekend, with a very respectable $21.5 million projected Friday-to-Sunday and a theater average of $8,895. That puts it at nearly twice box office take of the widest opener this weekend, Transcendence, which is set for a very disappointing $11.15 million debut. Also opening this weekend, and similarly posting mediocre numbers is A Haunted House 2, with a projected $9.1 million from 2,310 theaters. But, with a production budget reported at $4 million, compared to $100 million for Transcendence, the horror spoof shouldn't have a hard time earning money.
Although it had the biggest opening weekend, Heaven is for Real will have to settle for third place overall, behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier, down 36% this weekend to $26.6 million, but still holding on at number one in its third weekend, and Rio 2, which will post around $22.5 million for the weekend, down 43%.
There are two other religious films in the top 10 this weekend. Noah will be down about 34% this weekend, to $5 million, which gives it an outside chance to reaching $100 million in total. Indie film God's Not Dead, meanwhile, will be down just 13% to $4.8 million and a total of $48 million so far. It is comfortably the biggest independent film released in 2014 so far (see top-grossing films of 2014 here).
One other films opened this weekend in wide release: Bears, from Disneynature. It will earn about $4.8 million this weekend, which is down somewhat from their previous releases.
Bollywood film, 2 States will post about $1.1 million from just 136 theaters for UTV Communications.
In limited release, John Turturro's Fading Gigolo, in which he co-stars with Woody Allen, will top the Theater Average Chart with a projected $198,399 in five theaters, for an average close to $40,000. No other film will come close to that average this weekend, but Rialto's re-release of Godzilla: The Original Japanese Version gets an honorable mention with $12,500 projected from a single theater.
Bruce Nash bruce.nash@the-numbers.com
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Gojira, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Noah, Bears, Rio 2, Transcendence, Heaven is for Real, A Haunted House 2, Fading Gigolo, God’s Not Dead, 2 States, Woody Allen, John Turturro