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Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow’s The Lego Movie is a champ for the third weekend in a row.
The 3D animated film once again topped the North American box office, declining only 37 percent to $31.5 million, and pushing its domestic total to $183.2 million. Globally, the family entry — bringing the world’s most popular toy line to the big screen for the first time — crossed the $275 million.
Demestically, Lego had no trouble burying the weekend’s two new entries, McG‘s Kevin Costner spy thriller 3 Days to Kill and Paul W.S. Anderson‘s big-budget spectacle Pompeii.
From Relativity and EuropaCorp, 3 Days to Kill came in No. 2 with a subdued $12.3 million opening.
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Based on a story by EuropaCorp’s Luc Besson, 3 Days to Kill stars Costner as an international spy looking to give up his dangerous lifestyle and repair his relationships with his daughter and his wife. But first, he must complete one last mission, even as he looks after his teenage daughter for the first time in a decade. Amber Heard, Hailee Steinfeld and Connie Nielsen also star in the movie, which marks Costner’s second spy movie of the year after Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.
3 Days to Kill, which Relativity says cost a relatively modest $28 million to produce, fared better than Pompeii (both films earned a lukewarm B CinemaScore). However, 3 Days to Kill will face fierce competition next weekend from Liam Neeson‘s Non-Stop.
Coming in No. 3, Pompeii opened to $10 million, a dismal start considering the movie’s $100 million budget. Germany’s Constantin Films fully financed Pompeii, resulting in limited financial exposure for Sony’s TriStar, which is releasing the film domestically per its deal with FilmDistrict. FilmDistrict paid for marketing.
Set in A.D. 79, Pompeii recounts the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which destroyed the Roman city. Kit Harington, Carrie-Anne Moss, Emily Browning, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Jessica Lucas star alongside Jared Harris and Kiefer Sutherland.
Constantin — which also financed the ill-fated The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones — is hopeful that the historical epic will do strong business internationally, but early results were only so-so. The movie, opening in 37 markets over the weekend, took in $22.8 million, including a third-place finish in Italy with $1.4 million. South Korea led with $3.6 million, followed by $2.3 million in France.
Sony and MGM’s holdover RoboCop placed No. 4 in its second weekend, falling 57 percent to $9.4 million. The sci-fi remake has earned $43.6 million domestically. Overseas, the film hit the $100 million mark.
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George Clooney‘s Monuments Men remained a crowd-pleaser in its third weekend, rounding out the top five with $8.1 million and raising the movie’s domestic total to $58 million.
Elsewhere, Disney’s Frozen crossed the $980 million mark at the global box office to become the second-highest grossing animated film of all time after fellow Disney/Pixar title Toy Story 3 ($1.1 billion), not accounting for inflation.
Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire also claimed a milestone as its domestic total reached $423.6 million, making it the No. 10 title of all time at the North American box office.
Films opening last weekend over the Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day holiday saw big drops. About Last Night fared the best in terms of sheer gross, dipping 71 percent to $7.4 million. The remake came in No. 6, ending Sunday with a domestic total of $38.1 million.
Endless Love fell 68 percent to $4.3 million, coming in No. 9. Its domestic total is $20.1 million. Winter’s Tale came in No. 10, falling 71 percent to $2.1 million for a domestic total of just $11.2 million.
At the specialty box office, Hayao Miyazaki‘s acclaimed The Wind Rises made a solid showing, grossing $306,000 from 21 theaters. Its location average of $14,571 was the second best of the weekend after IFC Films’ biographical documentary Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me, which debuted to $30,000 from two theaters for an average of $15,000.
Roadside Attractions’ Jessica Lange historical drama In Secret debuted to $271,500 from 266 theaters for a meek location average of $1,021.
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