Weekend Box Office: Angry Birds Catapult To The Second Highest Video Game Opening

You've been playing the games on your phone and tablets for years, and the flock of pig-pelting birds have brought in millions of dollars through billions of downloads and untold numbers of sweaters, pillows, plushies and more. But when it came to a major motion picture, audiences weren't quite as excited to hand over the same kinds of time or money.

The Angry Birds Movie comes from a franchise with only the thinnest of narratives, but it's still based on a video game, making it one of the few success stories in that genre. The movie opened at number one with $39 million, the second highest ever video game adaptation opening after Lara Croft: Tomb Raider ($47 million, 2001). Only one video game movie has ever banked more than $100 million domestically (again, Tomb Raider), but if Angry Birds holds strong going into next week it might be the second to break into that bracket. That's a much more rosy perspective than looking at the movie as an animated feature. $39 million ranks it as a third tier entry in the animation box office department with the likes of Over The Hedge and Chicken Little. Foreign sales topped $100 million, eclipsing the $70 million production budget and leaving Sony with plenty of room to green light a sequel.

Captain America slipped to second place, adding $33 million to a $347 million total, the second highest gross this year and within shot of overtaking number one Deadpool by next weekend.

It was a rough weekend for sequel Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. The raunchy buddy comedy re-united Seth Rogen and Zac Efron from the original Neighbors which opened at $49 million and went on to command $150 million. The sequel settled for a limp third place this weekend with $21 million, less than half of its predecessor.

Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling teamed up for the other rated-R comedy opening this weekend, The Nice Guys. Audiences were even less interested here, handing over just $11 million for a fourth place start.

For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below: