Perhaps looking to follow up on their success with the Ice Age series of movies, Fox released the highly mediocre but also highly franchisable The Croods this weekend. The reception in theaters wasn't record breaking, but it was enough to give the movie a solid Spring Break number one debut, leaving star studded Olympus Has Fallen in the dust.
Call it crappy timing, but with the increasing amount of war threats from North Korea and decreasing satisfaction with its government, American audiences seemed to have only a moderate interest in watching a movie about a terrorist attack on Washington DC. Perhaps it would have done better if Morgan Freeman had been cast as the President (haven't we all wished he could get a real chance at the role after the lameness of Deep Impact?), but whatever the reasons, Olympus took in $30 million for a soft second place behind The Croods and their $44 million bow in.
Tina Fey's track record took a hit this weekend. Her last two comedic leading roles in Baby Mama and Date Night helped those movies to $17 million and $25 million openings respectively. Her latest, Admission, opened at fifth place on just $6 million. Fortunately Fey can turn to cry on the shoulder of her co-star Paul Rudd who knows just how it feels. His last several comedies have fizzled at the box office.
Speaking of Spring Break, the aptly released Spring Breakers expanded to over 1,000 venues and raised enough attention to break into the top ten. The first wide release movie from director Harmony Korine apparently has something to say about modern youth culture, but it was probably the presence of ex-Disney princesses Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens in bikinis hanging out with James Franco that drew most of the audience attention. Made on a simple $2 million budget and then circulated on the film festival circuit, Spring Breakers finally broke through to the tune of $5 million and six place this weekend.
For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below:
