It was a weekend with only one new wide release and The Longest Ride fought valiantly. Unfortunately, the latest Nicholas Sparks adaptation didn’t have the power to overtake DreamWorks Animation’s newest film in its third week of release, and it certainly didn’t have the power to take down Furious 7, which continued its supreme domination of the April box office.

 

FilmWeekendPer Screen
1Furious 7$60,591,000 (-58.8)$15,065$252,522,000
2Home$19,000,000 (-29.7)$5,131$129,554,000
3The Longest Ride$13,500,000$4,011$13,500,000
4Get Hard$8,635,000 (-34.2)$2,757$71,201,000
5Cinderella$7,225,000 (-29.0)
$2,388$180,773,000
6Insurgent$6,850,000 (-32.4)$2,202$114,848,000
7Woman in Gold$5,852,000 (+179.8)$3,891$9,303,000
8It Follows$2,027,000 (-19.4)$1,241$11,798,000
9Danny Collins$1,600,000 (+360.0)$2,165$2,497,000
10While We’re Young$1,377,000 (+184.7)$5,598$2,355,000

 

Nicholas Sparks movies have been bombs and they have been hits, and The Longest Ride looks like it will fall somewhere in the middle. With an opening weekend of $13 million, it’s not going to be a smash, but its audience will find it and they will propel it to at least $30 million. Maybe even $40 million, if things go well. Romantic dramas about cowboys and rodeos don’t cost much, so it’ll be a minor success. Its biggest problem is that it’s opening in the wake of what’s shaping up to be one of the biggest films of 2015.

After its record shattering first weekend, Furious 7 dropped a large 58% in its second weekend. But that’s no big deal, because the second weekend grosses still added up to $60 million, bringing the seventh film in the long-running series to $252 million. In two weeks, it has effortlessly outgrossed Fast and Furious 6, the previous champion of the franchise. At this rate, $300 million domestic isn’t going to problem. The real question now is just how close it’s going to get to $400 million before the next Avengers movie arrives and steals all of its business.

In second place, Home continued to do solid business as the only real kids movie on the market, taking in $19 million for a current gross of $129 million. It’ going to hit $150 million for sure, but $200 million is probably out of reach at this point. Still, there’s nothing to scoff at here. Those are solid numbers for a non-sequel animated movie these days.

There are a few other big movies still doing solid business in the top 10. Get Hard grossed $8 million for a total of $71 million, and $100 million still looks plausible. With $180 million in the bank, Cinderella is still eyeing $200 million, and it should get there by the end of the month. Insurgent continued doing solid business, but it looks like it may fall short of the $150 million made by its predecessor (though it may be close).

However, the back half of the box office was dominated by little films doing well. It Follows continued to be a sleeper hit, adding $2 million to its box office for a gross of $11 million. That slow and steady success should be something every indie distributor watches carefully. Woman in Gold exploded into wider release, doing numbers that wouldn’t look good for a major movie but certainly look great for a tiny drama. The same goes for Danny Collins and While We’re Young, which cracked the top 10 in limited release. These are the kind of movies that make their money over several weeks and through word of mouth. We will keep our eyes on them.

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