'Dumb and Dumber To' Laughs Past 'Big Hero 6' for Weekend Box-Office Crown
Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber To
By Pamela McClintock
Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniel’s Dumb and Dumber To laughed its way to an estimated $38.1 million debut at the North American box office, enough to edge out strong holdover Big Hero 6.
Opening 20 years after the original, the surprisingly strong performance of the PG-13 comedy is a needed win for Carrey, as well as another feather in the cap for Daniels, star of HBO’s Newsroom. Universal and Red Granite Pictures partnered on the sequel, playing in 3,154 locations.
Dumb and Dumber To reunites original directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly with Carrey and Daniels, a.k.a., Lloyd and Harry. The story follows the dim-witted friends as they search for Lloyd’s daughter in hopes that she can give him a kidney. Rob Riggle, Laurie Holden, Rachel Melvin and Kathleen Turner also star in the movie, which earned a B- CinemaScore.
Dumb and Dumber To may have had the last laugh, but both Disney’s Big Hero 6 and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar enjoyed nice holds in their second weekend.
Big Hero 6 fell 36 percent to $36 million from 3,773 locations for a domestic total of $111.7 million and early worldwide haul of $148.4 million. The animated tentpole placed No. 2 (many rival studios have Dumb and Dumber To earning closer to $37 million).
From Paramount and Warner Bros., Interstellar came in No. 3, declining 39 percent to $29.2 million from 3,561 theaters for a domestic total of nearly $97.8 million. Globally, the space epic has zoomed past the $250 million mark.
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After Dumber and Dumber To, this weekend’s only other new nationwide offering was Beyond the Lights. The romance drama grossed roughly $6.5 million from 1,789 locations, somewhat less than expected, although it did earn an A CinemaScore.
Beyond the Lights tells the story of a Rihanna-like singer (GuguMbatha-Raw) on the rise who falls for a cop (Nate Parker) after he saves her from a suicide attempt. The $7 million film is from Relativity, Undisputed Cinema and Homegrown Pictures in association with BET Films.
Written and directed by The Secret Life of Bees helmer Gina Prince-Bythewood, the PG-13 title is the first movie to come out of Relativity’s new multicultural division and is opening in 1,750 theaters. It also stars Minnie Driver, Richard Colson Baker and Danny Glover.
The specialty box office saw a flurry of new openings as awards season heats up. Sony Pictures Classics’ wrestling drama Foxcatcher, from director Bennett Miller and starring Steve Carell and Channing Tatum, fared the best by far, grossing $288,113 from six theaters for a theater average of $48,019, one of the best showings of the year.
Open Road’s Rosewater, marking Jon Stewart’s directorial debut, struggled in its debut, grossing $1.2 million from 371 runs.
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Photo credit: AP Photo/Universal Pictures, Hopper Stone
