'Insurgent' Tops Weekend Box Office; Sean Penn's 'Gunman' Shoots Blanks
By Pamela McClintock
Lionsgate’s YA sequel Insurgent debuted to $101 million globally, although it barely matched the $54.6 million launch of Divergent on the same weekend a year ago in North America.
Insurgent grossed $54 million domestically and $47 million internationally, where it opened in much of the marketplace, or 76 territories.
Elsewhere, Sean Penn has become to the latest actor to suffer a career low. The Gunman, the latest in a string of male-skewing action films that haven’t worked, opened to just $5 million, Penn’s lowest start for a movie opening in more than 2,000 theaters. New Christian film, Do You Believe?, also disappointed in debuting to $4 million, well behind last year’s God’s Not Dead.
Heading into the weekend, tracking suggested Insurgent would open in the $55 million to $60 million range domestically, thanks in part to a 3D release, something the first film didn’t offer. Insurgent cost $110 million, compared to $90 million for Divergent.
Though they are very different properties, Cinderella likely made life difficult for Insurgent, since they both appeal to teen girls.
Insurgent, earning an A- CinemaScore, sees the return of stars Shailene Woodley and Theo James, but with a new director, Robert Schwentke, at the helm. The story continues to center on Woodley’s character, a young woman named Tris who does not fit it in the futuristic society that divides people into five strictly categorized factions. Octavia Spencer and Naomi Watts have joined the cast for the Summit sequel, produced by Lucy Fisher, Douglas Wick and Pouya Shahbazian.
Cinderella placed No. 2 with $34.5 million domestically for a running worldwide total of $253.1 million.
Directed by Pierre Morel, The Gunman eked out a fourth-place finish behind Run All Night. Gunman, earning a B- CinemaScore, centers on an international operative who is pursued across Europe by the organization he works for after he tries to retire.
Produced by Joel Silver’s Silver Pictures, Gunman is being distributed by Open Road Films in the U.S.
Holdover Kingsman: The Secret Service rounded out the top five, while Do You Believe? placed No. 6.
Believe, about a pastor who encounters a street-corner preacher, was written by Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon, who also penned God’s Not Dead, which opened on the same weekend a year ago to $9.1 million for Pure Flix Entertainment, the company also behind Believe.
The film was directed by Jonathan M. Gunn and stars Ted McGinley, Mira Sorvino, Lee Majors, Cybill Shepherd and Brian Bosworth.
At the specialty box, Radius-TWC’s It Follows, the critically acclaimed supernatural horror film that opened to stellar numbers last weekend in New York and Los Angeles, expanded into a total of 32 theaters, earning a pleasing $352,000 for a location average of $11,00
Watch an interview with Insurgent star Naomi Watts below:
