Roxanne Powell
Content Editor
With all the hype swirling around the Divergent books and movie, you’d think the film would get a higher rating. But alas, early returns have predicted the teen sci-fi film may not reach the $60 million projected opening.
There were several predictions about how much the movie would make for Lionsgate, estimating a whopping $22.5 million at 3,936 locations on Friday. This estimate included a $4.9 million from a few late shows on Thursday night. But even with these numbers, the movie will still take the gold at the weekend box office!
The Divergent series is similar to Susan Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy, and draw a very similar fanbase. This works in the Divergent film’s favor, as most of the core moviegoers have read one or both trilogies. But even with such an extensive fanbase from the reading community, it is still difficult to predict how the rest of the moviegoers will react.
Rotton Tomatoes was unimpressed with Divergent, giving it a “fresh” rating of 42%.
Muppets Most Wanted also proved somewhat of a disappointment, with tracking taking a dive from $25 million to $20 million. Friday’s box office only brought in about $5.5 million.
But even Divergent‘s projected start doesn’t hold a candle to The Lego Movie, which has the largest projected Stateside start of 2014 to date. Even Summit’s first Twilight movie (2008) brought in $69 million, making Divergent‘s own earnings meager in comparison.
Friday also saw a drop in Lionsgate’s stock (a total of 7.85%), forcing investors to sell some shares. This caused the lowest close since since last July at $27.60. Lionsgate has tried to temper Wall Street predictions for Divergent after losing nearly a quarter of its value over the last half year.
Muppets Most Wanted fell short of its predecessor, The Muppets, which earned $29 million during the Thanksgiving season. But Mr. Peabody and Sherman soared to the front of formation, earning between $11 and $12 million. This brought the DreamWork’s production past the $80 million mark.
Check out the complete list of box office contenders on Variety!
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