'Zootopia' roars to box office domination with $73.7M
The all-animal animated Zootopia trounced the human competition at the weekend box office with a stunning $73.7 million, according to studio estimates.
Zootopia's tale of a rabbit police officer (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) teaming with a fox conman (Jason Bateman) to solve a crime that has the city's lion mayor (J.K. Simmons) concerned, marked the largest opening three-day weekend for Walt Disney Animation Studios ever, beating the $67.4 million posted in 2013 by Frozen.
Zootopia's box office efforts rank as the fourth-largest March opening weekend in industry history.
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"This is a huge debut; families flocked to Zootopia," says Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for comScore. "There hasn't been much family fare in the marketplace in the last few months, and that audience needed this film. Kung Fu Panda 3 benefited from that need, and now it's Zootopia's turn in a big way."
Zootopia helped the effort as a critic's darling, scoring an eye-popping 98% positive critical rating on the film site RottenTomatoes.com and an A audience grade on CinemaScore.
Gerard Butler's return to saving the president in London Has Fallen took second place with an undramatic debut of $21.7 million. While in line with box office expectations, the film was down significantly from Butler's original Secret Service mission, 2013's Olympus Has Fallen, which flew out to a $30 million opening.
London Has Fallen tanked with critics with a 25% positive critical score on RottenTomatoes and an A- audience grade on CinemaScore.
Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool took third place with $16.4 million in its fourth weekend. The R-rated Marvel film has earned a staggering total of $311 million since its record-breaking Valentine's weekend debut of $135 million.
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Tina Fey's starring role as a journalist sent to Afghanistan in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot took fourth place with $7.6 million in its opening weekend.
"Tina Fey is a very well-known, very respected person. But she's not a movie star," says Scott Mendelson, box office analyst for Forbes. "People don't go out to see a movie just because Tina Fey is in it."
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot scored a 60% positive rating on RottenTomatoes and a tepid B audience grade on CinemaScore.
Gerard Butler continued his mediocre box office weekend with his starring role in Gods of Egypt, which rounded out the top five with $5 million in its second weekend (for a box office total of $22.8 million).
Director Terrence Malick's Knight of Cups, starring Christian Bale, opened in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles for a total of $56,668 and a solid location average of $14,172.
In the weekend following the Academy Awards, best picture winner Spotlight flourished in 542 additional theaters with $1.8 million for the weekend, up 149% from its previous weekend. The story of The Boston Globe's investigation into the Catholic Church has made $41.6 million to date.
Final numbers are due Monday.