Box Office:'Zootopia' rules, Sacha Baron Cohen's 'Brothers Grimsby' bombs

By Brent Lang
March 13 (Variety.com) - Disney's "Zootopia" cruised to
another box office victory this weekend, picking up $50 million
and barreling across the $100 million mark domestically.
After two weeks of release, "Zootopia," the critically
acclaimed story of a plucky rabbit policewoman, has earned
$142.6 million stateside. In its second weekend, "Zootopia" only
dropped 33% - an impressive show of endurance at a time when
major releases routinely see their grosses cut in half after a
big opening. The animated offering is benefiting from a lack of
family fare. It's been more than six weeks since "Kung Fu Panda
3" landed in theaters and the next big film aimed at younger
audiences doesn't hit until April 15 with "The Jungle Book."
"Family audiences have been underserved for months, so this
movie is perfectly timed to get more bang for the buck," said
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore.
Despite the continued strength of "Zootopia," Paramount and
Bad Robot's "10 Cloverfield Lane" was able to connect with
audiences, earning $25.2 million from 3,391 locations. That's a
strong return given that the film about a woman who finds
herself trapped in a doomsday bunker, waiting out the apocalypse
with the neighborhood survivalists, cost $13 million to produce.
The studio also kept marketing costs in check, holding off its
campaign until eight weeks before the film opening, with its
biggest spending coming with a Super Bowl teaser.
Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore credited Bad Robot chief
J.J. Abrams with coming up with the concept for the twisty
thriller while he was in production on "Star Wars: The Force
Awakens." He said the key was to make sure that none of the
advertisements revealed any of the film's surprises.
"We wanted to give people just enough clues to keep them
excited, interested, and wanting more," said Moore. "That's rare
in this day and age, when so much information is given out so
early."
All was not well with "The Brothers Grimsby." The Sony spy
comedy from Sacha Baron Cohen opened to a terminal $3.2 million
from 2,235 locations, raising questions about the comic mind
behind "Borat" and "Bruno's" continued bankability.
"We certainly wanted more," said Rory Bruer, Sony's
distribution chief. "Sacha is amazing and we love him, and we
tried to crack the code on it, but it just didn't happen for
us."
Cohen's most recent starring effort, 2012's "The Dictator,"
disappointed with roughly $180 million on a $65 million budget,
and he tends to have a long period of time between projects,
which may have diminished his popularity. Whatever the case,
"The Brothers Grimsby," with a $35 million budget, ranks as the
biggest flop of Cohen's career. He will try to rebound with a
supporting turn in next summer's "Alice Through the Looking
Glass," a sequel to "Alice in Wonderland."
Focus' faith-based play, "The Young Messiah," had a
lackluster launch, debuting to $3.4 million from 1,761
locations. Also opening, Lionsgate's romance "The Perfect
Match," which unfolded in 925 locations to $4.2 million for the
weekend.
In limited release, Bleecker Street's drone thriller "Eye in
the Sky" generated $117,050 from five locations for a $23,410
per-theater average. Roadside Attractions and Sony's Stage 6
Films also opened "Hello, My Name is Doris," an off-beat comedy
about an older woman (Sally Field) who becomes smitten with a
young co-worker, in four screens in New York and Los Angeles,
where it pulled in $85,240 for a per-screen average of $21,310.
The domestic box office year-to-date was up more than 9%
after last weekend. However, those gains have largely been on
the backs of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which opened in
2015, but did more than $400 million worth of business this
year, as well as recent hits like "Zootopia," "Kung Fu Panda 3"
and "Deadpool." That's led to a severe case of haves and have
nots. There have been a litany of wide releases that have
stumbled or fallen flat in recent months - a collection of
also-runs and bombs that includes "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," "Gods
of Egypt," "The 5th Wave," "Pride & Prejudice & Zombies" and
"Eddie the Eagle."
"It's a traffic jam out there," said Dergarabedian. "The
marketplace is monumentally overcrowded and there are too many
films that don't have a solid chance to do well."