It might feature some of the most disturbing 2D-turned-3D characters since The Smurfs, but none of the CG creepiness has hurt SpongeBob SquarePants’ latest film. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water took in an impressive $56 million to place top of the American box office charts this weekend.
The blend of live-action and animation, which finds the chatty sponge and his friends on a quest to recover the recipe for Crabby Patties from a thieving cook on dry land, beat all the competition and made $24 million more on its opening weekend than 2004’s first SquarePants film – quite an achievement for a character that has been waiting a while between movies. SpongeBob pushed **American Sniper **down to second place, though the Oscar-nominated and much-discussed drama didn’t retreat far, earning $24.1 million this weekend alone and racking up more than $282 million in the US so far.
Despite some noxious reviews, Jupiter Ascending didn’t quite crash to Earth on arrival, though it didn’t exactly impress either. The Wachowskis’ latest, which boasts a pricey $176 million production budget alone, has suffered from the negative press surrounding it and the release date shift didn’t help much either. The film made $19 million for a relatively quiet launch, bolstered by healthier international takings. Still, that was better than a fellow member of the Release Date Shift Move Club, Seventh Son, which arrived fourth with a pale $7 million. The fantasy adventure, in which Jeff Bridges trains Ben Barnes to fight Julianne Moore’s evil witch queen, was also fairly beaten up by the critics and isn’t likely to be spawning a franchise, except possibly in the straight-to-streaming/DVD realm.
Faced with family competition, Paddington took a small hit, but the cheery critter only dropped a couple of places, landing in fifth with $5.36 million and a healthy $57.2 million overall in the US. After earning more than $208 million worldwide so far, sequel chatter is already starting to happen for the be-hatted one. Time travelling tale Project Almanac fell similarly, from second place to sixth, earning $5.33 this weekend.
The Imitation Game yet again showed staying power, hanging on in seventh place for a second weekend despite 11 weeks spent in the charts. The Alan Turing film earned $4.81 million.** The Wedding Ringer** slipped to eighth with $4.81 million, while Black Or White tumbled to ninth and $4.5 million. Finally, The Boy Next Door – apparently looking to make a swift exit from the charts – dropped to 10th with $4.1 million.
To see an animated sponge hop over Bradley Cooper’s head in the full chart listings, head to Box Office Mojo.