‘Zootopia’ dominates weekend box office with $47M

Disney’s second weekend of “Zootopia” is dominating U.S. moviegoing with about $47 million expected from 3,827 locations this weekend — double the launch of thriller “10 Cloverfield Lane,” early estimates showed Friday.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy “The Brothers Grimsby” posted tepid returns with weekend estimates ranging from $3.6 million to $5 million at 2,235 sites. Sony’s “Grimsby” may be outdone by Lionsgate-Codeblack’s debut of romantic comedy “The Perfect Match,” bowing at only 925 screens.

Focus Features’ launch of faith-based “The Young Messiah” showed little life with a projection of $3 million at 1,761.

“Zootopia” continues to pack plenty of punch, heading for $11 million on Friday, down only 43% from its opening day. The animated toon should wind up the weekend with a 10-day domestic cume around $140 million.

On Friday, Disney trumpeted the fact that “Zootopia” has already passed $300 million in worldwide box office.

Paramount’s “10 Cloverfield Lane” was the only other significant draw on Friday with about $8 million at 3,391, projecting to a range of $23 million to $30 million for its weekend. That’s a solid performance for a project with a modest $15 million budget.

“10 Cloverfield Lane,” set in a bleak near-future Louisiana, launched with $1.8 million in Thursday night previews — the same number as 2014’s “Edge of Tomorrow,” which opened with a $28.8 million weekend. The film stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman and John Gallagher Jr., and was developed by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Prods. as a spiritual successor to 2008’s found-footage horror film “Cloverfield.”

Critics have offered strong support to “10 Cloverfield Lane” with a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore, credited Paramount with managing to build buzz for “10 Cloverfield Lane.”

“Solid reviews, a great cast and the cache of producer J.J. Abrams will give “10 Cloverfield Lane” a shot at a solid start this weekend as this mysterious, modestly budgeted, genre-defying film has already piqued the interest of fans who came out in big numbers on Thursday night and should benefit throughout the weekend from strong social media buzz,” he said.

Holdovers will take the third and fourth spots this weekend at about $10 million with a battle between Focus Features’ second weekend of “London Has Fallen” and Fox’s fifth frame of surprise hit “Deadpool,” which goes into the weekend with an impressive $317 million domestic total.

“The Brothers Grimsby,” starring Baron Cohen and Mark Strong, had been forecast to open with about $8 million but will finish well below that level. It’s by far the worst opening for a Baron Cohen comedy, compared with “Bruno” ($30 million), “Borat” ($26.4 million) and “The Dictator” ($17.4 million).

Baron Cohen and Strong play long-lost brothers who are reunited while Strong’s character is on a spy mission. The film is replete with edgy humor, including a scene in which presidential candidate Donald Trump contracts AIDS.

Paramount’s second weekend of Tina Fey’s comedy-drama “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” may wind up in fifth place with about $4 million.

“The Young Messiah,” starring Adam Greaves-Neal as Jesus, has been marketed to the Christian community with a pre-Easter release. It’s going to fall short of recent estimates that had pegged an opening of about $7 million from 1,761 domestic locations.

The Lionsgate and Codeblack Films romantic comedy “The Perfect Match” could reel in as much as $5 million at 925 sites. Terrence J, Cassie Ventura, Donald Faison and Paula Patton star in the film.