Fox’s “The Croods” courted auds to the tune of $11.6 million Friday, heading for a bow just north of $40 million through Sunday.
The toon is benefitting from a recent dearth of family fare coming off Oscar season and the harder R-rated genre films from early this year. Capitalizing on that, “Croods” appears to be taking a similar trajectory to that of DreamWorks Animation’s last spring success, 2010’s “How to Train Your Dragon,” which opened to $43 million and wound up with a $217 million Stateside cume and two Oscar nominations.
While “Croods” is matching expectations, second placer “Olympus Has Fallen” from FilmDistrict looks like it will overperform this frame. After earning $10 million Friday, B.O. observers are adjusting expectations to a three-day haul around $28 million, way up from pre-weekend predictions targeting the high teens with a $20 million domestic upside.
Disney’s “Oz the Great and Powerful” earned $5.6 million Friday for third, while Sony’s “The Call” took $2.7 million. They are headed to three-day takes around $20 million and $9 million, respectively, maintaining third and fourth place through Sunday.
Focus Features bowed “Admission” and fledgling distribbery A24 expanded “Spring Breakers” Friday to about $2 million each. The latter surprised insiders last weekend when it grossed $270,000 from only three engagements. Its first frame in wide release should close at around $5 million.
