‘Ride Along’ Keeps Rolling at the Box Office

25 Jan, 2014

The holdover buddy cop pic, teaming Kevin Hart and Ice Cube, will end its second weekend with a gross of nearly $75 million. Holdovers Ride Along and Lone Survivor — both from Universal — easily trumped new genre entry I, Frankenstein at the Friday box office.

Starring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube, Ride Along took in $6.3 million on its second Friday for a projected $20.5 million, putting its domestic total through Sunday at $74.7 million.

Also from Universal, Lone Survivor placed No. 2 Friday with $3.6 million. Peter Berg’s  Afghanistan war drama is expected to gross $12.3 million for the weekend, pushing its domestic total to $93.3 million.

Based on demand, Universal is increasing the number of theaters that Lone Survivor is playing in, from 2,989 to 3,160. The film is a hit in America’s heartland. Entering its third weekend in nationwide release, Lone Survivor has earned $79.6 million domestically.

Frankenstein, reimagining the classic literary character as an action hero, is quickly falling flat in its debut. The $65 million pic took in $2.8 million on Friday to place No. 3, but it’s expected to fall to No. 6 for the weekend with a disappointing $7.8 million. The pic received a B CinemaScore.

Directed by Stuart Beattie and starring Aaron Eckhart, Frankenstein was financed and produced by Lakeshore Entertainment, with Lionsgate releasing and marketing in North America.

Adapted from Kevin Grevioux’s graphic novel, the supernatural action pic is set in a dystopian future where gargoyles and demons battle each other for ultimate power as Victor Frankenstein’s creation (Eckhart) finds himself caught in the middle. Bill Nighy, Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto, Socratis Otto, Jai Courtney and Grevioux also star.

Lionsgate and Lakeshore have been aggressively going after men and genre fans, including advertising for last week’s football championship games.

Among award contenders looking for a continued boost after scoring top Oscar nominations, Dallas Buyers Club — which is being rereleased in theaters — expanded nationwide on Friday, upping its theater count from 419 to 1,110. The movie took in $544,000 on Friday for a projected $2.1 million weekend.

The drama, starring Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, has grossed $18.2 million to date. It was rereleased in more than 400 theaters last weekend.

The Hollywood Reporter

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