Weekend Box Office Report: April 18-20, 2014

Cap keeps pounding the competition!

For three straight weekends in theaters, Marvel's star-spangled super-soldier defeated all other releases at the box office as CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER once more held the #1 position with another $26.6 million!

As Cap's solo sequel crosses $200 million domestically, it's also rushing toward $600 globally and has passed the original IRON MAN's $585.2 million worldwide total. 

Retaining the second place slot was the CG-animated sequel RIO 2 with $22.5 million. Jesse Eisenbird and his feathery friends have flown to a 10-day total of $75.3 million and glided past $200 million worldwide.

The weekend's new releases took the next three spots on the chart, with the latest religious-themed movie HEAVEN IS FOR REAL performing strongest with $21.5 million (and $28.5 million total after a Wednesday head start).

Based on the best-selling book about a young boy's purported visit to the afterlife during a near-death experience, the adaptation has already more than doubled its modest $12 million budget. Critics were on the line about the movie (53% on Rotten Tomatoes) while faithful audiences gave their trip to heaven an 'A' CinemaScore.

The new Johnny Depp sci-fi thriller TRANSCENDENCE opened in fourth place with $11.1 million, continuing the Depp downtrend after pricey pics THE LONE RANGER ($29.2 million opening) and DARK SHADOWS ($29.6 million opening) — although both movies ended up doing well overseas. We'll see if his international fanbase is as passionate about his latest.

The feature directing debut from Chrstopher Nolan's regular cinematographer Wally Pfister (an Oscar winner for INCEPTION) carried a $100+ million production cost, but fizzled with critics (20% on Rotten Tomatoes) and probably won't be generating much word-of-mouth business with a 'C+' CinemaScore from paying crowds.

The horror spoof sequel A HAUNTED HOUSE 2 opened in fifth with $9.1 million, already doubling its cheap $4 million cost. As expected, audiences appreciated the Wayans humor ('B-' CinemaScore) more than critics — the parody had a rare single-digit aggregate of 7% on Rotten Tomatoes.

On the bottom half, Kevin Costner's DRAFT DAY slipped to sixth with $5.9 million (a decent 39% drop), followed by the young-adult adaptation DIVERGENT, which has passed $200 million worldwide (not exactly THE HUNGER GAMES figures for the launch of a franchise that has another three movies already planned).

The low-budget mirror-terror flick OCULUS dropped from third place to eighth with $5.2 million (56% down from its opening). Darren Aronofsky's biblical epic NOAH has sailed to almost $300 million worldwide as of this Easter weekend, while GOD'S NOT DEAD kept Disney's new animal documentary BEARS just beyond the Top 10 (with $4.7 million).

Outside the chart, we said goodbye to MUPPETS MOST WANTED, MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN and Wes Anderson's THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, which has cracked $100 million globally. And Disney's FROZEN is somehow still going, now the sixth highest-grossing worldwide release as it skated past TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON and LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING.

Next weekend offers one of Paul Walker's final roles in the action movie BRICK MANSIONS (a remake of the French DISTRICT 13), plus the Cameron Diaz comedy THE OTHER WOMAN, the horror movie THE QUIET ONES, and the Tom Hardy driving drama LOCKE in limited release.

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