Weekend Box Office Report: April 11-13, 2014

Captain America stands his ground!

For his second weekend in theaters, Marvel's patriotic champion captured the top spot at the box office as CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER grabbed another $41.3 million!

That's a drop of around 56% from its impressive opening last week, but the shield-slinging sequel is clearly feeling the post-AVENGERS bump — its current $476 million worldwide total has already easily surpassed the final $370.6 million global take of CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER in 2011 (granted, the second solo adventure is arguably also a superior movie).

While CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER may never hit the billion-plus worldwide haul of THE AVENGERS or IRON MAN 3, at this pace it holds a good chance of catching up to IRON MAN ($585 million), IRON MAN 2 ($623 million) and THOR: THE DARK WORLD ($644 million).

Cap fended off the family-friendly feathered flappers of Fox's CG-animated sequel RIO 2, which opened in second with $39 million. That's almost the same amount that the first RIO opened with back in 2011, but the South American birds have already taken flight with an additional $125 million from international audiences (the original ended with $484.6 million worldwide). Critics weren't really feeling the follow-up (51% on Rotten Tomatoes) but the kids seemed to enjoy it, giving the sequel a solid 'A' CinemaScore.

In third was the new supernatural horror movie OCULUS with an opening of $12 million. The R-rated mirror-themed spooker, featuring sci-fi girls Karen Gillan ("Doctor Who", GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY) and Katee Sackhoff ("Battlestar Galactica", RIDDICK) came with a mere $5 million production cost. While critics appreciated the no-frills chills (71% on Rotten Tomatoes), paying crowds shrugged it off with a 'C' CinemaScore.

The latest Kevin Costner sports drama DRAFT DAY (from GHOSTBUSTERS director Ivan Reitman) opened in fourth place with $9.7 million. Although the actual NFL draft takes place soon, perhaps the fall would be a better time to release a football-themed movie? Audiences found Costner's third 2014 movie appearance to be fairly enjoyable ('B+' CinemaScore) but critics seemed a little uncertain (63% on Rotten Tomatoes).

The young-adult adaptation DIVERGENT slid to fifth place with $7.5 million, followed by Bible buddies NOAH and GOD'S NOT DEAD in sixth and seventh. It's interesting that the low-budget anti-atheism melodrama has made nearly half as much as Aronofsky's costly FX-filled ark tale domestically, although NOAH has collected nearly $250 million worldwide.

Wes Anderson's THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is still going strong with another $4 million in eighth place, followed by MUPPETS MOST WANTED and MR. PEABODY AND SHERMAN, discarded by family crowds for the new RIO 2 option.

Outside the chart, THE RAID 2 kicked its way onto nearly a thousand screens for $1 million, while NON-STOP, NEED FOR SPEED and SABOTAGE disappeared out of sight and Jim Jarmusch's vampire drama ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (featuring Loki himself Tom Hiddleston) opened in limited release to an adequate $24k per-screen average.

And in the continuing saga of Disney's FROZEN, the movie is still in a few theaters as it reaches for the $400 million domestic badge of pride, and it also just nudged past SKYFALL to become the eighth highest-grossing worldwide release of all time.

Next weekend finds Johnny Depp getting virtual in TRANSCENDENCE, Disney tracks wilderness beasts in the documentary BEARS, the Wayans continue silly horror parody in A HAUNTED HOUSE 2, and (on Wednesday) a kid checks out the afterlife in the religious drama HEAVEN IS FOR REAL.

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