Box Office: 'Non-Stop' Stops 'The LEGO Movie'
Credit: Universal Pictures
The three-week reign of The LEGO Movie has come to an end. The animated blockbuster has been unseated from the No. 1 spot by the new Liam Neeson movie, Non-Stop. The action-thriller topped the box office with $30 million, the best debut for a Neeson movie since 2012's Taken 2, which brought in $49.5 million.
The film stars Neeson as U.S. air marshal who "gets into serious trouble on a transatlantic flight from New York to London," which is putting it mildly, given the high-stakes nature of the terror threat aboard the vessel, and the whodunnit mystery at its center. But this is what audiences have come to expect from Neeson: high-stakes action and pulse-pounding setpieces, all set to a soundtrack of Neeson's grizzled Irish brogue.
"Liam has become an incredibly reliable star, and I'm very proud of the film," said Nikki Rocco, distribution chief for Universal Pictures.
Yet Neeson had serious competition this week. From Jesus, believe it or not.
Son of God, the Christian film from 20th Century Fox, surprised many industry pundits with its $26.5 million debut, making this the second-best opening for a Christian film after 2003's The Passion of the Christ, not accounting for inflation.
From producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, the film details the life of Jesus Christ (Diogo Morgado), and is a loose adaptation of their miniseries The Bible, since the movie includes deleted scenes from the History Channel hit.
"It started with Mark and Roma's grassroots marketing campaign. Their intent was to ignite the faith-based community, and it clearly worked," said Chris Aronson, Fox's distribution chief . "And our exit polls were extraordinarily high. This film will have very strong legs."
As for last week's top grosser, The LEGO Movie dropped to No. 3, declining only 33 percent to $21 million. The film crossed the $200 million mark at the North American box office, having grossed an estimated $209.3 million over the past four weeks. No. 4 belonged to George Clooney's The Monuments Men, which earned $5 million to bring its domestic total of $65.7 million. The Top 5 was rounded out by Kevin Costner's action thriller 3 Days to Kill, which took a 60 percent hit in its second weekend, grossing a paltry $4.9 million for a North American box office total of $20.7 million over the past two weeks.
You can check out the full Top 10 at the box office below:
- Non-Stop ($30 million)
- Son of God ($26.5 million)
- The LEGO Movie ($21 million)
- The Monuments Men ($5 million)
- 3 Days to Kill ($4.9 million)
- RoboCop ($4.5 million)
- Pompeii ($4.3 million)
- Frozen ($3.6 million)
- About Last Night ($3.4 million)
- Ride Along ($3 million)