by 
Updated on December 10, 2021
The top film at the box office this weekend was Will Smith’s latest film, “Focus,” earning $19.1 million. It knocked “Fifty Shades of Grey” out of first place; the romance(?) film dropped down to fourth place, earning $10.9 million.
In third place is “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water,” which pulled in another $11.2 million (-32.4% from last weekend). So far, it’s earned $140.3 million domestic, $96.3 million overseas, and $236.6 million globally.
Horror film “The Lazarus Effect” opened in fifth place, earning $10.6 million.
“American Sniper” dropped to seventh place, earning $7.7 million (-23.4%). Its earnings currently are $331.1 million domestic, $139.1 million overseas, and $470.2 million globally. Of note is it’s set to cross the domestic gross of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1” by next weekend, which’ll make “Sniper” the highest grossing film released in 2014.
“Hot Tub Time Machine 2” dropped to tenth place, earning $2.4 million (-59.8%). So far, it’s earned $10.3 million. While it only cost $14 million to make, it’s still a flop.
Dropping out of the top ten is “Paddington,” with a domestic gross of $70.2 million and an international gross of $160.3 million. Fairly popular here, but way moreso overseas. I assume we’ll be seeing a Paddington sequel before long.
Next week sees three films opening: sci-fi film “Chappie,” (yet another) R-rated comedy “Unfinished Business,” and dramedy “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.” “Chappie”‘s TV ads make it look like “Short Circuit 2015” with a low budget/action focus.
