Paramount’s “The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water” is dominating the U.S. box office, hitting $15.2 million Friday as it heads for an impressive $52 million opening weekend at 3,641 U.S. locations.
That’s nearly triple the take for Warner Bros.’ expensive “Jupier Ascending,” which opened with $6.4 million Friday and will finish its first weekend at around $18 million from 3,181 theaters, according to Saturday estimates. Legendary’s action fantasy “Seventh Son” also opened weakly with $2.3 million Friday for a mild $6.5 million weekend for Universal.
The “SpongeBob” sequel’s results came in far above recent projections, which had pegged the family comedy for a $35 million launch.
“SpongeBob” will finish only 25% behind the impressive $69 million launch of Warner’s “The Lego Movie,” which opened on the same weekend last year.
