The weekend box office of 6-8 February 2015 welcomed as its number one position a playful title, the movie variant of the animated SpongeBob. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water easily classified as a top position in charts and dethroned the Oscar nominated biography drama American Sniper. The total sum gained by SpongeBob starting with its 6 February release is an impressive number of $56 million, more than the double of the former box office leader American Sniper.
The weekend box office also welcomed in its charts another 6 February released movie, Jupiter Ascending, which scored a decent number three position in charts and the total of $19 million. The Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski directed movie is probably the first science fiction movie to get a high position in charts since the release of Interstellar, with dramas and The Hobbit taking the leading position in most of the weekend box offices. Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis might seem a befitting couple for outer space action, but the amount of emotions in Interstellar is difficult to surpass, although most movie critics chose to point at some scientific errors. Back to the weekend box office of 6-8 February 2015, Jupiter Ascending is followed by not only another 6 February release, but also by a fantasy movie. Position number four of the box office was taken by Seventh Son, a Sergey Bodrov directed movie representing a mystic journey of apprentice Young Thomas. The newly released picture cashed in more than $7 million gross.
The fifth title of the weekend box office was taken by another animated movie, Paddington, which portrayed the travel of a young Peruvian bear. The January released delightful comedy gathered a total of over $5 million, a modest sum in comparison to the leading position, but its lasting in the top positions of the box office is a great proof of its general appeal to the public.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, the box office leader, was directed by Paul Tibbitt, with Glenn Berger and Jonathan Aibel penning the script. Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Animation released the movie and Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures, shared with Variety his beliefs and excitement about the movie: ‘’We got the faithful fans to show up, but we also had teenagers and 20-year-olds”, SpongeBob appealing to quite a vast public, not only to those already known as target audience. He also added as a conclusive statement: ‘’It was able to do so well because it played to a wide age range. It was a combination of people who grew up with ‘SpongeBob’ and had affection for it, along with a campaign that introduced some fresh elements.’’
Top 5 titles of the weekend box office of 6-8 February 2015 (via Proboxoffice):
1. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – $56,000,000
2. American Sniper – $24,165,000
3. Jupiter Ascending – $19,000,000
4. Seventh Son – $7,101,000
5. Paddington – $5,365,000