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APEX Hollywood Shortlist: Chappie Takes The Top Spot At Weekend B.O.

March 10, 2015  | Written by Tomas Romero

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Howard Stern may be the “King of all Media” and Donald Trump might be the newly self-anointed “King of Building Walls,” but Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel is most definitely the “King of the Hour” at the Hollywood Box Office, with star turns in two of the top three releases last week.

In what turned out to be 2015’s slowest weekend at the box office to date, Sony’s Chappie easily took the number one spot with a Rock ‘Em Sock ’em robot-worthy $13.3M. The latest release from visual effects wunderkind Neill Blomkamp, Chappie features Patel as an inventor who reprograms one of his reject Robocop-esque androids to think, feel and enjoy a classic 1980’s-era He-Man cartoon. Co-starring A-list heavyweights Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver – who has more than a little experience with sci-fi and artificial intelligence thanks to her roles in the Alien and Avatar franchises – Chappie was co-written by Blomkamp’s wife, Terri Tatchell, who shared a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination with Blomkamp in 2009 for District 9.

Hot on the heels of second-place finisher Focus (Warner Bros.), was Patel’s second entry in the box office countdown, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The eagerly-awaited sequel to Fox Searchlight’s art-house smash The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Second Best raked in a solid $8.5M over the weekend. Proving that his first outing in the franchise was no fluke, Patel more than holds his own with returning Marigold cast members Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Bill Nighy. He even goes a few memorable rounds with the hotel’s newest guest, Richard Gere.

Also opening wide over the weekend was the Vince Vaughn business trip comedy Unfinished Business (Fox) which cracked the top 10 with $4.7M.

And in a fitting tribute to the life and legacy of groundbreaking documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles – who pioneered the “fly on the wall” or “Direct Cinema” approach to documentary film with his brother David in such seminal films as Salesman (1968) and Gimme Shelter (1970) – Janus Films released a restored version of the Maysles Brother’s 1976 cult classic Grey Gardens over the weekend as well. Playing on only one screen in New York City, the re-release of Gardens raked in a whopping $13.8K as crowds flocked to the theater to pay tribute to Maysles, who died at age 88 last week in Manhattan. Janus Film’s beautiful restoration of the “weird and wonderful” Gardens is expected to expand to a handful of speciality markets over the next couple of months, but it won’t be around for long. So, hire yourself a feral raccoon sitter, strap on your favorite skirt turban and get yourself to the local art house while you can.

Complete Box Office Results – March 6-March 8, 2015