The Weekend Report: "Cinderella" Outpaces "Run All Night"

In which I run down the big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend.

Today we come to the first of what I hope will become a regular weekly series here on Filmquisition: The Weekend Report - where I let you know what people saw this last weekend and what you can look forward to seeing this upcoming weekend.  Hopefully it will give you some insight on the hidden gems and obvious stand-outs that you still have the opportunity to check out before they rotate out of theaters, or alternatively let you know what you should save your money for in the weeks to come.

Without question, Cinderella is the big winner from this last weekend, raking in $70.1 million dollars.  This is more than the $50-60 million that it was expected to earn, and even more than Maleficent's $69.4 million May opening last year.  Admittedly, some of the difference might be because of Frozen Fever, but that can't be the only reason it did so well.

It appealed to families with kids and anybody with fond memories of the animated classic.  It was assisted by the television popularity of leads Lily James (Downton Abbey) and Richard Madden (Game of Thrones), neither of which had before now gotten a fair shake at the big screen.  I also can't believe that I was the only one drawn in because of director Kenneth Branagh, who seems to finally have found his niche in mainstream cinema.

Limping along in second place was Run All Night: the most recent Liam Neeson fronted action movie directed by Juame Collet-Serra.  This is the third collaboration between the two men, who previously worked together in Unknown and Non-Stop, and is roughly par for the course for this stage of Neeson's action-packed career.  It pulled in a disappointing $11 million: even less than last year's more solid A Walk Among the Tombstones.

I have to wonder if people are just starting to get tired of Neeson as an action star.  I know that I would much rather see him as Oscar Schindler than as Taken McNon-Stop.  Each Taken movie has made less money than its predecessor, and that's even counting Taken 3's PG-13 rating, which opened it to the teenaged market.  It's either that, or Cinderella ate up any profit that was to be had this weekend and action fans would rather wait until Furious 7 in April and Avengers: Age of Ultron in May.

There are two new options for movie-goers this upcoming weekend.  The first of these is Insurgent, the sequel to last year's luke-warmly received Divergent.  I'm actually a little more on the side of the first movie than most critics, but the otherwise solid - if uninspired - young adult adaptation lost me in its poorly-realized final act.  Hopefully Insurgent can pick up the pieces where Divergent scattered them, but I don't have especially high hopes for this one.

The second new release is Gunman: an action thriller with an absurdly good cast that includes Sean Penn, Idris Elba and Javier Bardem.  Those three alone should be worth the price of admittence, especially if you're not sold on the latest Hunger Games hopeful.  The film follows an assassin (Penn) who is targetted for elimination himself when he resurfaces following his most recent hit.

Box Office Standings:

1)  Cinderella - $70.1m
2) Run All Night - $11m
3) Kingsman: The Secret Service - $6.2m
4) Focus - $5.7m
5) Chappie - $5.7m
6) The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - $5.6m
7) The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water - $4m
8) McFarland, USA - $3.6m
9) Fifty Shades of Grey - $2.8m
10) The DUFF - $2.8m

What's your favorite movie that's still running in theaters near you?

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