‘Lone Survivor’ Helped Hollywood Make A Ton Of Money In January
Lone Survivor and the Kevin Hart comedy Ride Along helped the boys and girls in Hollywood earn a considerable amount of money in January.
Although the month is generally reserved for flicks the studios don’t think audiences will enjoy, the aforementioned motion pictures managed to generate an impressive amount of ticket sales following their respective release dates. The studios earned $894 million last month, giving Hollywood its highest January box office gross since 2010.
Director Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor, a film that tells the true story of a failed mission in Afghanistan, has approximately $105 million in the bank as of this writing. The $40 million thriller opened in the UK over the weekend, though it’s currently unclear how much cash the acclaimed flick brought home in that particular market.
Of course, Ride Along isn’t doing badly either. The Kevin Hart and Ice Cube flick presently holds the record for the highest-grossing January opening; the movie snagged $41.5 million over the span of just three days. Considering the comedy has already earned $93 million, chances are it will cross the $100 million mark by next Sunday.
The folks at Universal Pictures are no doubt extremely happy with the continued success of Lone Survivor and Ride Along. Both flicks have earned well above their production budgets, allowing to the studio to easily coast ahead of its cinematic competitors. Ride Along fans should expect a sequel in the near future.
Unfortunately for Paramount Pictures, the January box office wasn’t nearly as friendly. Although Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones did a fair amount of business, the Chris Pine thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit couldn’t find a foothold at the multiplex last month.
At the moment, the flick has only made $39 million in the US. Thankfully, foreign moviegoers seem to have taken a shine to the film; Shadow Recruit brought home $61 million at the box office overseas. This helped push the movie’s box office total to a healthy $100 million, which is well above its $60 million budget.
Lionsgate also had some trouble selling I, Frankenstein to the masses. Produced by the masterminds behind Underworld, the action-horror hybrid couldn’t find any takers when it hit theaters on January 24. The $60 million genre effort only has $15 million in the coffer domestically, though the flick could find salvation in the arms of foreign moviegoers.
Are you surprised that Lone Survivor and Ride Along made so much money at the box office in January? Which was your favorite of the two?
