‘Get Hard’ With $34.6 Million Was Beaten By ‘Home’ With $54 Million At Box Office

Usually, a movie starring Kevin Hart comes out in the top position at the box office the first weekend it is released. Surprisingly, the comedy Get Hard was beat out with $34.6 million by the alien adventure Home with $54 million at the box office, according to CBS News.

Get Hard and Home were expected to do well and earn in the mid-$30 million range. Home came close to doubling that expectation while Get Hard fell in that range. This was the biggest opening for a DreamWorks Animation movie in almost three years.

Home didn’t need the entire weekend to take over the top position at the box office. Home surpassed Get Hard on the first day both movies were released. Home received $15.6 million on Friday, and Get Hard received $12.9 million.

This is doubly surprising because Get Hard also stars Will Ferrell. With Ferrell’s fans and Hart’s fans coming together, Get Hard was expected to come closer to Home than it did. Get Hard and Home were both vying for the top spot; however, Get Hard fell far below than what was expected. In a nice poetic way, the Hollywood Reporter wrote, “‘Home’ evicts ‘Get Hard’.”

Home was shown in 3,708 theaters while R-rated Get Hard was shown in 3,175 theaters. The Guardian reported that Home is the latest film from DreamWorks Animation, which had been struggling in the past. The company had been forced to cut 500 jobs earlier this year after several of its other movies didn’t do well. Even though moviegoers would love to have seen Get Hard in the top position at the box office, they are happy for the comeback of DreamWorks Animation.

One reason Home beat out Get Hard was probably because of Rihanna’s voice as the teenage girl who befriends a member of a cute race of alien invaders. Other voices included those of Jennifer Lopez, Jim Parsons, and Steve Martin.

Get Hard drew some criticisms because of racial and homophobic jokes from the comedians. The movie is about Ferrell’s character playing a millionaire hedge fund manager sentenced to prison for fraud. He enlists the help of his African-American car washer, played by Kevin Hart, to help him toughen up before going to jail.

It will be interesting to see if Get Hard can catch up to Home next weekend. Did you see Get Hard or Home last weekend? If so, what did you think about the movie that you saw?

[Image via Wikipedia]