'SpongeBob SquarePants' Exceeds Expectations; 'Jupiter Ascending' and 'Seventh Son' Flop

It was a foregone conclusion that The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water would finally relieve American Sniper of the number one spot at the box office, but no one thought it would be by quite this much: The nostalgia-heavy animated film made $56 million on its opening weekend, for the fifth-highest February opening ever. Generally positive reviews helped, as did a savvy marketing campaign that emphasized how SpongeBob, Patrick and the rest would be going up to the "real world" in a CGI/live-action hybrid segment that actually didn't make up all that much of the running time.

American Sniper dropped one spot to number two, its $24.1 million weekend gross bringing its total so far to $282.6 million domestically. Box Office Mojo notes that that exceeds the combined grosses of the eight other Best Picture Oscar nominees.

Coming in third was the Wachowskis' Jupiter Ascending, which earned a scant $19 million. That might not be so bad if the budget weren't a whopping $176 million, but alas. Andy and Lana should be getting some stink-eye from Warner Bros. execs today. Still, at least it's not Seventh Son, which couldn't even crack the $10 million barrier; Universal's wannabe fantasy epic made only $7.1 million on 2,875 screens. Rounding out the top five was Paddington, like SpongeBob a somewhat surprisingly well-reviewed kid's movie (though SpongeBob shouldn't hold out for that BAFTA nomination). Its $5.3 million weekend gross brings its total to $57.2 million.

Among new limited releases, writer/director/actor Rik Swartzwelder's Old Fashioned--an indie being marketed as a Christian alternative to next weekend's 50 Shades of Grey--earned a respectable $40,800 on three screens, proving once again the economic viability of faith-based cinema. The documentary Ballet 422 earned $26,000 on two screens, and the dismally reviewed Love, Rosie got $16,200 on 15 screens.