’22 Jump Street’ vaults over ‘Dragon 2’

To the surprise of many a pundit skilled in predicting this sort of thing, 22 Jump Street far out-grossed How to Train Your Dragon 2 this weekend, landing the No. 1 spot at the box office. There was a $10 million difference between the two films, with Street raking in $60 million to Dragon’s $50 million. 22 Jump Street’s total was up 65 percent from its predecessor’s opening-weekend figure (21 Jump Street bowed to $36 million in 2012), and marks the second best debut ever for an R-rated comedy, just behind The Hangover Part II. Men and women turned out in equal measure for the flick (you can chalk this up to the Channing Tatum effect) and awarded it an “A-“CinemaScore grade. With such a healthy b.o. start, positive word-of-mouth and favorable reviews, Street could be looking at a final tally between $150 and $200 million.

Which makes the movie’s directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the hottest duo in town. The masterminds behind the first 21 Jump Street, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and this winter’s mega successful The Lego Movie, are riding high. The pair has made four films in the past five years, each of which has opened at No. 1. 22 Jump Street is their second movie to bow to $60 million or more just this year, after The Lego Movie. In their own words, Everything is indeed Awesome.

We can assume DreamWorks is less thrilled with the performance of its Dragon, though the sequel to How to Train Your Dragon nonetheless enjoyed solid returns. Technically speaking, the animated kids film performed to expectation (the studio did project a $50 million opening) and even earned more than its predecessor, which bowed to $43.7 million in 2010. Still, given the popularity of the first film, and the lack of family friendly competition, many thought Dragon 2 would open much stronger. Viewers, more than half of which were under 25, awarded the film an “A” CinemaScore grade. It should hold well in the weeks ahead, although perhaps not well enough to out-gross the first How to Train Your Dragon and its $218 million total.

The other kids-skewing movie currently playing in theatres, Maleficent, earned the No. 3 spot at the weekend box office. It grossed a nice $19 million and, as of Saturday, out-earned Snow White and the Huntsman. The film’s tally stands at $163.5 million.

Last weekend’s second and first-place b.o. earners, Edge of Tomorrow and The Fault in Our Stars, dropped to fourth and fifth place, respectively. The Tom Cruise actioner dipped just 44 percent to earn $14 million; one can thank its roundly positive reviews for such a nice hold. Stars, on the other hand, fell precipitately, 67 percent, to gross $15.7 million. After such a front-loaded first weekend, a steep decline was inevitable. However, the weepie’s current $81.7 million total is surely nothing to, yes, cry about.