'Zootopia' Remains a Champion at Box Office as 'Allegiant' Underperforms

Movie

The third 'Divergent' movie cannot beat reigning champion 'Zootopian' as it opens to a disappointing $29.1 million in North America.

March 21, 2016

AceShowbiz -

"Zootopia" tops North American box office for a third straight week. The Disney animation remains unmoved at the peak with an estimated $38 million, bringing its total domestic cume to $201.8 million. With additional $64.8 million from international markets, the movie is close to crossing $600M mark worldwide.

"It's just been a juggernaut," says ComScore senior box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "I don't know that anyone thought it'd do this well. With few other choices for that family audience since 'Kung Fu Panda 3', it's benefiting from a perfect release date and great word-of-mouth.

"Zootopia" winning streak comes as "The Divergent Series: Allegiant" bombs. The third installment of the blockbuster franchise only collected approximately $29 million in its first weekend, just over half of the opening tallies of its predecessors "Divergent" ($54.6 million) and "The Divergent Series: Insurgent" ($52.3 million).

Dergarabedian explains the movie's disappointing performance, "Younger audiences change their mind like the weather and it's very hard to gauge interest. It can't fault the release date or the marketing plan - they followed exactly what was successful the past couple years. It may just be the conditions of the marketplace."

Editors' Pick

Dergarabedian, however, thinks that the next and last installment "The Divergent Series: Ascendant" still has a chance to have a better start since it's "a different type of month for its box-office potential." He adds, "It being the last one also carries a bit of cachet" and could drum up additional interest.

Placing third this week is another newcomer "Miracles from Heaven". The fact-based drama starring Jennifer Garner opens to an estimated $15 million. "10 Cloverfield Lane" loses two spots, placing fourth with additional $12.5 million. At the fifth place, "Deadpool" adds an estimated $8 million to its domestic gross, for a current total of $340.9 million domestically.