In what must be interpreted as a sign of the coming Apocalypse, the feature-length animated adaptation of the mobile game Angry Birds has managed to ride the zeitgeist of six years ago to a No. 1 spot at this weekend’s box office. At this very moment, a studio is greenlighting a movie that is just two straight hours of vuvuzela noise, while a young man with a cracked copy of Final Draft 9 puts the finishing touches on his coming-of-age drama about the day My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy dropped.
Despite less-than-stellar reviews (our own Jesse Hassenger didn’t take too kindly to it), The Angry Birds Movie grossed $39 million this past weekend, knocking Captain America: Civil War down to No. 2 with a measly $33.1 million. But lest the reader imagine tears welling up in Chris Evans’ blue eyes, it should be pointed out that Marvel’s latest is already the top-grossing film of 2016, and the only movie released this year to have crossed $1 billion mark worldwide—all in just three weeks of release. (Zootopia, which has been out for 12 weeks, is slowly inching toward that line; it came in 8th this week with $1.7 million.)
The No. 3 and No. 4 spots were taken, respectively, by the comedy sequel Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising ($21.7 million) and Shane Black’s well-received ’70s gumshoe pastiche The Nice Guys ($11.3 million). The latter, which performed just a little better than the six-week-old The Jungle Book (No. 5 with $11 million), is doing just a little better than projected, given its niche appeal.
Speaking of which: On the indie release front, the documentary Weiner opening in five theaters this weekend, averaging $17,105 in each for the highest per screen average of the weekend. Close behind was Yorgo Lanthimos’ absurdist comedy The Lobster—a movie much liked around these parts—with a $17,000 average on a much larger number of screens; surprisingly, the movie has already crossed $1 million.
For more detailed numbers, visit Box Office Mojo.