Angry Birds also surprisingly knocked down Captain America: Civil War from its first place position to second after three weeks in theaters, where the film has so far taken in $347.4 million at domestic box offices.
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In what was arguably the most competitive weekend at the 2016 box office thus far, Sony’s The Angry Birds Movie vaulted to the No. 1 spot rather handily, breezing past newcomers Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising and The Nice Guys as it exceeded Civil War’s third weekend haul by almost $6 million.
The film, directed by Fergal Reilly and Clay Kaytis, is set on an island populated entirely by happy, flightless birds – except for Red (voiced by Jason Sudeikis), speedy Chuck (Josh Gad) and Bomb (Danny McBride). “The video game aspect is drawing that audience that knows the brand, but then there’s the crossover of family audiences who have really been drawn to PG-rated movies this year”.
“Angry Birds, ” based on a 2009 mobile game that became a pop-culture craze, sold an estimated $39 million in tickets, on the high end of pre-release analyst expectations. X-Men: Apocalypse hauled in $103.3 million in the worldwide box office, where it debuted in 75 foreign markets including China, Japan, the U.K., France. and Russian Federation. Angry Birds also landed the top spot in 48 markets around the world, including China, where its $29.2 million (£20 million) haul was higher than both debuts of popular animated films Zootopia and Big Hero 6.
Taking in an okay $800,000 versus fellow new release “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising”, which earned $1.67 million in previews, “Birds” ended up making $10.9 million on Friday while “Neighbors 2” made just $8.8 million on its Friday, according to Deadline.
Opening at No. 3, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising brought down the house with a solid, if not spectacular, $21.8 million. The Nick Stoller directorial stars Zac Efron, Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne and Chloe Moretz.
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Fourth place went to another film making its debut this weekend, “The Nice Guys”, starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, which took in 11.2 million dollars. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
