THE LEGO MOVIE BUILDS A SECOND HUGE HAUL

Hardly a chip fell off the old block as The Lego Movie appeared headed for a $62 million finish over the four-day Presidents Day holiday, matching its $61.9 million three-day opening a week ago. Warner Bros., its distributor, estimated that it will hit $50 million over the Friday-to-Sunday period. The animated comedy was running far ahead of its closest competition, the romcom About Last Night, which appeared headed toward a finish of $30 million for the holiday and $27 million for the regular weekend. That would nevertheless amount to a terrific finish for a film that reportedly cost just $15 million to produce. On the other hand, the MGM/Sony action-cum-sci-fi film Robocop was likely to finish with around $25 million for the holiday and $22 million for the three-day weekend, and unless overseas ticket sales can offset the poor result, it seems certain that the producers will take a significant loss, given its estimated $100-million budget. In its second week, George Clooney’s The Monuments Men held up better than had been expected, with an estimated four-day take of $17 million and a three-day of $15 million. It beat out the opening of another romcom, Universal’s Endless Love. The poorly reviewed feature earned just about $15 million over the holiday and $13.4 million over the regular weekend.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo:
1. The Lego Movie, $50 million; 2. About Last Night, $27 million; 3. RoboCop, $22 million; 4. The Monuments Men, $15 million; 5. Endless Love, $13.4 million; 6. Ride Along, $8.8 million; 7. Winter’s Tale, $7.8 million; 8. Frozen, $5.9 million; 9. Lone Survivor, $4 million; 10. That Awkward Moment, $3.3 million.