“DIVERGENT’S” AUDIENCE RETURNS FOR “INSURGENT”

Presumably the same audience that turned out for Divergent last year returned to their local theaters for Insurgent over the weekend. Total ticket sales for the latest installment of the franchise came to an estimated $54 million, virtually identical to the original’s $54.6 million. The film also earned about $47 million from 76 overseas markets. The Sean Penn thriller The Gunman was expected to bomb — and it did, on a scale far greater than predicted. Analysts had forecast that it would earn around $7-10 million. According to studio estimates, it actually earned just $5 million. The faith-based Do You Believe had also been expected to earn $7-10 million. It wound up with just $4 million. In its second week, Cinderella dropped about 49 percent to $34.5 million but took in a strong $41.1 million overseas.

The top ten films at the box office over the weekend according to estimates compiled by Rentrak:
1. The Divergent Series: Insurgent, $54 million; 2. Cinderella, $34.5 million; 3. Run All Night, $5.1 million; 4. The Gunman, $5 million; 5. Kingsman: The Secret Service, $4.6 million; 6. Do You Believe? $4 million; 7. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, $3.5 million; 8. Focus, $3.3 million; 9. Chappie, $2.7 million; 10. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, $2.4 million.