“HOME” HITS A HOMER

DreamWorks Animation’s Home soared past analysts’ predictions over the weekend, pulling in an estimated $54 million. The pundits and tracking researchers had figured that it would earn around $30-35 million. For the struggling DWA, there had been no place like Home for far too long. Mr. Peabody and Sherman opened in second place last year with a disappointing $32 million. (The company eventually took a $57 million write-down on the movie.) In 2013 Turbo opened in third place with just $21 million. And in 2012 Rise of the Guardians, opened in fourth place with $24 million, triggering the biggest write-down in the studio’s history — a whopping $87 million — and the first of a steady series of layoffs and cutbacks. Also opening this weekend was the Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard. It was expected to run neck-and-neck with Home, and while it came in a distant second with an estimated $34.6 million, that figure represented the high end of predictions.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Rentrak:
1. Home, $54 million; 2. Get Hard, $34.6 million; 3. The Divergent Series: Insurgent, $22.1 million; 4. Cinderella, $17.5 million; 5. It Follows, $4 million; 6. Kingsman: The Secret Service, $3.1 million; 7. Run All Night, $2.2 million; 8. Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, $2.2 million; 9. Do You Believe? $2.2 million; 10. The Gunman, $2 million.