'Divergent' had a really lousy weekend at the box office
$20 million. That's the opening weekend box office gap that yawns between The Divergent Series: Allegiant and either of its two predecessors.
Allegiant finished its first weekend with $29 million (according to Sunday estimates), compared to Insurgent's $52.3 million opening in 2015 and the $54.6 million garnered by the first film in 2014.
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Release timing isn't the issue: All three movies opened on the same late-March weekend. Competition isn't the culprit either; Allegiant finished the weekend at number two, behind Disney's Zootopia -- a very different sort of movie.
The low turnout suggests a flagging interest in the series, or perhaps in YA adaptations as a whole. Just a few months ago, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 2 opened with a series-low $102.7 million.
In most cases, a second-place finish wouldn't be the end of the world. But context tells a different story here. Allegiant should have opened at around $50 million. The fact that it didn't raises a big, red flag.
That said, Allegiant's failure doesn't mean Zootopia's weekend win is by default. Disney Animation's latest continues to wow critics and audiences alike, even three weeks after its release.
The estimated $38 million weekend brings Zootopia's domestic box office total up to $201.8 million. It's now the studio's third highest-grossing feature of all time, behind Frozen ($400.7 million) and Big Hero 6 ($222.5 million).
At its present pace, Zootopia should unseat Big Hero 6 before the end of March, if not by the coming Mar. 25-27 weekend.
Rounding out the weekend's top five at the box office are Miracles From Heaven ($15 million), 10 Cloverfield Lane ($12.5 million) and Deadpool ($8 million).
Miracles can be considered a success for Sony Pictures just five days after it opened. The weekend total of $15 million already exceeds the movie's reported $13 million budget, and it's really at $18.6 million since opening on Wednesday, Mar. 16.
Cloverfield dipped down by almost 50% after its $24.7 million opening.The movie's been a critical success and an Internet darling -- and it hasn't underperformed -- but it seems like the surefire future cult favorite's best days lie ahead, on home video.
Finally, Deadpool continues to roll along, thanks to what must primarily be repeat viewings at this point. The offbeat Marvel comics story from Fox has a cumulative estimated gross of $341 million.
That's almost enough to unseat American Sniper ($350 million) in the number two spot for top-grossing R-rated movies of all time. Deadpool should get there this month, though toppling the all-time record-holder -- The Passion of the Christ ($370 million) -- is unlikely.
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Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
