Home' Sweeps Away Box Office

By Erich Schwartzel 

"Home" gave DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. a much-needed hit this weekend, surpassing expectations and topping the box office with an estimated $54 million.

The children's film features an unlikely duo: singer Rihanna voices the character of Tip, a young girl who befriends an outcast alien voiced by "Big Bang Theory" actor Jim Parsons.

Last year, DreamWorks bumped the release date of "Home" from November to March, with executives saying it was a "kinder" window for an original-concept title. The movie that it swapped dates with, DreamWorks' own "Penguins of Madagascar," flopped, but the switch was the right move for "Home," said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at Twentieth Century Fox, which distributed the movies. (Fox's parent company, 21st Century Fox, was until mid-2013 part of the same company as The Wall Street Journal.)

"We're going into the big spring weekends," said Mr. Aronson, adding that "Home" faces little competition for family sales until Walt Disney Co.'s "Inside Out" debuts June 19.

It also gives DreamWorks a hit at a time when the studio desperately needs one. The company has issued four write-downs on features like "Turbo" and "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" since November 2012. Earlier this year, the company announced a massive restructuring and creative overhaul that resulted in 500 workers being laid off. "Home" is the company's only release this year, making its box-office returns all the more important for the studio's bottom line.

Overseas, the movie has grossed $48 million so far. "Home" is the second animated movie to perform well this year; "The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water" has collected $160 million since Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures released it in February.

The weekend's other new release, the R-rated "Get Hard," went after a very different audience and landed in second place with a solid $34.6 million. Distributed by Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros., "Get Hard" stars Will Ferrell as a man preparing to go to prison with the help of businessman played by comedian Kevin Hart. "Insurgent," from Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., fell to third place in its second week of release, grossing $86.4 million so far.

Audiences gave "Home" an "A" grade, according to the CinemaScore market research firm, while "Get Hard" received a "B."

In other box-office news, the horror film "It Follows" expanded to wide release after good word-of-mouth led to robust returns in a handful of theaters. It collected $4 million in about 1,200 locations, and its distributor, Weinstein Co.'s Radius-TWC, said it will expand further next week.

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