SpongeBob' Cleans Up at the Box Office--update

By Ben Fritz 

Building a new film franchise is far harder than rejuvenating a 16-year-old one, as this weekend at the box office demonstrated.

"The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water," based on the cartoon series that premiered in 1999, dominated with a healthy $56 million opening in the U.S. and Canada, according to an estimate from distributor Paramount Pictures, owned by Viacom Inc.

Meanwhile, a pair of big-budget movies originally envisioned as the start of series that would spawn franchises, both bombed. "Jupiter Ascending," directed by the Wachowski siblings and released by Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros., opened to a weak $19 million. The fantasy-action film "Seventh Son," financed by Legendary Pictures LLC and released by Comcast Corp.'s Universal Pictures, made its debut to a miserable $7.1 million.

Both have long been known as troubled projects in Hollywood. "Seventh Son" was originally set to be released by Warner Bros. in February of 2013 when that studio was Legendary's distribution partner. It was delayed twice due to reshoots and problems with its visual effects, then pushed back another year when Legendary switched studios to Universal.

Based on a series of fantasy books, "Seventh Son" cost around $100 million to produce and is one of a number of would-be franchises Legendary has attempted to jump-start since it started producing its own movies in 2013. It had more success with "Godzilla" last year but also failed last month with the bomb "Blackhat."

"Jupiter," a science-fiction epic starring Channing Tatum, was originally set to come out last July but was pushed to this past weekend to allow for additional shooting and tinkering. Warner's decision to release the movie on a weekend already claimed by Universal for "Seventh Son" was widely viewed in Hollywood as setting up a face-off of two troubled pictures.

Budgeted at a costly $175 million, "Jupiter" represented a big bet on an original concept from the Wachowskis, whose last several pictures have fared poorly at the box office, including "Cloud Atlas," "Speed Racer," and the final "Matrix" movie. The film was co-financed by Village Roadshow Pictures along with Warner.

Representatives for Warner and Universal both said they were disappointed with their films' domestic performances.

The movies have fared somewhat better overseas, where "Seventh Son" has taken in $83.6 million so far and "Jupiter" $32.5 million. Still, that's not enough to make either film a financial success. Legendary has already taken an $85 million write-down on "Seventh Son," as previously reported by Variety.

Until recently there was little buzz around "SpongeBob," the second movie based on the Nickelodeon cartoon. The first, released in 2004, grossed a decent $85 million.

But the new movie, which combines hand-drawn and computer animation along with some live-action sequences, was backed by a big marketing campaign and resonated more strongly with audiences. Paramount Vice Chairman Rob Moore noted that late-night screenings were healthy, indicating that young adults who grew up with "SpongeBob" came out to see the new movie, not just families with young children who attended daytime screenings.

Mr. Moore said early indications are that the new "SpongeBob" movie, which cost about $75 million to make, will do particularly well overseas. It has already grossed $11 million in its first week in Mexico, compared with a total of $3 million there for the earlier "SpongeBob" movie.

The film kicks off a new animation strategy for Paramount, which ended a six-year relationship distributing movies for DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. in 2012. The opening of "SpongeBob" was better than the last six movies from DreamWorks.

Mr. Moore said Paramount will release a new animated movie for families about once every year.

Second place at the box office was held by "American Sniper," which continued its extraordinary box office run by grossing $24.2 million, bringing its domestic total to $282.3 million.

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