NORTH AMERICA: Weekend Actuals: 'Neighbors' Blows Away Expectations with $49.0M; 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' Falls to Second with $35.5M

By Daniel Garris

Universal's Neighbors broke out this weekend with a first place debut of $49.03 million. The comedy starring Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and Rose Byrne had been widely expected to find itself in a close battle for first place this weekend with The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but Neighbors ultimately won this weekend's box office battle with ease. It should be noted that Sunday's percentage holds for both Neighbors and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 were ultimately quite a bit softer than had been expected on Sunday morning. Neighbors delivered the largest live-action opening weekend performances ever for both Rogen (whose previous high-mark was the $33.53 million start of 2011's The Green Hornet) and Efron (whose previous best was the $42.03 million launch of 2008's High School Musical 3). Neighbors generated the fifth largest opening weekend of 2014 to date and marks another strong performer for Universal thus far in 2014 (joining Ride Along, Lone Survivor and Non-Stop).

Neighbors opened with $19.57 million on Friday (which included an estimated $2.56 million from Thursday evening shows), fell 9 percent on Saturday to take in $17.80 million and declined 34.5 percent on Sunday to take in $11.66 million. That placed the film's opening weekend to Friday ratio at 2.50 to 1. Neighbors had clear four-quadrant appeal this weekend, as it skewed slightly towards female moviegoers (53 percent) and slightly towards moviegoers 25 and older (53 percent). The film did only receive a B rating on CinemaScore, but is still likely to hold up well going forward.

Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 took second place with $35.50 million. The expensive 3D superhero sequel fell 61.2 percent from last weekend's opening weekend performance. That was similar to the respective 58.4 percent and 61.5 percent second weekend declines of last year's Iron Man 3 and 2007's Spider-Man 3, though both of those films were coming off far larger opening weekend performances. With a ten-day take of $146.20 million, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 continues to perform on the low end of expectations. The film is currently running 1 percent ahead of the $145.10 million ten-day start of last year's Thor: The Dark World and 8 percent behind the recent $158.88 million ten-day take of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is likely to continue to fall off quickly next weekend when Warner's highly anticipated Godzilla enters the marketplace.

Turning towards the weekend's other new wide releases, neither Moms' Night Out nor Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return was able to make an impact at the box office. Sony's Moms' Night Out debuted in seventh place with $4.31 million. Despite strong pre-sales, the low-budget comedy from TriStar aimed at faith-based audiences opened slightly below its modest expectations. Opening in only 1,044 locations this weekend didn't help matters for the film. Moms' Night Out debuted with $1.25 million on Friday, increased 12 percent on Saturday to take in $1.39 million and increased a strong 20 percent to gross $1.67 million on Mother's Day. That placed the film's opening weekend to Friday ratio at 3.46 to 1. Moms' Night Out received a B+ rating on CinemaScore, but might be front-loaded going forward as a result of opening over Mother's Day weekend.

Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return opened in eighth place with $3.72 million. Despite decent pre-release tracking and the current relatively empty marketplace for family fare, the 3D computer animated film from new distributor Clarius Entertainment debuted below its modest expectations. The film was clearly unable to propel itself from the strong performance of Disney's Oz The Great and Powerful last year. Legends of Oz opened with $0.99 million on Friday, increased 63 percent on Saturday to gross $1.61 million and declined 31 percent on Sunday to take in $1.11 million. That placed the film's opening weekend to Friday ratio at 3.76 to 1. Legends of Oz did receive a strong A rating on CinemaScore, but it will have a tough time keeping screens going forward after this weekend's soft start.

Fox's The Other Woman claimed third place this weekend with $9.61 million. The comedy starring Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton was down 33 percent from last weekend. That represented a very solid weekend hold, especially when considering the new competition the film faced from Neighbors. The Other Woman was helped out a bit this weekend by the Mother's Day holiday. The Other Woman continues to exceed expectations with a 17-day take of $62.09 million. That places the film 14 percent ahead of the $54.36 million 17-day gross of 2008's What Happens in Vegas.

Heaven is for Real held up very nicely this weekend with a fourth place take of $7.48 million. The break-out faith-based drama from Sony was down a slim 13 percent from last weekend, thanks in part to continued strong word of mouth and the Mother's Day holiday. The 26-day total for Heaven is for Real stands at an impressive $75.70 million.