The "Captain America" sequel certainly soared high and clipped the wings of "Rio 2" at the weekend box office.
The Marvel movie "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" took home $41.4 million at the domestic level and $60.6 million for overseas earnings. On the other hand, "Rio 2" earned $39 million on its debut weekend.
The animated jungle tale's $39 million debut, quite close to the $36 million estimate by industry analysts, was almost the same as the opening weekend total made by the first movie, states CBS News. However, the "Captain America" sequel easily beat the $370 million sum of "The First Avenger" with a $477 million this time around for "The Winter Soldier."
According to several analysts, the race between the two sequels was extremely tight. But the aggressive word of mouth strategy reportedly got "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" ahead of the game, states USA Today.
Ray Subers from the Box Office Mojo says that the animated sequel had a good chance of almost beating "Captain America" due to several reasons. Subers said that the "Rio" sequel had the same well-loved brand of humor as the original movie and even added in new characters and voices such as Kristen Chenoweth, Andy Garcia and Bruno Mars to the mix.
Additionally, the timing of the Disney movie's release was allegedly advantageous, says Subers, citing the need for family movie releases once again. "The movie also had a scheduling advantage, as 'Mr. Peabody & Sherman' and 'Muppets Most Wanted' are essentially played out at this point," remarked Subers.
He also added, "With the Easter holiday coming up-and without any serious family competition for a long, long time-Rio 2 should hold well. It's possible that it eventually matches the first movie's $143.6 million total."
Several days ago, "Rio 2" was still on the lead for the Friday Box Office according to Hollywood Reporter. The sequel had returning actors Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway for the voice character leads.
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