‘Rio 2’ Steals Top Spot At Box Office

The Friday night box office numbers are in, and it looks like Rio 2 is sitting pretty at the top of the pile. In a head-to-head battle for No. 1 with Captain America: Winter Soldier, which is going into its second weekend, Rio 2 performed very well with movie goers on Friday night.

Deadline.com is reporting that Rio 2 pulled in right at $12 million in the US on Friday night, and that the expected earnings for Rio 2 over the entire weekend should be somewhere between $43.9 million to $44.3 million. 20th Century Fox was a bit more confident in their own estimates for their Rio 2 family-friendly film, predicting $45 million in revenue over the course of the film’s opening weekend.

This may be Rio 2‘s first weekend in the US, but the film has already been out overseas since March 20, Forbes notes, and during that time Rio 2 has managed to bring in around 55 million internationally. With Friday night’s strong showing, and the full weekend projections as they are, Rio 2 should fairly easily top the $100 million total revenue mark this weekend.

Rio 2 is competing directly against the second Captain America film this weekend, as Winter Soldier continues to receive high praise from superhero loving movie-goers. The sequel is still actually retaining revenue numbers over its second weekend better than some of the other Marvel sequels. According to Forbes, the Disney-produced Marvel sequels traditionally see right around the 67% drop from the $37 million first Friday that Winter Soldier saw this week. Iron Man 2 dropped 70% on its second Friday, while Iron Man 3 dropped 71%.

ABC News has released its review of Rio 2, saying that the sequel to original blockbuster hit doesn’t have as endearing characters as the first, but that Rio 2 does have a great message and catch music that the kids will love.

“Despite its lackluster plot being a drag for adults, “Rio 2” does have a great message about love and acceptance, which is something most any parent will want their kids to see. Your kids also will be dancing in the aisles to the catchy, up-tempo soundtrack, all while learning about the rainforest. In other words, your children will love “Rio 2,” and you won’t hate it.”

Rotten Tomatoes isn’t nearly as kind to Rio 2. Currently the film is ranked at a mediocre 49%, saying:

“Like most sequels, Rio 2 takes its predecessor’s basic template and tries to make it bigger — which means it’s even busier, more colorful, and ultimately more exhausting for viewers outside the youthful target demographic.”

No matter what the reviews say, Rio 2 was king of the box office Friday night, and looks to be poised to hold onto its new crown for the remainder of the weekend.