Weekend Box Office Report: 'The SpongeBob Movie: Fish Out of Water' Soaks Up The Competition
By Bill Wine
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It was SpongeBob Squarepants squeezing American Sniper right off its first-place perch.
The new animated comedy sequel, The SpongeBob Movie: Fish Out of Water, opened to an estimated weekend total of $56-million.
That dropped the military drama, American Sniper, which took in $24-million, to second place after three weekends in a row on top of the heap, but it pushed its cumulative total close to the $300-million mark.
Third place belonged to the debuting science fiction thriller, Jupiter Ascending, which earned $19-million.
The new action-adventure fantasy, Seventh Son, placed fourth with $7-million, while the returning kidflick, Paddington, was fifth with $5-million.
Overall, industry-wide totals were slightly ahead of those of a year ago.