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Noah

The biblically-based epic starring Russell Crowe scored a solid $15.2 million on Friday, which is above most prognostications. While it’s not clear if the same audiences that made God’s Not Dead a hit last weekend came out this weekend, it certainly feels like the “biggest” film of 2014 so far and definitely drew in those craving adventure. Even if any faith-based viewers came out on opening day, it’s still in line for a decent weekend, and I look for Noah to come in with $41 million for the weekend.

Sabotage

Listen all y’all, nobody cared that Arnold Schwarzenegger released another action film this weekend as Sabotage only earned $1.8 million on Friday, despite having Arnold out and about in support of the movie. This will throw under last year’s The Last Stand, as barring a miracle, it’s only going to finish the weekend with about $5 million.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel expands to just under 1,000 theaters and earns $2.4 million on Friday, an uptick of 22%. It stands at $17.9 million to date and will very likely cross the $52.3 million earned by The Royal Tenenbaums to be Anderson’s most successful film to date. Look for a weekend of $8.2 million.

Notable Holdovers

Last weekend’s champ, Divergent, drops 64% to $8.1 million. This is pretty standard and just fine as with $77 million already, it’s a lock for $100 million and the sequels are in the way. Give it a second weekend of $23.4 million.

Muppets Most Wanted falls 44% to $2.6 million. The $88 million earned by the last film is a long ways away. The weekend will be kinder, but it’s still a disappointment with a second weekend of $9.4 million.

God’s Not Dead, last weekend’s surprise, adds a few hundred screens and earns $2.4 million, down 16% from last Friday. This was to be expected as the more devoted crowd came out to support it on its opening weekend. Expect a weekend of $8.1 million for the surprise hit.

Projected Estimates for the Top Ten (Three-Day)
Projected Rank	Film	Estimated Gross
1	Noah	41.0
2	Divergent	23.4
3	Muppets Most Wanted	9.4
4	Mr. Peabody and Sherman	9.3
5	The Grand Budapest Hotel	8.2
6	God's Not Dead	8.1
7	Sabotage	5.0
8	Need For Speed	4.2
9	300: Rise of an Empire	3.9
10	Non-Stop	3.8