As far as the WWE Universe goes, the tag team of Halle Berry and David Otunga is far more imposing than that of Colin Farrell and Wade Barrett.
A week after its co-distribution effort “Dead Man Down,” which starred Farrell and featured a small role for Barrett, flopped comes a breath of fresh air regarding its movie strategy. Its “The Call” co-distribution, featuring Berry and Otunga, overperformed with an impressive $17.1 million in box office receipts this weekend.
As far as WWE-backed theatrical releases go, “The Call” is the first film to clearly overperform. Estimates leading into the weekend forecast a bow in the low-teens.
Its impressive tally was nothing compared to that of weekend winner “Oz” (down 47% to $42.2 million in its second weekend) but easily enough to beat third-place finisher “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.” The Steve Carell-Jim Carrey comedy missed projections with just $10.3 million in returns.
“Jack the Giant Slayer” ($6.2 million) and “Identity Thief” ($4.5 million) completed the top five.