Newcomer “Divergent” will easily claim the weekend box office crown, but it will do so with a weaker haul than that of fellow YA novel adaptations “Twilight” and “The Hunger Games.”<\/p>\n
First for the night by a multiple of more than four, the film grossed $22.8 million in its opening Friday and is likely en route to a weekend total in the mid-$50 millions.<\/p>\n
In November 2008, “Twilight” kicked off a $69.6 million weekend with a $36.0 million Friday. “The Hunger Games,” meanwhile, earned $67.3 million in its first day and $152.5 million in its first weekend in March 2012.<\/p>\n
On the plus side, “Divergent” did not go the way of “Muppets Most Wanted,” which garnered a soft $4.7 million Friday. Though it had already been in the marketplace for two days, the film’s 2011 predecessor earned $12.1 million in its first Friday of November 2011 release.<\/p>\n
Available in only 780 theaters, “God’s Not Dead” impressed with a third place $2.8 million Friday. “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” ($2.7 million) and “300: Rise of an Empire” ($2.4 million) completed the top five.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[36,1050],"tags":[1803,1828,1906,1805,1905,1804,1218,1257],"adace-sponsor":[],"yoast_head":"\n