Blue Sky’s ‘Rio 2’ Opens In Second Place in the U.S.

Blue Sky’s Rio 2 failed to unseat Captain America 2 at the box office last weekend and settled for a second-place opening of $39.3 million. The opening was virtually identical to the original Rio’s $39.2 million opening in 2011.

As far as 2014 children’s animated films go, Rio 2 topped The Nut Job’‘s $19.4M debut and Mr. Peabody & Sherman’s $32.2M opening, though it didn’t come anywhere near The LEGO Movie’s debut of $69.1M.

Whether Rio 2 achieved the number one spot is irrelevant in this case. The Carlos Saldanha-directed film performed close to expectations for the U.S. market, which isn’t as important for Blue Sky franchises as other studios. In fact, none of the Ice Age sequels or the original Rio made more than 30% of their global gross in the United States. True to that trend, Rio 2 will end up performing disproportionately stronger in overseas markets than in the United States. Last weekend, the film pulled in $62.3M from foreign territories, boosting its international total to $125.2M.

Meanwhile, Disney’s Frozen scored an additional $8.4M from global audiences, mostly from Japan where it has been the number one film for five weeks in a row. Its global total of $1.11 billion has now surpassed Skyfall to reach 8th place on the highest-grossing films of all-time list.

Ernest & Celestine grosses are typically released mid-week. Visit back for final numbers.