Box Office Report: 'Noah' Floats to Top

Noah displaced Divergent as the top movie this weekend, grossing $44 million over its debut weekend, early estimates showed today.

Divergent, the top movie during its debut last weekend, held onto second place, with $26.6 million in ticket sales, which put the sci-fi thriller starring Shailene Woodley near the $100 million mark, according to Rentrak.

The biblical Noah from director Darren Aronofsky and starring Russell Crowe cost about $130 million to make and did better than expected in its first week out, according to box office trackers.

In third place was Muppets Most Wanted, which grossed about $30 million, followed by Mr. Peabody & Sherman, with $9.5 million and God's Not Dead, with $9 million. '

Sabotage, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger opened in seventh place, with $5.3 million in ticket sales, according to Rentrak.

Warner Bros. said The LEGO Movie—11th place domestically this weekend with a gross of $3.1 million—had grossed more than $400 million in worldwide ticket sales, $248.3 million domestically, since its opening Feb. 7.

The Grand Budapest Hotel pulled in $8.8 million this weekend, pushing its cumulative gross to nearly $25 million, as Fox Searchlight expanded the number of screens showing the comical fable from director Wes Anderson.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman was also nearing $100 million in cumulative ticket sales.    

Worldwide, Noah pulled in $77.6 million, according to Rentrak.

Rounding out the top 10 movies, domestically, were sixth-place The Grand Budapest Hotel ($8.8 million), Sabotage ($5.3 million), Need for Speed ($4.3 million), 300: Rise Of An Empire ($4.3) and Non-Stop ($4.1 million).

—City News Service