In a seemingly effortless leap from animated specials on the Cartoon Network to topping the box office charts a new animated franchise was born this weekend as The LEGO Movie earned an estimated $69.1 million posting the second biggest February opening of all time and powering the box office to a huge 45% gain over the same frame last year when the "R" rated comedy Identity Thief reigned with $34.5 million.  Aiding in the cause was the George Clooney-directed historical drama The Monuments Men, which debuted with a solid $22.7 million.  The weekend’s other wide release, the YA novel-based Vampire Academy was an abject bomb debuting at #7 and earning just $4.1 million.
 
Don’t expect The Lego Movie to go away anytime soon.  The film’s stellar critical rating has slipped a bit from the stratospheric 99% positive on Friday to 95% today, but audiences gave the film a solid "A" CinemaScore.  Filmmakers Chris Miller and Phil Lord (21 Jump Street, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs) created a fast-paced and gripping everyman saga with plenty of jokes for young and old alike--a formula that typically equals a long box office run.  The film has already demonstrated its ability to play to adults since 60% of the opening weekend audience was over 18.

The LEGO Movie gave Warner Bros. its biggest animated opening ever (obliterating Happy Feet’s $41.1 million mark, and reminding everybody that in spite of its long rich history of animation, Warner Bros. has been light years behind Pixar, Dreamworks, Disney, Fox, and Sony in taking advantage of the huge worldwide market for CGI animated features).  Warner Bros. is already talking “franchise” and in sequel-crazed Hollywood, can anyone doubt them?

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): February 7-9, 2014
	Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./ Screen	Total Gross	Wk#
1	The LEGO Movie	$69,110,000	3,775	$18,307	$69,110,000	1
2	The Monuments Men	$22,700,000	3,083	$7,363	$22,700,000	1
3	Ride Along	$9,394,000	2,800	$3,355	$105,167,000	4
4	Frozen	$6,914,000	2,460	$2,811	$368,678,000	12
5	That Awkward Moment	$5,540,000	2,809	$1,972	$16,848,000	2
6	Lone Survivor	$5,293,000	2,869	$1,845	$112,580,000	7
7	Vampire Academy	$4,101,000	2,676	$1,533	$4,101,000	1
8	The Nut Job	$3,809,000	3,004	$1,268	$55,082,000	4
9	Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit	$3,600,000	2,139	$1,683	$44,469,000	4
10	Labor Day	$3,230,000	2,584	$1,250	$10,172,000	2

If The LEGO Movie’s critically notices were unexpectedly stellar, reviews for Clooney’s old school World War II historical drama, The Monuments Men, were surprisingly negative (only 33% positive on Rotten Tomatoes).  Box office expectations for the movie were low, so its surprisingly strong $22.7 bow is a testimony in part to the indefatigable plugging of the film done by its cast on the TV talk shows that tend to reach the older audience that a film like The Monuments Men targets.  It was certainly no surprise to see that 75% of the opening weekend audience for the film was over 35 years old.

While critics are always looking for something new and different, audiences found something to like in The Monuments Men as they gave the film an OK "B+" CinemaScore.  Older viewers don’t tend to rush out to see films on the first weekend, which could help The Monuments Men stick around.
 
Meanwhile the cop/buddy comedy Ride Along starring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube, which topped the box office for three weeks in a row, slipped to third place, though it declined just 21.9%.  The $25 million project crossed the $100 million mark this weekend and doesn’t look like it’s even close to finishing its run yet.
 
The real old timer on this week’s list is Disney’s Frozen, which, in spite of direct competition from The LEGO Movie, slipped just 22.6% as it earned $6.9 million and brought its domestic cumulative to $368.7 million, moving it into third place for all films released in North America in 2013 as it squeezed past Despicable Me 2.  Globally the film is doing even better as it soared past the $913 million mark and now appears to be a sure bet to top the $1 billion mark.  Frozen, whose debut was eclipsed by the much bigger bow of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, has surpassed the Hunger Games sequel worldwide, though it is unlikely to catch up on the domestic side where Catching Fire earned $422.4 million.
 
Another film with great "legs" is Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor, which earned $5.2 million in its seventh weekend as it brought its domestic total to $112.6 million.
 
The week’s third newcomer Vampire Academy became the latest YA-based Twilight/Hunger Games wannabe to crash and burn.  Debuting at 2,676 locations, Vampire Academy earned just $1,533 per venue as it joined the ranks of Beautiful Creatures, The Host, and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, all of which represent recent failed attempts to create viable YA-based movie "franchises."
 
Check back here next week to see how The LEGO Movie holds up, and what happens with the new Robocop remake, which opens on Wednesday, will have anything left for a busy weekend, which will see the debut of a trio of newcomers including a Kevin Hart comedy (About Last Night), a teen romance (Endless Love), and an adult-skewing fantasy drama starring Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, and Jessica Brown Findlay (Winter’s Tale).