The Real Winner At the Box Office This Week: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The headlines about the box office over the weekend are misleading. “Chappie” was number one in overall revenue, but still disappointing. The top box office winner in a given week is usually in the $20-40 million range, with special-effects films like “Chappie” often going up as high as $60 million or more. Last week, “Focus” was at the top with a weak $19 million. “Chappie” only made $13 million. And “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” was listed as third with just $8.6 million. But the much more important number is how much it made per theater. In that category, “Marigold Hotel 2” was substantially ahead of “Chappie,” and that, in my opinion, makes it the real #1 for the week. Maggie Smith and Judi Dench did better than the big budget robots and Hugh Jackman. Dev Patel, who was in both movies, must have mixed feelings.