JUPITER ASCENDING Flops at the Box Office; AMERICAN SNIPER Now 2014's 3rd Biggest Film

Despite having a $176 million budget, Jupiter Ascending bombed at the box office over its opening weekend. To anyone who had been following the production of the film, watched it get pushed back to a February release or read about the disastrous secret screening the film had at Sundance, Jupiter Ascending flopping at the box office isn't a surprise.

Jupiter Ascending opened to just $19 million, continuing a dismal streak for the Wachowski siblings. With each passing flop, the duo is proving again and again that The Matrix was an anomaly for their careers. Here's where they stand for their past three movies:

• Jupiter Ascending: $19 million opening weekend, 22 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
• Cloud Atlas: $9.6 million opening weekend, $27.1 million lifetime domestic gross, 66 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
• Speed Racer: $18.6 million opening weekend, $43.9 million lifetime domestic gross, 39 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

If you're a studio, you don't give the Wachowski siblings money anymore. The Matrix and its sequels made a ton of money, but recent history shows that whatever magic the directorial duo once had is gone. I've seen a few writers saying that Jupiter Ascending flopping is a bad thing, that because of it studios won't give directors money to make original films. No, studios won't give directors money to make bad films. Jupiter Ascending has been widely panned — it deserves to flop.

While Jupiter Ascending was bombing at the box office, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water won the weekend with $56 million. When the first SpongeBob SquarePants Movie opened in 2004 (yes, SpongeBob has been around forever), it grossed $32 million over its first weekend.

American Sniper also had a good weekend, racking up another $24.2 million to bring its total domestic gross up to $282.3 million — which makes the film the third highest grossing 2014 release. That means American Sniper outgrossed blockbusters like Captain: The Winter Soldier, The Lego Movie and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

Before American Sniper entered wide release, there were complaints that this years eight-movie Best Picture Oscar slate didn't have a single box office hit. Not only has American Sniper changed that, the film has now outgrossed the other seven Best Picture nominees — combined. The seven non-American Sniper films have gross a total of $281 million at the domestic box office, which trails American Sniper by a couple million dollars.