Noah's $44 million debut ranks fourth so far this year behind 300: Rise of An Empire ($45 million). It's a significant improvement over star Russell Crowe's Robin Hood—in fact, it's the highest debut ever for Crowe in leading role. Noah has also already earned more than director Aronofsky's first four movies combined.
Months ago, word began circulating that Noah deviated significantly from the Old Testament story upon which it's based. This raised the question of whether or not Christian audiences would show up to see a "Hollywood" version of one of the most well-known stories ever.
One doesn't have to be a regular churchgoer to be aware of and have some interest in the story of Noah, though, and the action and disaster elements of the movie also helped broaden its appeal. The controversy probably didn't hurt, either: controversy creates conversation, which in turn raises awareness.
Noah's audience was split evenly between men and women, and skewed older (74 percent above 25 years of age). IMAX accounted for $6.2 million (14 percent), which suggests that moviegoers were interested in seeing this epic tale on the biggest screen possible.
Noah received a "C" CinemaScore, which is probably a result of Paramount keeping the stranger fantasy elements out of the marketing campaign. This doesn't necessarily mean the movie is going to fall off quickly: The Wolf of Wall Street is a recent example of a controversial movie that bombed with CinemaScore but held well. At this point, it's safe to say that Noah will earn at least $110 million total.
Faith-based movie God's Not Dead despite being in many fewer theaters than other top 10 movies held even with an estimated $9.1 million. Through 10 days, the surprise hit has earned $22 million.
Overseas business has been red hot for Noah and this weekend saw an estimated $33.6M taken in from 22 markets boosting the early cume to $51.1M and the worldwide tally to $95.1M. Russia was the stand-out generating the biggest opening weekend in history in that country for a non-sequel with a stunning $17.2M. More major markets open this coming week including Germany, Brazil, Spain, and the U.K. The worldwide gross will certainly surpass $300M and may even reach beyond $400M with some key European markets opening closer to Easter.
Son of God was at #15 earning another $1,070,000 and is now just shy of $58 million.
