"The Spongebob Movie: Sponge out of Water" won the box office this weekend, beating out tentpole films "Jupiter Ascending" and "Seventh Son."

Paramount exceeded expectations with the animated film as it made $56 million in 3,641 theaters. Pundits expected it to open with $30 million, but the film's favorable reviews and popularity of the show brought family audiences to multiplexes. The box office is also a bit of a surprise considering the first Spongebob movie came out a decade ago and did not even open close to the figure. Paramount's strong marketing campaign definitely worked, and "The Spongebob Movie" will most likely continue to play to strong figures especially in the next weeks when children are off for winter break.

In second place "American Sniper" earned $24.2 million and brought its total to $282 million. The film is now the second highest-grossing rated R film of all time, and it ranks behind "The Passion of the Christ." With two weeks left until the Oscars and with winter break coming up, the Clint Eastwood-directed film looks to finish with at least $330 million, making it the highest grossing film of 2014.

"Jupiter Ascending" opened in third to a disappointing $19 million. The opening was the third consecutive flop for the Wachowski siblings who have yet to relive the success of their trilogy "The Matrix." The film's lackluster opening was due to the fact the marketing never really found a way to sell the film's convoluted story, and bad reviews were also detrimental to the film. "Jupiter Ascending" also proved once again that science fiction films are a hard sell. The film follows the disastrous box office results of "Edge of Tomorrow," "After Earth" and "Elysium." With "the Kingsman" and "Fifty Shades of Grey" coming out next weekend, this film will likely lose audiences.

In fourth Universal also had a disastrous opening with "Seventh Son." The $95 million budgeted fantasy film made $7 million after long delays. The movie has been gathering dust since completing principal photography two-and-a-half years ago. Marketing on the film was modest, but reviews were terrible. "Seventh Son" will likely fall out of theaters quickly.

In fifth "Paddington" continued to play strongly regardless of the competition from "Spongebob." The movie made $5.3 million and brought its total to $57 million. With families on vacation in the next week, the film is likely to make at least $70 million by the end of its run.

"Project Almanac" held well and added another $5.3 million to its gross. To date, the found footage movie has made a disappointing $15 million.

A number of award nominees continued to play strongly. "The Imitation Game" was down 2.6 percent and earned $4.8 million. The Benedict Cumberbatch drama has now made $74 million and could still obtain $100 million by the end of its run.

"Selma" dipped 33 percent as it made $1.7 million. The Martin Luther King drama has made $46 million and could still finish its run with at least $55 million.

Front-runner "Birdman" added $1.3 million. The film has now made $35 million, and it is now the highest grossing movie by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Now available on VOD and on DVD in two weeks, "Birdman" will likely end its run with $37 million to $40 million.

"The Theory of Everything" also continued to exceed expectations. The movie added $1 million and brought its gross to $32 million.

In its second weekend in wide release, the Oscar-snubbed film "A Most Violent Year" was down 32 percent. The film made $1 million and brought its total to $4.6 million. The film will likely become A24's second highest grossing film and will end its run with $7 million.

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