Will Smith's 'Focus' Bumps Off 'Fifty Shades of Grey' at Top of the Box Office

The arrival of crime drama "Focus" has bumped off "Fifty Shades of Grey" from the top spot, pushing the erotic drama down to the Top 5 of the box office this week.

The waning influence of "Fifty Shades of Grey" on moviegoers became obvious in its second week after its sales fell by as much as 74 percent in its second weekend.

The 51-percent drop from Feb. 28 to March 1 appeared to indicate that viewers had a new drama to watch this weekend with the Will Smith starrer, which opened with $19.1 million.

Its performance may be considered less compared to Smith's last project when he played a support to his son Haden who starred in "After Earth," which made $27.5 million in its debut in 2013.

But since the sci-fi action movie only made $60.5-million in the United States, which was even less than half its $130 million budget, "Focus" can be considered more successful considering it needed just $50 million to make.

"Focus is a more low-key film made on a smaller budget, and it's one that performed similarly to its genre peers: The Wolf of Wall Street, another crime drama starring an A-list actor, debuted with $18.4 million in 2013," the Entertainment Weekly noted.

"That was even with Martin Scorsese's name and Oscar buzz attached to it," it added.

"Focus" features Will Smith as a master con man with Margot Robbie as his new apprentice in a movie that critics observed spends much of its running time convincing viewers that it is the best entry into the genre in years.

Smith is the latest big star to disappoint after Johnny Depp, whose "Mortdecai" was an out-and-out bomb in January, and Channing Tatum, who was barely able to stop "Jupiter Ascending" from failing last month.

Warner insiders said "Focus" will be financially successful, and that it was never intended to mimic Smith's bigger films in terms of its opening. They also noted that bad weather in a wide swath of the country hurt the movie at the box office.

"This was a mid-range-budgeted movie, and the strong result reflected that. The severely inclement weather in the Midwest and the South played havoc at the box office," said Warner Bros. executive vice president for distribution Jeff Goldstein, according to The Hollywood Reporter.