Weekend Box Office: 'Divergent' Performs as Advertised, 'Muppets' Disappoint, 'God Is Not Dead' Comes Alive

"Divergent" played according to the rules on its opening weekend, living up to expectations for the most part, but the rest of the box office race for the weekend was characterized by a few surprises.

The first film in a planned trilogy, "Divergent" was expected to be the first successful young-adult franchise launcher since "The Hunger Games," and it looks like it's turning out to be just that. The film took in $22.8 million on Friday, and it's on track to draw over $50 million for the weekend. That's less than the original "Twilight" film and much, much less than "The Hunger Games," but it's more than enough to qualify as a successful debut.

Not so lucky was "Muppets Most Wanted," which will probably take second place for the weekend, but with a much smaller gross than expected. The sequel to 2011's "The Muppets" will likely only take in about $15 million, about half as much business as the first movie did in its opening weekend.

The biggest surprise of the weekend is the performance of "God Is Not Dead," a Christian film about a college student in a theological debate with his atheist professor. It's a modest production full of high-profile B-grade casting: Kevin Sorbo (TV's "Hercules), Dean Cain (TV's Superman) and Willie Roberson (TV's "Duck Dynasty"). Playing in only 780 theaters, the little movie is on a pace to take in about $8 million for the weekend, which could put it in a tight race with "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" and "300: Rise of an Empire" for third through fifth places.

On the other end of both the morality and financial scales is "Nymphomaniac: Volume I," Lars von Trier's sexually explicit art film. It opened in only 24 theaters to major indifference; its estimated take for the weekend will probably only be around $110,000.