Weekend Wrap-Up

X-Men Sizzles as Box Office Enjoys another $90m+ Opener

By John Hamann

May 25, 2014

She just took those clothes from the American Hustle set.

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Despite the drop-off, all things still look healthy for our friend from Japan. Godzilla should finish with $225 million plus at the domestic box office, before destroying box office records in South Asia and finishing with a worldwide total of $500 million at the extreme minimum. The film will not debut in China and Japan until June and July respectively, so we will have to wait to understand the full impact on Godzilla’s wrath across the globe. Before heading into the weekend, the $160 million Warner Bros. production had already pulled in $103 million overseas; thus, it is already halfway to being in the black on a global basis. Domestically, Godzilla has stomped $148.8 million worth of tickets, and Warner Bros. and Legendary’s Thomas Tull have to be extremely pleased. It's nothing like Pacific Rim domestically.

Third place goes to Blended, as we see how far Adam Sandler's stock has fallen with horrible films like Jack and Jill and That’s My Boy. Blended could only find $14.2 million from 3,555 venues, as it suffered from bad reviews and a scattered marketing campaign. It cost $40 million to make (down from the $70 million for That’s My Boy and $79 million for Jack and Jill). Will someone PLEASE give Sandler something to work with? Despite also starring Drew Barrymore, Blended is just 16% fresh at RottenTomatoes, but the fanbase did give it an A- Cinemascore.

Neighbors finishes fourth, coming in just a smidgen behind Blended. After finishing last weekend with $25 million and a 49% drop, Neighbors improves a little on the percentage decline, coming in at 44% as it earns $13.9 million. Neighbors got beyond the $100 million mark on Friday, its 15th day of release, the same amount of time it took last year’s The Heat to meet the same mark. The difference is the budget, as The Heat cost $43 million to make, but Neighbors only cost $18 million. It has a domestic gross now of $113.6 million, along with $67 million in overseas sales. When comparing budget to worldwide gross, this one has earned 10 times its production budget.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 falls to fifth, and continues to have near 50% drops or worse. The $225 million plus production earned only $7.8 million in weekend four, down 54% compared to last weekend. As a comparison, the Captain America sequel earned $16.2 million in its fourth weekend. It’s a different story overseas, as Spidey has already racked up $489 million in overseas grosses, where The Winter Soldier has $453 million.

Disney’s Million Dollar Arm is sixth, as it has a decent but not spectacular second frame. The Jon Hamm starrer earned $7.1 million in weekend two, and was off 33% compared to its $10.5 million opening. This one cost $25 million to make, but I imagine the marketing spend on this one was huge. Unfortunately, the advertising hasn't yielded a huge result, as it would seem Neighbors is the counter-programming choice so far. The Disney flick has a total so far of $20.6 million.




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The rest of the top ten are the also-rans, and include The Other Woman earning $3.7 million and seeing a 42% drop. The Fox product cost $75 million to make, has a domestic total of $77.8 million, and has earned $80 million overseas, becoming a worldwide hit. Rio 2 is eighth, earning $2.5 million. This is another Fox release that cost the studio $103 million to bring to the screen. It has earned $121.6 million domestically, and about $320 million overseas.

Platforming release Chef cracks the top ten this weekend, despite being out to only 455 screens. The Jon Favreau foodie release earned $2.3 million this weekend, giving it a venue average of $4.538. It has earned $3.5 million so far.

Tenth is Heaven is for Real, which took in $2 million and brings its total up to $85.8 million. Eleventh is Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is likely having its last weekend in the top 12. It earned another $1.7 million this weekend, but brings its total up to $253.6 million on the domestic side. It has a worldwide gross of $707 million so far, against a budget of $170 million.

Overall, the box office had an almost insurmountable task of beating last year’s top 12, when Fast & Furious 6 debuted to $97.4 million, and three other films finished above $30 million. That weekend, the top 12 hit $249.3 million. This Memorial Day weekend, the top 12 earned $179 million. Next weekend brings a very interesting showdown between Disney's Maleficent, featuring Angelina Jolie, and the currently hot Universal and Seth MacFarlane with A Million Ways to Die in the West.


Top Ten for Weekend of May 23-25, 2014
Rank
Film
Distributor
Estimated
Gross
Weekly Change
Running Total
1 X-Men: Days of Future Past Fox 90.7 New 90.7
2 Godzilla Warner Bros. 31.4 -66% 148.8
3 Blended Warner Bros. 14.2 New 14.2
4 Neighbors Universal 13.9 -44% 113.6
5 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Sony 7.8 -54% 184.9
6 Million Dollar Arm Disney 7.1 -33% 20.6
7 The Other Woman Fox 3.7 -42% 77.8
8 Rio 2 Fox 2.5 -33% 121.6
9 Chef Open Road Films 2.3 +219% 3.5
10 Heaven Is for Real TriStar 2.0 -56% 85.6
11 Captain America: The Winter Soldier Disney 1.7 -53% 253.6
12 Belle Fox Searchlight 1.7 +81% 3.9

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