Weekend Wrap-Up

No Pursuit of Age of Ultron

By John Hamann

May 10, 2015

Watch out for rapid audience decline. Incoming.

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Finishing second is Hot Pursuit, which is neither hot nor giving the Avengers much pursuit. The Reese Witherspoon/Sofia Vergara comedy could not get over its hideous reviews, and word was out before this one even opened. It is 2015, and in the age of the smartphone, Hollywood can’t get away with a film that is 6% fresh anymore (unless the word Blart is in the title). Only six out of a possible 97 reviews were positive at Rotten Tomatoes, and the site’s top critics liked it even less at 3%, with only one top critic putting a thumb in the air. The result was a weekend total of only $13.3 million, a result on the low end of Reese Witherspoon’s comedy resume, only higher that her last bomb, How Do You Know, which tanked when it opened to $7.5 million in 2010.

Warner Bros. put up $35 million to make Hot Pursuit, but then reduced its risk by selling off percentages to other companies like MGM. That was a shrewd move for this one, as it will be lucky to earn $30 million domestically and then will need to see $40 million plus overseas in order to see a profit. It won’t earn three times its opening, as the Cinemascore, like the reviews, was awful at a C+. Still, that Cinemascore was better than How Do You Know’s C-. This result is unfortunate, as it was a chance for Vergara to jump from the small screen to the big screen, and a chance for Witherspoon to redeem her comedy audience after that 2010 disaster.

The Age of Adaline finishes third, likely thanks to the implosion of Hot Pursuit and Mother’s Day. After the Ultron weekend where it earned $6.2 million and fell 53%, Adaline recovers nicely this weekend, earning a still small $5.6 million but dropping only 10% this weekend. Made for $25 million, Adaline should finish a small success for Lionsgate, as it has earned $31.5 million stateside and could finish with as much as $45 million. Overseas, it has made just under $5 million, but only from a handful of markets.




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Furious 7 is fourth, and it is simply running out of gas in its sixth weekend. Furious 7 earned another $5.4 million, falling 21% from its $6.6 million take last weekend. With its $1.46 billion worldwide gross, Furious 7 remains fourth all time, and needs to get to $1.51 billion to pass The Avengers. Domestically, its updated take of $338.4 million pushes it into the top 30 of all time, as it passed Guardians of the Galaxy, Alice in Wonderland, Spider-Man 3 and Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 this weekend. With Pitch Perfect 2 on deck next weekend, Universal’s roll appears ready to continue, as tracking has Pitch 2 opening in the $40 million area.

Paul Blart 2: Mall Warrior is fifth this weekend, and after falling a hurtful 60% last weekend when Ultron tried to take over every theater in the country, things went back to normal this weekend. The comedy earned $5.2 million, falling only 12%. As stupid as it is, Paul Blart makes money, as it carries a $30 million budget and has a domestic gross so far of $58.1 million. It has earned another $25 million overseas.


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