Weekend Box Office: Clobbered

Five movies in, nothing is impossible for Tom Cruise’s spy franchise. However, after four attempts, what does seem impossible is delivering a ‘Fantastic Four’ movie that’s actually enjoyable.

Despite facing off against four brand new competitors, ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation‘ retained the top spot at the box office by only slipping 47% week-over-week. Its second weekend resulted in $29.4 million and a domestic ten-day total of $108.6 million. Overseas, the film’s success has been ever stronger. Within that same ten-day timeframe, it has grossed $156.7 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $265.3 million.

Fox’s attempt to reboot the ‘Fantastic Four‘ franchise proved futile. Just like its screenplay and characters, the latest non-Marvel-Studios Marvel movie fell completely flat. The failed summer tentpole only pulled in $26.2 million from nearly 4,000 locations. With this disaster behind it, will Fox now follow Sony’s lead and partner-up with Marvel Studios?

The most unexpected event at the box office this weekend came from new distributor STX Entertainment. With a strong 93% Rotten Tomatoes rating, the studio’s Joel Edgerton-directed first production ‘The Gift‘ pulled in $12 million from just 1,600 locations. Made with a micro budget of $5 million, the Jason Bateman thriller is already headed into pure profitablility.

Despite having an underwhelming debut, the ‘Vacation‘ reboot only slipped 37% in attendance in its second week. Adding another $9.1 million to its domestic run, the raunchy R-rated comedy now sits with a $37.3 million 12-day total.

Marvel’s ‘Ant-Man‘ rounded out the Top 5. In its fourth week, the superhero flick earned $7.8 million. The $130 million production’s domestic total now resides at $147.4 million. Overseas, it has grossed $178.9 million, for a $326.3 million worldwide total.

The new Jonathan Demme drama that pairs Meryl Streep with her real-life daughter, ‘Ricki and the Flash‘ failed to catch fire. It opened in the #7 spot with $7 million. That’s about half of what ‘The Gift earned on nearly the same number of screens. Demme and TriStar shouldn’t be too worried, though. According to Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bylaws, Meryl Streep is required to receive at least one Oscar nomination ever year no matter what she does.

Sadly, Aardman Animation Studios’ ‘Shaun the Sheep Movie‘ had an even harder time finding an audience. The stop-motion animated picture couldn’t even crack the Top 10. Finishing in eleventh place, the family flick only pulled in $4 million from 2,300 locations, giving it a very low per-screen average of just $1,724.

Weekend numbers have yet to be released for ‘Dark Places’.

Top 10:

1. ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ (Paramount) – $29,400,000

2. ‘Fantastic Four’ (Fox) – $26,200,000

3. ‘The Gift’ (STX) – $12,007,000

4. ‘Vacation’ (New Line) – $9,145,000

5. ‘Ant-Man’ (Buena Vista) – $7,826,000

6. ‘Minions’ (Universal) – $7,400,000

7. ‘Ricki and the Flash’ (TriStar) – $7,000,000

8. ‘Trainwreck’ (Universal) – $6,300,000

9. ‘Pixels’ (Sony) – $5,430,000

10. ‘Southpaw’ (Weinstein) – $4,764,000

2 comments

  1. William Henley

    I had a feeling numbers were going to look like this after I went and saw Fantastic Four at one of the most popular theaters in my area, and the 7PM Saturday night showing on opening weekend was only 1/3 full

  2. EM

    Well, I went to see Shaun the Sheep. Enjoyed it, too! But I also went to see a certain Hollywood blockbuster for the second time this summer: Jaws. A good weekend for movies about animals.

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