Weekend Box Office: National Treasure

Even though it may not have performed at quite the same monetary level, the ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise pulled a ‘Fast and Furious’ this weekend by topping the charts and boosting its series to nearly-new heights.

John Woo’s outrageous ‘Mission: Impossible II‘ still holds the opening record ($57.8 million) for Tom Cruise’s spy franchise, but right behind it is ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation‘. This, the fifth entry to the 19-year-old series, easily took the top box office spot with a $56 million opening from nearly 4,000 screens. As per franchise usual, the film itself is set mostly overseas, so it’s no surprise to also see it hit franchise-high success in its international box office returns. From 40 markets, ‘Rogue Nation’ raked in $65 million, giving the $150 million picture a solid $121 million worldwide start.

The ‘Vacation‘ reboot/sequel opened in a distant second place. Estimated to debut around the $30 million mark, the R-rated comedy only earned $14.8 million over the three-day weekend. Steering clear of the ‘Impossible’ opening, New Line kicked off the new ‘Vacation’ with an early Wednesday release. Unfortunately, the head-start didn’t generate the desired extra boost. The five-day total wrapped up with $21.1 million. With an estimated budget of $31 million, the comedy isn’t off to a horrible start, but definitely isn’t doing as well as expected.

Ant-Man‘ barely finished in third place. Slipping 49% in its third week, the Marvel picture added $12.6 million to its run, while ‘Minions‘ slipped 47% and added $12.2 million in its fourth week. The $130 million comic book movie has now grossed $132.1 million domestically, and the $74 million ‘Despicable Me’ spin-off has $287.3 million.

Rounding out the Top 5 was last week’s Adam Sandler disappointment ‘Pixels‘. The failed tentpole dropped 57% in attendance with a $10.4 million second week. After ten days, the $88 million Sony flick has grossed $45.6 million.

The Jason Segel/Jesse Eisenberg drama ‘The End of the Tour‘ had great success from its limited four-screen start. Its $126,000 debut and $31,500 per-screen average will only help it get noticed leading into awards season. Distributor A24 is expected to expand the release in the coming weeks.

Finally, the Weinstein Company’s 100-screen release of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s ‘The Young & Prodigious T.S. Spivet‘ yielded almost no results. With the U.S. being the last stop in the international picture’s slow two-year roll-out, it only pulled in $32,000 over the weekend, giving it a horrid $320 per-screen average.

For the first time in eight weeks, there’s no ‘Jurassic World’ news to report this weekend.

Top 10:

1. ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ (Paramount) – $56,000,000

2. ‘Vacation’ (New Line) – $14,850,000

3. ‘Ant-Man’ (Buena Vista) – $12,619,000

4. ‘Minions’ (Universal) – $12,200,000

5. ‘Pixels’ (Sony) – $10,400,000

6. ‘Trainwreck’ (Universal) – $9,700,000

7. ‘Southpaw’ (Weinstein) – $7,519,000

8. ‘Paper Towns’ (Fox) – $4,600,000

9. ‘Inside Out’ (Buena Vista) – $4,517,000

10. ‘Jurassic World’ (Universal) – $3,800,000

14 comments

  1. EM

    I’ve been wanting to see Spivet (which I want to pronounce à la française, but that’s probably not right), and it looks like when I do, it’ll be on home video.

    Ya know, not only am I not sure how to pronounce the title, it’s hard for me to even remember the whole title. An unpronounceable, unwieldy name can’t be good for word-of-mouth.

    • C.C.

      It’s an American book. The only French here is the director. Say it like its spelled. And too bad no one here will see the amazing native 3D. One of the best 3D movies ever.

      • EM

        American names derive from a world of traditions, and I can come up with at least three plausible pronunciations right off the bat.

  2. Other that Fantastic Four and The Man From UNCLE – neither of which I expect to do very well at the box office (I actually think UNCLE is going to bomb), there’s not much else coming out this summer, which makes me wonder if MI:5 might prove to have some legs until the bigger fall movies get here.

    • Chris B

      What’s the deal with U.N.C.L.E ? The trailer looks great, its got beautiful people, locations, a talented director etc. yet I hear there’s a ton of negative buzz. Have their been early reviews? Why all the negativity?

      • Agreed. Trailer looks excellent. Armie Hammer deserves some slack. Poor dude’s been in ‘The Lone Ranger’ (a lot better than people think), ‘Mirror Mirror’ (which I couldn’t bring myself to finish) and now ‘U.N.C.L.E.’ (which I still want to see). Fine, fine actor. Give him a hit, Hollywood!

        • It’s the director for me. I’m one of the few who hated his Sherlock Holmes films. But his style may work for this movie, so it has me interested…I STILL think it’s going to bomb, simply because you have to be my age or older to have ever HEARD about Man from UNCLE, let alone be a fan of it.

          I hope they gave Robert Vaughn a cameo…I doubt it, but I have my fingers crossed.

          • Well, I’m younger than you are and I have heard of ‘U.N.C.L.E.’
            My mom always says ‘Ah, here’s the Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ whenever my dad enters the room.

  3. timcharger

    Luke, what is the national treasure reference?
    Word play on National Lampoon?
    Tom Cruise is a national treasure?
    Rogue Nation-al? Yet, the film is
    mostly set internationally.
    Just wondering.

    • Don’t blame Luke. That was my failure. Was trying to spin something out of Rogue Nation. Didn’t really work, but I didn’t come up with anything better before the post ran.

    • cardpetree

      I thought it meant that the Mission Impossible franchise was a National Treasure being that even though it has 5 movies, Americans still love it since it was #1 at the box office.

      • Agreed! I even thought it was referring to Tom Cruise, who has been consistently entertaining for 30 years and can be considered a ‘national treasure’. The UK has a few of those (e.g. Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed).

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