Weekend Box Office: Micro Machines

Not that the studio is worried, but the latest installment to the Cinematic Universe opened below expectations and became Marvel’s second-weakest debut behind 2008’s ‘The Incredible Hulk’. At the same time, Judd Apatow saw his second-best opening thanks to Amy Schumer.

Marvel’s ‘Ant-Man‘ defeated those little yellow Minions with an underwhelming $58 million. Predictions placed its debut around the $65 million mark, but it was unable to hit that target. Overseas, the world’s tiniest superhero earned $56.4 million from 37 markets, but only finished internationally in the #4 spot. Despite not playing in the same league as the big boys, with good reviews and word-of-mouth, the $130 million superhero flick ought to hold over well.

While ‘Ant-Man’ squashed ‘Minions‘, the ‘Despicable Me’ spin-off wasn’t too far behind. The film’s $50.2 million second weekend brought its domestic ten-day total up to $216.6 million. That number may seem great, but it’s worth pointing out that the second-week drop-off was 56% – a percentage that’s abnormally high for an animated kids’ flick. To date, ‘Minions’ has grossed $409.1 million overseas and a whopping $625.7 million worldwide.

For his fifth feature film, Judd Apatow decided to focus solely on directing, passing the screenwriting duties over to crude comedian Amy Schumer. ‘Trainwreck‘ opened nearly as high as Apatow’s biggest debut to date (‘Knocked Up‘ with $30.6 million). The first weekend yielded $30.2 million and, with no surprise, 66% of the moviegoers were female. The international release has yet to kick off.

Disney/Pixar’s ‘Inside Out‘ continues to ease slightly each week. Its fifth week resulted in a fourth place finish thanks to a 34% decline in attendance and another $11.6 million. This weekend pushed its domestic total beyond the $300 million mark. Worldwide, it will cross the $500 million mark within the next couple days.

Rounding out the Top 5 was six-week-old ‘Jurassic World‘. Adding another $11.4 million brought its domestic run up to $611.1 million. Internationally, the sequel climbed up to $902.3 million, pushing its worldwide total up to $1.513 billion, enough to dethrone ‘Furious 7’ and land in the all-time #4 rank.

Roadside Attractions made a bold move to fuel funds into marketing and releasing ‘Mr. Holmes‘ on 363 screens – and the gamble paid off pretty well. The PG-rated drama earned $2.4 million and actually hit the Top 10. Its $6,857 per-screen average isn’t particularly great, but enough to get its name out there and potentially drive an expansion.

Woody Allen’s latest film, however, had a much smaller yet more remarkable opening. From five screens, the Sony Pictures Classics title ‘An Irrational Man‘ made $188,000 and a per-screen average of $37,600 – which is one of the strongest of the year, so far.

Top 10:

1. ‘Ant-Man’ (Buena Vista) – $58,040,000

2. ‘Minions’ (Universal) – $50,200,000

3. ‘Trainwreck’ (Universal) – $30,200,000

4. ‘Inside Out’ (Buena Vista) – $11,660,000

5. ‘Jurassic World’ (Universal) – $11,400,000

6. ‘Terminator: Genisys’ (Paramount) – $5,400,000

7. ‘Magic Mike XXL’ (Warner Bros.) – $4,500,000

8. ‘The Gallows’ (New Line) – $4,005,000

9. ‘Ted 2’ (Universal) – $2,700,000

10. ‘Mr. Holmes’ (Roadside) – $2,489,000

2 comments

  1. William Henley

    I wasn’t expecting high numbers for Ant Man. Most Marvel movies, me and my friends and co-workers are at the theater Thursday night awaiting the showing. I came into work this morning, however, and people were glancing at the news, and the conversation included “What, Ant Man opened this past weekend?” Not a good sign

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