The stars had nothing to do with this weekend’s box office results. Based on an absurdly popular Young Adult novel, one movie was sure to do big business. Another, whose marketing made it look like a generic sci-fi action flick, didn’t fare so well.
The top spot this weekend went to ‘The Fault in Our Stars‘. Teenage girls flocked to theaters (mostly on Friday) to see the YA adaptation, resulting in a huge $48.2 million debut. The romance movie about two teens battling cancer pulled in more than 50% of its total on Friday alone, which points to a steep drop-off in future weeks. Overseas, the film earned $17 million from three big markets and opens in another 19 markets next weekend.
Disney’s ‘Maleficent‘ suffered a 51% decline over its second weekend. That’s not too bad for a summer movie, but isn’t great for a (supposed) family film. The $33.5 million it earned pushed its ten-day domestic total up to $127.3 million. Overseas, ‘Maleficent’ has already grossed $208.1 million and still has a couple more major markets to go. For a movie made with a production budget of $180 million, the domestic outcome so far doesn’t look all that great. Were it not for its ‘Sleeping Beauty’ tie-ins, ‘Maleficent’ would likely be even more stagnant.
Debuting in the #3 spot was ‘Edge of Tomorrow‘. Despite critical praise, the Tom Cruise vehicle only pulled in $29.1 million – and that’s even with the help of 3D ticket sales (47% of the earnings came from 3D viewings) and IMAX 3D showings (which is where $4.2 million of its debut came from). With a pricy $178 million budget, the underperforming debut is a very low blow for the film. Luckily, ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ is doing just fine overseas. While some markets are mild, others are eating the movie up. As of now, including the one-week head start in some areas, ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ has earned $111 million overseas.
‘X-Men: Days of Future Past‘ dropped to the #4 spot, adding another $14.7 million to its domestic run. The 17-day domestic total for this $200 million comic book epic is now up to $189.1 million. Overseas, the seventh installment of the franchise has whipped up $420.5 million.
Rounding out the Top 5 was Seth MacFarlane’s ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West‘. The comedic Western dropped a nasty 57%. Its ten-day total sits at just $30 million, which is $24 million below what MacFarlane’s ‘Ted‘ made in its first three days. Overseas, the film has earned $20 million.
Opening numbers have yet to be announced for Clark Gregg’s indie comedy ‘Trust Me‘.
Top 10:
1. ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ (Fox) – $48,200,000
2. ‘Maleficent’ (Buena Vista) – $33,523,000
3. ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ (Warner Bros.) – $29,105,000
4. ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ (Fox) – $14,700,000
5. ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ (Universal) – $7,189,000
6. ‘Godzilla’ (Warner Bros.) – $5,950,000
7. ‘Neighbors’ (Universal) – $5,201,000
8. ‘Blended’ (Warner Bros.) – $4,050,000
9. ‘Chef’ (Open Road) – $2,600,000
10. ‘Million Dollar Arm’ (Buena Vista) – $1,822,000
William Henley
Thanks for the global numbers.
I was actually surprised that Edge of Tomorrow was not packed out, but then again, Cruise’s last couple of movies were really bad. To be fair, I did not want to see this movie either, was dragged to it, and it ended up being my favorite movie of the year so far. Glad to hear it is performing so well overseas. Everyone in the theater just came out exclaiming that they were not expecting the movie to be that good, and you could see awe on everyone’s face.
At the theater I went to, only the giant screen had Edge of Tomorrow playing. The theater had another 5 auditoriums dedicated to The Fault In The Stars, and the manager said they were selling out every show. I had never even heard of it, and neither had my friend, and we had to look it up. It sounded like one of those film festival movies, and we could not figure out why it was selling out. Now I know – we had no clue it was a YA novel.
Drew
Will HDD Bonus View be reviewing ‘The Fault in Our Stars’? I would be extremely interested to find out what this audience thinks of that particular film.
Josh Zyber
Magic 8 Ball says, “Don’t count on it.” 🙂
Shannon Nutt
We’ll eventually cover it on Blu-ray though.
Shannon Nutt
I, too, really enjoyed EDGE OF TOMORROW. It’s predictable, but fun and well-paced. Not as good as the new X-Men movie (or, I’m assuming Captain American 2 – although I missed that one), but much better than anything else I’ve seen this summer.
Tim Tringle
I really enjoyed Edge. Though plenty of people really have it in for Tom Cruise so there will be tons of them claiming his career is over. But the story was good and the action and effects were amazing.