With kids back in school, football returning, and studios opting not to open any major films, the North American box office slumped to its worst performance in 13 years. The Top 20 struggled to reach a miserable $58.8M – the lowest point the film industry has seen since the weeks just after the 9/11 tragedy in 2001.
Once again it was the super hero smash Guardians of the Galaxy which led the way grossing an estimated $10.2M in its sixth weekend. Off a reasonable 41%, the Marvel juggernaut has now spent four of its six weekends in the top spot and has raised its domestic total to an incredible $294.6M. Guardians has now become the highest-grossing film to ever come out of August surpassing the $293.5M of 1999’s The Sixth Sense. That ghost story sold significantly more tickets, however. Galaxy also inched ahead of Sense on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters to take the number 50 spot. It is the first movie all year to reach the all-time Top 50 showing how devoid this year has been so far of mega-hits.
Star Lord and his misfit pals continue to win over new fans. The film is running 2% ahead of the first Iron Man which had grossed $288.8M at the same point in its release, though it had a weaker sixth weekend gross of $7.5M. In fact, among sixth weekend grosses for all super hero films ever, Guardians trails only The Avengers ($11.2M), The Dark Knight ($10.5M) and 2002’s Spider-Man ($10.3M). A North American final of about $320M seems likely for Guardians of the Galaxy which has spent more weekends at number one than any past Marvel film. Weak competition in the dog days of summer contributed to that record.
Overseas, Groot and company are still raking it in. The international cume rose to $291.6M keeping in close proximity to the domestic tally. Worldwide stands at $586.2M and will smash the $600M mark next weekend when the film opens in Japan. China has been given a release date of October 10 and Marvel films have an outstanding track record there. Reaching $800M is possible.
Posting the lowest gross all year for a film in second place, Paramount’s hit adventure Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles took in an estimated $6.5M for a 46% decline. The successful action entry has now banked $174.6M and seems headed for a domestic finish of around $190M. That’s incredibly high for a film coming out of August – and competing head to head with a monster action smash like Guardians. Turtles upped its international tally to $125.6M for a new global haul of $300.2M with most top ten international markets not even open yet.
Down 38% in its third weekend was the teen romance If I Stay with an estimated $5.8M lifting the Warner Bros. cume to $39.7M. Fox followed with an estimated $5.4M for its raunchy comedy Let’s Be Cops in its fourth lap. The R-rated pic has now banked a sturdy $66.6M.
Pierce Brosnan’s spy thriller The November Man fell 47% in its second weekend to an estimated $4.2M. With only $17.9M to date, the Relativity title looks to end with just under $30M. The Universal horror pic As Above/So Below followed with an estimated $3.7M, off a sharp 57% in its sophomore frame, for a cume of $15.6M. A $22M final seems likely.
The inspirational football flick When the Game Stands Tall dropped 39% to an estimated $3.7M while the sci-fi pic The Giver dipped by 35% to an estimated $3.6M. Totals are now $23.5M for Sony and $37.8M for The Weinstein Co.
A pair of summer winners led by women rounded out the top ten. Helen Mirren’s The Hundred-Foot Journey slipped 33% to an estimated $3.2M and has banked $45.7M so far for Disney and DreamWorks. Lucy, headlined by Scarlett Johansson, suffered only a 31% slide to an estimated $1.9M. Universal’s domestic haul is $121.2M passing the $118.3M of Angelina Jolie’s own one-woman summer action hit Salt from 2010.
The dismal weekend’s only new wide release The Identical stumbled to a dismal debut. Released by Freestyle, the PG-rated music drama opened to an estimated $1.9M from 1,956 theaters for an embarrassing $971 average. Among new films launching in over 1,000 theaters, it was the worst opening weekend of 2014. Reviews were horrendous, starpower was low, and targeted outreach to the faith-based audience did not result in any turnout.
Paramount released an IMAX version of Forrest Gump which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. But the result was weak as the film grossed an estimated $405,000 from 337 premium screens for a poor $1,202 average. The Oscar winner’s lifetime gross inched up to $330.1M.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $48.1M which was down 22% from last year when Riddick debuted at number one with $19M; but up 3% from 2012 when The Possession opened on top with $9.3M.
