Melissa McCarthy anchored her first solo number one hit with the action-comedy Spy which topped the North American box office with an opening of an estimated $30M. The Fox release averaged a solid $8,084 from 3,711 locations and was backed by strong reviews from critics.
It was the third time McCarthy has hit or exceeded a $30M debut following the 2013 films Identity Thief and The Heat, but both of those had major co-stars while Spy was sold on the funnywoman as the prime draw. The R-rated pic also featured some co-stars like Rose Byrne, Jude Law and Jason Statham. Spy’s audience was 60% female and 65% over 25. With good buzz and no comedies next week, the road ahead looks bright.
The hit disaster film San Andreas dropped to second place in its sophomore session taking in an estimated $26.4M for a reasonable 52% drop. Warner Bros. has amassed a strong $99.1M and could be headed for a domestic finish of around $160M.
The horror sequel Insidious: Chapter 3 debuted to healthy results in third place with an estimated $23M from 3,002 theaters for a stellar $7,662 average. While a far cry from the $40.3M debut of its 2013 predecessor, the PG-13 chiller still delivered a strong debut for the genre, and for a threequel. Young women powered the success as the audience was 54% female and 69% under 25.
Entourage opened in fourth place proving that the HBO series was always more of a cult hit than a mainstream one. The R-rated film debuted to an estimated $10.4M over the Friday-to Sunday period and $17.8M since opening on Tuesday night at 7pm. The three-day average was a mild $3,353. Reviews were lackluster but audiences were satisfied as the CinemaScore grade was a solid A-.
Mad Max: Fury Road followed with an estimated $8M, down 44%, for a new cume of $130.8M for Warner Bros. Universal’s comedy hit Pitch Perfect 2 fell 48% to an estimated $7.7M boosting the total to $161M from North America with the global gross rising to a rosy $250M.
Down 51% to an estimated $7M was Disney’s big-budget sci-fi pic Tomorrowland which has banked only $76.2M to date. Worldwide is just $169.7M. Avengers: Age of Ultron grossed an estimated $6.2M in its sixth round, off 46%, giving Disney and Marvel $438M to date domestically with the global gross at a hefty $1.35 billion.
Following a weak opening, the Cameron Crowe dud Aloha tumbled a disturbing 66% to an estimated $3.3M putting the sum at a dismal $16.3M for Sony. The horror flick Poltergeist had direct competition this weekend and dropped a steep 65% to an estimated $2.8M. Fox has taken in $44.4M so far.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $124.9M which was down 19% from last year when The Fault In Our Stars opened at number one with $48M; and down 12% from 2013 when The Purge debuted in the top spot with $34.1M.
