TAGGED AS: Box Office
Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and the boys of N.W.A. took control of the box office 27 years after their debut album took the nation by storm. This weekend Straight Outta Compton took in an estimated $56.1 million from 2,757 theaters for a per screen average of $20,348, defying even the loftiest industry expectations. A hit with both fans and critics alike (88 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and an A CinemaScore) means Compton should have some good legs ahead of it. By the way, in the 20 weekends since the beginning of April, Universal and/or Disney have now had a number one film for 16 of them.
Slipping one spot after a two-week run at the top was Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation which brought in an estimated $17 million this weekend, bringing its cume to $138 million. Outside North America, the film made another $46 million bringing its international total to $235 million and its worldwide total to $373 million.
Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer debuted at number three with The Man From U.N.C.L.E. which took in a disappointing $13.5 million, according to estimates, from 3,638 theaters for a per screen average of only $3,720. Critics mostly enjoyed it (67 percent at Rotten Tomatoes) but a B CinemaScore does not bode well for its future with the fans. After all, even Entourage scored an A-.
Speaking of disappointments (which may be the understatement of the year as far as the box office is concerned) Fantastic Four fell 69 percent in its second weekend to an estimated $8 million, bringing its total up to $42 million. To be fair, another Marvel superhero film fell 69 percent in its second weekend — X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009 — but to be even more fair, that film made $85 million in its opening weekend, not $26 million. A disaster any way you look at it, here’s hoping Fox takes the same line as Sony did with Spider-Man and gives Marvel control over the Fantastic Four franchise and lets them enter the official Marvel Cinematic Universe. Fantastic Four looks to end its run with maybe $60 million which would put it $10 million behind Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 for the year.
Dropping 45 percent from its opening weekend was The Gift which made an additional $6.5 million this weekend, according to estimates, bringing its cume to $23.5 million with a finale in the $35 to 40 million range likely. The one good thing that Fantastic Four is doing? It’s making fellow Marvel film Ant-Man look better by comparison. In its fifth weekend, the world’s tiniest superhero took in another $5.5 million, according to estimates, bringing its total to $157.6 million so far.
The Vacation remake fell 40 percent from last weekend to an estimated $5.3 million, bringing its total to $47 million. The Minions of… Minions took in an estimated $5.2 million in their sixth weekend, bringing their robust total to $313 million, good for fifth place so far in 2015. Meryl Streep’s turn as a rock star, Ricki and the Flash, dropped only 31 percent in its second weekend to an estimated $4.5 million, bringing its total up to $14.6 million. Look for a finale in the $25 to 30 million range. And rounding out the top 10 was Trainwreck (which has been anything but) with an estimated $3.8 million bringing its total to $98 million with the $100 million club right around the corner.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $125.5 million which is even with last year when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remained at number one for a second weekend with $28.4 million; and up 10 percent from 2013 when The Butler opened in the top spot with $24.6 million.
Compared to projections, Straight Outta Compton opened well above Gitesh’s $32M forecast while The Man From U.N.C.L.E. came ever so slightly below Gitesh’s $15 million prediction.
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