20th Century Fox‘s Fantastic Four, directed by Josh Trank (Chronicle) with the cast of Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell and Toby Kebbell, opened for previews Thursday night, and while it was #1 on Friday with $11.3 million, it ended up falling behind Paramount Pictures’ Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation for the weekend, according to Sunday estimates.
After making $2.7 million in Thursday previews, it opened officially on Friday in 3,995 theaters (the widest release for any movie in theaters right now) and after its $11.3 million Friday, it dropped on Saturday with $8.5 million and Fox is projecting it to make $6.4 million on Sunday, adding up to an estimated $26.2 million for the weekend. That’s $6,658 per theater, which is fairly awful for such a high-profile wide summer release, especially since it didn’t have a ton of direct competition other than Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man.
Then again, reviews were horrendous and the film’s “C-” CinemaScore does not bode well for Fantastic Four to have any sort of legs and it may not even gross $100 million domestically, which means it’s relying entirely on international markets to make back its reported $120 million production budget, presumably from the places where they can’t read all those bad reviews on the internet. (One assumes that this is not a good sign for the film’s sequel that was dated for June 9, 2017 even before the movie’s release.)
Meanwhile, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation was in second place on Friday with $8.2 million, but its strong word-of-mouth and reviews helped push it up to an estimated $29.4 million, winning its second weekend at the box office with a respectable 47% drop. It has grossed $108.6 million so far, although it has a lot stronger competition this coming weekend with Guy Ritchie’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E., which is also adapted from a popular spy TV show. $4.3 million of that weekend total was grossed on 369 domestic IMAX screens with another $3.5 million internationally for a global IMAX total of just under $25 million to date.
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation brought in another $65.5 million overseas, including openings in India and Japan, which also topped Fantastic Four‘s international debut of $34.1 million in 43 territories.
New distributor STX Entertainment broke onto the scene with their first release, Joel Edgerton’s directorial debut, the psychological thriller The Gift, co-starring Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall, which scored an impressive $12 million in 2,550 theaters, or $4,706 per theater, to take second place. It received a “B” CinemaScore, which is right between Blumhouse Productions’ last two co-productions, The Gallows (released by Warner Bros.) and Insidious Chapter 3 (Gramercy Pictures), but it had a better opening than the former and Blumhouse’s The Lazarus Effect, which was released by Relativity earlier this year.
New Line and Warner Bros. Pictures’ remake/sequel Vacation, starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Leslie Mann and Chris Hemsworth, brought in $9.1 million in its second weekend (down 38%) to take fourth place with $37.3 million grossed to date.
Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man (Disney) dropped to fifth place with $7.8 million (down 39%) as it brought its domestic gross to $147.4 million with another $9.2 million grossed overseas, to bring its global total to $326.3 million.
Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s Minions took sixth place with $7.4 million as it crossed the $300 million mark, the fifth movie of the year to hit that milestone domestically, although with $302.7 million so far, it might not catch up to the year’s current top animated film, Pixar’s Inside Out, which has grossed over $330 million. It has also crossed the $900 million mark globally, maintaining the animated franchise’s popularity with a third Despicable Me scheduled for 2017.
Sony Pictures opened the musical dramedy Ricki and the Flash, reuniting Meryl Streep with director Jonathan Demme, and co-starring Kevin Kline, Mamie Gummer and Rick Springfield, on Friday in 1,603 theaters where it grossed an estimated $7 million, or $4,367 per theater, for seventh place. According to Sony, 70% of the film’s audience was female and 78% over 30 with a strong “B+” CinemaScore among women and B overall.
Amy Schumer and Judd Apatow’s rom-com Trainwreck (Universal) took eight place with $6.3 million, down 34%, with a domestic take of $91.1 million in its first month.
Adam Sandler’s video game action-comedy Pixels fell to ninth place with $5.4 million, down 48% in its third weekend, as it has grossed $57.6 million domestically and another $73 million overseas.
Lionsgate’s own animated offering Shaun the Sheep Movie grossed an estimated $4 million over the weekend for tenth place after grossing $1.6 million on Wednesday and Thursday, amounting to $5.6 million in its first two days. Its “B+” CinemaScore, the highest for the new releases, should help it continue to bring in family business even with schools starting up soon.
Opening on Tuesday in just under 900 theaters, FUNimation’s release of the Anime Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F‘ has grossed $5.6 million domestically, entering the Top 10 for Anime films released in North America after less than a week in theaters, as well as putting it just behind Shaun the Sheep despite playing in half as many theaters. Although the release was initially for one week only, the film’s success has gotten them more theaters for earlier in the week.
The Top 10 was down dramatically from last year when Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy grossed $108 million between them, an amount that was only barely bested by the estimated $115 million grossed by this weekend’s entire Top 10.
Woody Allen’s latest, Irrational Man (Sony Pictures Classics), starring Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone, expanded nationwide into 925 theaters where it brought in a weak $884,000 (less than Roadside Attractions’ Mr. Holmes, which expanded nationwide three weeks ago and is now playing in less theaters while grossing $12.8 million so far). Allen’s latest has grossed $2.2 million and probably won’t be one of his highest-grossing movies.
Sony Pictures Classics also opened the Sundance favorite The Diary of a Teenage Girl, starring newcomer Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgard and Kristen Wiig, into four theaters where it grossed $55,000, or $13,750 per theater.
Jon Watts’ action-thriller Cop Car (Focus World), starring Kevin Bacon, opened with $27,000 in three theaters, or $9,000 per theater.
