After several weeks of strong ticket sales, the North America box office slowed down a bit this weekend as a trio of new films –Pixels, Paper Towns and Southpaw– all failed to make much noise. Not one of the three new arrivals could dislodge Disney/Marvel’s Ant-Man from the top spot. The mediocre selections in the market helped cool business by five percent in comparison to last year at this time when Lucy opened with $43.8 million and Hercules arrived with $29.8 million.
Ant-Man saw its fortunes shrink 57% on 3,868 screens where it earned an estimated $24.7 million. The film’s 10-day domestic total currently stands at $106 million. Overseas totals are at $120 million. Depending on how much of a direct hit the Paul Rudd flick takes from Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation next weekend and Fox’s Fantastic Four the week after, Ant-Man could work its way to $150-160 million by the end of the summer.
The decrease was in line with most of the drops experienced by Marvel Studio productions during their second week of release. Captain America: The First Avenger lost 60% of its premiere crowd back in 2011. Last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy shrunk by 55% during its second round while this year’s Age of Ultron slid by 59%. Word-of-mouth has been solid for the latest superhero origin story to hit the big screen, which could help Ant-Man withstand the arrivals of Rogue Nation and Fantastic Four the same way that Inside Out has held up in the wake of Minions.
Adam Sandler’s status as a major box office draw continued to decline this weekend with the mediocre $24 million opening on 3,723 screens for his latest comedy, Pixels. The $88 million visual effects comedy -directed by Chris Columbus and co-starring Kevin James and Peter Dinklage- was trashed by critics and met with a lukewarm response from ticket buyers. They gave the film a “B” rating on CinemaScore, which may point to the latest box office underperformer from the once popular SNL star. Pixels overseas prospects may also be on the dim side. The film opened day-and-date in 56 territories but could only muster $25 million.
Universal’s Minions continued its fast fade in third place, earning $22 million from 4,066 theaters. Off 55%, the animated prequel has earned $261.5 million and is still on track to hit the $300 million mark. Foreign grosses are currently at $497 million. The studio’s comedy Trainwreck had a strong second weekend, easing only 42% in business to bring in $17.3 million from 3,171 theaters. After ten days, the Amy Schumer hit has earned $61.5 million and could reach the $100 million mark by the end of its run.
Two new arrivals landed in the fifth and sixth place slots. The Weinstein Company’s boxing drama Southpaw arrived on 2,772 screens where it earned an estimated $16.5 million. The $25 million production exceeded pre-release box office forecasts that attracted a diverse crowd of viewers, who bestowed the film with a solid “A” CinemaScore rating. While reviewers were largely mixed on the film overall, nearly every critic had nothing but praise for the performance from lead Jake Gyllenhaal.
In sixth place with disappointing numbers was Fox’s Paper Towns with $12.5 million from 3,031 theaters. The latest cinematic adaptation of a novel from John Green (The Fault In Our Stars) was expected to debut above the $20 million mark but missed that target by a wide margin. Reviews were mixed on Paper Towns, which should still turn a profit despite the weak opening: the production budget was only $12 million.
The remainder of the top ten was as follows:
- Inside Out (Disney) $7.35 million (-36%); $320.3 million
- Jurassic World (Universal) $6.85 million (-40%); $623.7 million
- Mr. Holmes (Roadside Attractions) $2.8 million (+17%); $6.43 million
- Terminator: Genisys (Paramount) $2.4 million (-56%); $85.6 million
Next weekend brings the reboot of Vacation on Wednesday and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation on Friday. It will be interesting to see if people will go more for laughs or action thrills next weekend.
