Weekend Wrap-Up
Holdovers Happy as Ted Misses Expectations
By John Hamann
June 28, 2015
Other than A Million Ways To Die in the West, what else happened to keep Ted 2 in under-performing mode? Ted 2 came in 20 points lower than the original at RottenTomatoes, as the original earned a 67% fresh rating, whereas the sequel was 47% fresh. The idea of Ted itself also became a lot less original than, well, the original, as once the high concept is released once, the sequel is really just a Mark Wahlberg movie. The marketing was decent ("Ted is coming, again"), but the trailer didn’t knock me on my ass, and the courtroom drama angle came off as boring (safe) or Jim Carrey-like. It felt as though Universal courted women more with the sequel, which may have turned off the core audience. Ted 2 is in no way a disaster and can hardly be considered a disappointment; however, it does seem to have left some money on the table.
Despite much lower numbers, war-dog movie Max is almost a better news story than Ted 2. Max earned $12.2 million this weekend, slightly better than the $10 million that analysts were expecting. Of the Free Willy variety, this family flick was a good investment for MGM, as it cost $20 million to make, so it should see a profit eventually. Critics weren’t impressed at RottenTomatoes, with all critics giving it a 38% fresh rating, though the site’s "top critics" surprisingly liked it a little more at 45%. The good news is that Max seems to resonate with the target audience, as it earned an A Cinemascore, the same score earned by Free Willy (which earned 10 times its opening weekend gross domestically and spawned two sequels). Will the same thing happen here? I doubt it, but one never knows.
Spy is fifth, and after a decent 28% drop last weekend, it continues to hold up well even in the face of a new comedy. In its fourth weekend, Spy earned $7.8 million, giving it a percentage drop of 31%. The $65 million action comedy has now earned $88.4 million domestically, and had picked up $57 million overseas prior to the start of the weekend. It still has some work to do to find Fox a profit, but it should be able to get there.
San Andreas shimmies down to sixth in its fifth weekend, but has remained a top earner for longer than I thought it would. This weekend, San Andreas earns a decent $5.3 million, dropping an okay 39% compared to last weekend. The Warner Bros. release cost $110 million to make. It has a domestic gross of $141.9 million and an overseas gross approaching $300 million.
After a lackluster opening frame, Dope falls hard this weekend. The release that Open Road should have platformed earned $6.1 million in its opening frame, and follows that up with $2.9 million in weekend two for a drop of 53%. Open Road had high hopes for this Sundance pickup, but the release strategy failed, leaving it with only $11.8 million so far.
The rest of the top ten barely registered. Insidious Chapter 3 earned $2 million, bringing its total up to $49.8 million; Mad Max: Fury Road added $1.7 million and has a domestic total of $147.1 million; and Age of Ultron earned $1.6 million for a cume of $452.4 million.
Overall, the box office took a step back from the sizzling $240 million plus weekends it has put up recently, but is still strong overall. The top 12 films earned $175.5 million, similar to the $172.8 million put up last year when Transformers: Age of Extinction pulled in $100 million, but was behind 2013 when the top 12 earned $183 million. Next weekend starts early, on Wednesday, as both Terminator: Genisys and the Magic Mike sequel open mid-week.
| 1 |
Jurassic World |
Universal |
$54,217,170 |
- 49% |
$500,057,975 |
| 2 |
Inside Out |
Disney |
$52,128,000 |
- 42% |
$184,945,000 |
| 3 |
Ted 2 |
Universal |
$32,922,730 |
New |
$32,922,730 |
| 4 |
Max (2002) |
Lions Gate |
$12,210,000 |
New |
$12,210,000 |
| 5 |
Spy |
Fox |
$7,800,000 |
- 31% |
$88,350,000 |
| 6 |
San Andreas |
WARNER BROS. |
$5,275,000 |
- 39% |
$141,871,000 |
| 7 |
Dope |
Paramount |
$2,861,506 |
- 53% |
$11,775,884 |
| 8 |
Insidious: Chapter 3 |
Focus Features |
$2,000,000 |
- 51% |
$49,750,000 |
| 9 |
Mad Max: Fury Road |
|
$1,735,000 |
- 43% |
$147,078,000 |
| 10 |
Avengers: Age of Ultron |
Disney |
$1,643,000 |
- 42% |
$452,428,000 |
| 11 |
Pitch Perfect 2 |
Universal |
$1,389,910 |
- 61% |
$180,983,670 |
| 12 |
Love & Mercy |
Roadside Attractions |
$1,250,000 |
- 27% |
$9,275,000 |
| |
Also Opening/Notables |
| |
The Third Man |
Rialto |
$24,000 |
New |
$24,000 |
| |
Batkid Begins |
WARNER BROS. |
$23,000 |
New |
$23,000 |
| |
Abcd 2 |
Utv |
$160,000 |
- 64% |
$775,000 |
| |
The Overnight |
The Orchard |
$150,000 |
+ 183% |
$215,000 |
| |
Infinitely Polar Bear |
Sony Classics |
$69,198 |
+ 57% |
$133,447 |
| |
Eden |
Broad Green Pictures |
$13,360 |
- 30% |
$38,597 |
| |
Me And Earl And the Dying Girl |
FOX SEARCHLIGHT |
$992,000 |
+ 172% |
$1,856,000 |
| |
Entourage |
WARNER BROS. |
$805,000 |
- 58% |
$31,384,000 |
| |
Testament of Youth |
Sony Classics |
$166,537 |
- 11% |
$670,905 |
| |
Tomorrowland |
Disney |
$965,000 |
- 56% |
$90,078,000 |
|
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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