Friday Box Office Analysis
By Tim Briody
May 24, 2014
X-Men: Days of Future Past
The seventh X-Men entry starts Memorial Day weekend with an impressive $36 million on Friday, with $8.1 million of that coming from late Thursday showings. While it does benefit from the holiday weekend, we once again see the increase from franchise reboot to sequel, as X-Men: First Class earned $21.3 million on its first day and had a $55 million weekend back in 2011. Looking back to last Memorial Day weekend, Fast and Furious 6 started with $38.7 million on its way to $97.3 million in three days and $117 million over four and I think it works just fine as a comparison for the mutants. Days of Future Past was also helped by a heavy marketing blitz and surprisingly outstanding reviews. I’d look for a weekend of $90.4 million, with $108.4 million when you throw in Monday.
Blended
Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore reunite and the result is collective shrug from audiences as Blended took in just $4.4 million on Friday. With the success of last summer’s Grown Ups 2 but flops with all his other recent films, it might be time for Sandler to start looking at more sequels. A weekend of $11.4 million and $15 million over four days is a disappointing entry for the one time king of comedy.
Godzilla
The second weekend was not kind to Godzilla as it was knocked down just like a building in his way, with a 77% collapse from last weekend to $8.8 million. It was hoping to cash in big over the holiday weekend but the X-Men had other ideas. Still, it’s a solid second place since Blended is kind of a flop, with about $24.4 million for the weekend and $32 million in four days.
Projected Estimates for the Top Ten (Three-Day)
|
Projected Rank |
Film |
Estimated Gross |
1
|
X-Men: Days of Future Past
|
90.4
|
2
|
Godzilla
|
24.4
|
3
|
Neighbors
|
12.3
|
4
|
Blended
|
11.4
|
5
|
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
|
7.3
|
6
|
Million Dollar Arm
|
5.5
|
7
|
The Other Woman
|
3.2
|
8
|
Rio 2
|
2.2
|
9
|
Chef
|
1.9
|
10
|
Heaven Is For Real
|
1.7
|