By Chris Kavan - 06/08/14 at 10:22 PM CT
While Maleficent proved that marketing to a female market is a wise choice, Fault in Our Stars just cemented the notion. Meanwhile, it was another disappointing weekend for Tom Cruise - even with critical support his latest film failed to catch on with audiences - though the international market made up for the domestic debut. Thanks to this influx of girl power, the box office was up slightly from the same weekend last year. The year continues to run ahead of 2013 overall, though the summer is far from over and we'll see how things look three months from now.
1) THE FAULT IN OUR STARS
Shailene Woodley is having the type of year most young actresses can only dream of. First, Divergent gave Hollywood it's next big YA franchise and now she follows it up with a nearly as-impressive YA romance. The Fault in Our Stars opened with an impressive $48.2 million easily topping the likes of The Vow ($41.2 million) and Dear John ($30.5 million). It nearly matched the opening for Divergent ($54 million) but had a rather steep Friday to Saturday dropoff that muted the opening numbers somewhat. Still, the film quadrupled it's $12 million budget in one weekend - so even if it drops fast, it has already proven a hit. The audience was overwhelmingly young and female - 82% women and 79% under 25 - and they gave a big boost on early Thursday and Friday - the $26.2 but then took a hard 52% drop on Saturday (the seventh biggest Friday-to-Saturday drop on record) - and it also accounted for Fault being one of the most front-loaded movies on record - topping all Twilight films - coming in at fourth all time for that particular stat. The movie did earn an "A" Cinemascore, but given the precipitous decline - it's likely going to continue to drop and a total north of $100 million will be attainable, though it's not likely to top that mark by much.
2)
MALEFICENT
Despite direct competition for the female audience, Maleficent had a good second weekend, dropping 52% (by comparison, Snow White and the Huntsman dipped 59%) and took in $33.5 million for a new total of $127.3 million. Given the numbers, the film should top $150 million by next weekend and is still on track to top $200 million before it finally exits the scene. With the success of the the two movies in the top spots (and let's not forget the all-time top animated film Frozen) perhaps Hollywood had found marketing to a solidly female audience is a good thing - and not just for romance - time will tell.
3)
EDGE OF TOMORROW
With the women clearly in control of the box office, it meant that Tom Cruise had to settle for another mediocre opening. And it's too bad - Emily Blunt was just as much a force in the film as Cruise, and she kicked ass - and this was far and above better than last year's Oblivion. Critics were behind it - but audiences did not follow. Edge had to settle for a $29.1 million opening - well below Oblivion ($37 million) and Pacific Rim ($37.2 million) but about on par with Elysium ($29.8 million). Given the blockbuster budget of $178 million to go along with its blockbuster status, Edge is going to have to rely on its international numbers to earn its worth - as its domestic total is likely to fall short of $100 million. Good thing international numbers look good so far - $82 million (including Cruise's best opening in China) and is set for at least a $250 million mark. Here at home, the "B+" Cinemeascore is so-so, not likely to sway audiences one way or another - it drew 61% male and 73% over 25. 3D accounted for 47% of its sales, while IMAX added in $4.2 million on its own.
4)
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
After taking a big hit last weekend, the latest X-Men film had another 55% drop - adding $14.7 million giving the film a new total of $189.1 million. It should top the $200 million mark by next week and is still looking at about a $220 million end game - and an impressive $700 million international total.
5)
A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST
Given the tepid opening for A Million Ways to Die in the West, it had a likewise tepid second weekend. The film dropped 57% - which is uncharacteristically high for a comedy (that tend to hold well) and Seth MacFarlane's western comedy took in $7.2 million for a new total of just over $30 million. With the large fall, it's not pretty much a given the film is going to fall short of $50 million.
Outside the top five: Jon Favreau's Chef was the only film in the top 10 to post a gain (as it continued to add theaters) jumping by 674 theaters, the film is now playing in over 1200 theaters nationwide and jumped 36% from last weekend. It retained its 9th place spot, taking in $2.6 million and raising its total to $10.3 million. The film will probably continue to expand as long as it continues to bring in audiences and should wind up a nice hit for the actor/director.
It also took awhile, but Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($255.88 million) officially become the top-grossing film of 2014 as it passed The Lego Movie ($255.85 million) for the title.
Next week, we have 22 Jump Street as Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill come back for a second serving of comedy. Another sequel, How to Train Your Dragon 2, looks to emulate the success of Despicable Me 2 and finally we have the sci-fi thriller The Signal, which looks downright strange, but could offer an interesting counter-programming to the picture.
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