By Chris Kavan - 05/15/16 at 10:11 PM CT
Disney continued to dominate the box office as Captain America: Civil War and The Jungle Book took the top two spots at the box office. Both Money Monster and horror film The Darkness came in ahead of expectations as both films managed to find a spot in the top five. With Civil War continuing its winning streak it pushed the entire Marvel franchise (all the movies since Iron Man) into the $10 billion range. That's impressive for any franchise but it continues to show the incredible popularity of superheroes and I don't think that's going to change any time soon.
1) CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
It was pretty much no problem for Captain America: Civil War to top the box office in its second weekend out. With $72.5 million, the film dropped 59.5% in its second weekend, giving it a new total of $295.9 million. That drop was right in line with last year's Age of Ultron (59.4% drop) and just above the drop for Winter Solider (58%). Still, that total represents the eight best second weekend on record and the seventh best 10-day total for any film. Worldwide, the film is rapidly approaching the $1 billion mark with a $941 total thus far. It will have no problem joining the $1 billion club and will likely settled above both the Dark Knight and Dark Knight Rises and we'll have to see if it can match the $1.2 billion of Iron Man 3. Once again, there is little in the way of major competition in the U.S. as Civil War should be able to top $425 million domestically. It should also be able to top Zootopia ($968 million) by next week to become the highest-grossing film of 2016. All in all, I would say the Marvel franchise is more than healthy and it will be interesting to see how X-Men: Apocalypse does against it.
2)
THE JUNGLE BOOK
Disney also took the second-place spot as The Jungle Book held on to its second spot with a $17.7 million weekend as it crossed the $300 million mark with a new $311.7 million total. The film only dipped 27.5% in its fifth weekend - an impressive feat for any film lasting that long in theaters. The worldwide total for The Jungle Book hit $828 million and while this one won't quite hit $1 billion, it will still be another huge hit for Disney. It is looking likely this will be able to top Alice in Wonderland ($334 million) right around the time the sequel debuts on the 27th. By next week, Disney will have three films topping the $300 million mark and I think the studio is going to continue that streak well into the summer movie season.
3)
MONEY MONSTER
The George Clooney and Julia Roberts financial conspiracy drama Money Monster had a $15 million debut. The film has a $27 million cost and even with marketing mixed in, the film should be able to hit around $50 million as it has a grip on the adult drama crowd who tend to avoid the superhero/blockbuster titles. In any case, it represents a good opening for Clooney in his dramatic roles (outside of blockbuster like Batman and such). While the reviews weren't glowing, the fact it has the adult crowd locked up should mean it will play well through at least the month. While it may not be one of the highlights in the career of either of the big stars, it shouldn't be a black mark, either.
4)
THE DARKNESS
The week's other new wide-release film was the horror film The Darkness. With a $5.1 million opening, the film performed above the modest expectations. Given its "C" Cinemascore and current 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film will be lucky to double its opening weekend and wind up around $10 million. Still, this is one of those low-budget horror films that tend to do well even with relatively low returns. Still, I found the premise for this one ridiculous even by horror movie standards, so I'm actually surprised it even did this well. I expect this to drop big time in the next weekend and it will probably be out of theaters by the end of the month.
5)
MOTHER'S DAY
After getting a nice boost due to, what else, Mother's Day weekend, the film of the same name took a nosedive with a nearly 71% drop in its third weekend. The Garry Marshall ensemble dramedy earned $3.25 million for a new total of $28.7 million, at least topping its $25 million budget. Hopefully it can make at least the same amount in the international market, it will at least be able to come out in the black. I don't expect this one to last much longer in theaters and will probably exit the same time as The Darkness.
Outside the top five: In limited release, The Lobster had the best per-theater average of the year, thus far. Debuting in four theaters, the film opened to $188,095 for a whopping $47,024 per-theater average. This one is already planned to expand in the coming weeks and we'll see if the specialty film can find as good an audience as it hits more theaters.
In milestone news, Barbershop: The Next Cut crossed the $50 million mark by taking in $1.67 million and topping out at $51.3 million.
Next week will see the opening of the R-rated sequel Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, the animated Angry Birds Movie and dark comedy/crime film The Nice Guys.
Comments
