The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.
Despite horrendous reviews going into the weekend, the Michael Bay-produced reintroduction of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Paramount), starring Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner, scored big at the box office this weekend, taking in an estimated $65 million from 3,845 North American theaters. That’s the fourth-biggest August opening behind last week’s Guardians of the Galaxy record-setter, previous record holder The Bourne Ultimatum and 2001’s Rush Hour 2. The Turtles added another $28.7 million from its overseas openings for a global opening total of $93.7 million.
With a reported budget of $125 million, it probably won’t be much of a surprise that Paramount has already announced a sequel to the movie, which will once again be produced by Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller with a screenplay written by Josh Appelbaum & André Nemec. There’s no word whether director Jonathan Liebesman will return, but they already have a release date of June 3, 2016 picked out for the sequel. This means that it will open the same weekend as Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s R-rated animated comedy Sausage Party and one week after both X-Men: Apocalypse from Fox and Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass from Disney.
Marvel Studios’ latest blockbuster, the James Gunn-directed outer space adventure Guardians of the Galaxy, starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and more, tried but failed to hold the top spot against the Turtles, dropping to second place with $41.5 million, down 56%. It has grossed $176 million domestically since opening last weekend, which means it will be pulling ahead of the domestic grosses of the original Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger in the next few days. More importantly, it has grossed $313 million globally in its first ten days. It added another $40.1 million overseas this weekend where it opened in Australia, New Zealand, India and other territories with $30 million of the “Guardians'” global take so far accredited to its worldwide IMAX release.
Hoping to interest some of the teen and older viewers not interested in mutant turtles or space-faring raccoons, New Line released the giant tornado disaster flick Into the Storm, starring Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh and more. While it was never expected to be a huge breakout summer hit, it still was able to take in about $18 million in 3,434 theaters, averaging $5,242 per site.
Opening in the fewest theaters of the new releases, the Helen Mirren-starring The Hundred-Foot Journey (DreamWorks), a France-based food-lover’s dramedy based on the novel by Richard Morais, opened adequately with $11.1 million in 2,023 theaters. With an “A” CinemaScore, it has a good chance of building on that with its older targeted audience.
Luc Besson’s sci-fi action thriller Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson, dropped to fifth place with $9.3 million (down 49%). With a three-week take of $97.3 million, it should become the 20th movie of the year to cross the $100 million sometime in the coming week.
The fourth installment of the dance franchise Step Up All In (Summit) continued to show the series’ diminishing returns with the weakest opening yet, $6.6 million in 2,072 theaters. That’s half the amount made opening weekend by the previous installment, Step Up Revolution two years ago and this should finally put the nail in the coffin of the once popular series.
Dwayne Johnson and Brett Ratner’s Hercules (Paramount/MGM) captured seventh place with $5.7 million, which brings its three-week gross to $63.5 million. With a reported budget of $100 million, it’s fully relying on its international release to recoup its budget and turn a profit.
Despite receiving an “A” CinemaScore last week, the James Brown biopic Get On Up, starring Chadwick Boseman, Nelsan Ellis, Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis, fell hard in its second weekend, dropping 63% to eighth place with $5 million over the weekend and $23 million total.
20th Century Fox’s sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes took ninth place with $4.4 million as it edges closer to becoming the sixth movie of the summer to cross $200 million with $197.8 million grossed so far.
Walt Disney Pictures’ animated sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue wrapped up the Top 10 with $2.4 million and $52.9 million in four weeks. That’s behind the $70.8 million grossed by the original movie over the same period of time.
Cumulatively, the Top 10 brought in an estimated $169 million, up $30 million from the 2nd weekend of August last year when Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium topped the box office with $29.8 million, followed by New Line’s comedy We’re the Millers, starring Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston, with $26.42 million. Two family films, the original Disney’s Planes and the “Percy Jackson” sequel, followed in third and fourth place.
Having helmed two of the highest-grossing movies of all time, Avatar and Titanic, filmmaker James Cameron took some time off to explore the ocean depths but the resulting documentary Deepsea Challenge 3D sunk with just $150 thousand grossed in roughly 300 theaters, averaging less than $500 per venue.
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan and Adam Driver, the relationship comedy What If (CBS Films)–which premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival under the title “The F-Word”–opened in twenty theaters in ten markets where it grossed $130 thousand or $6,500 per site.
The festival favorite doc The Dog (Drafthouse Films) opened in two New York theaters where it grossed a mere $10,900.
Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.
