Box Office Results: 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' Wins Memorial Day Weekend With $111 Million
"X-Men: Days of Future Past" has won the Memorial Day box office defeating "Godzilla," which plummeted in its second weekend.
The latest "X-Men" movie scored $111 million in four days and obtained the second best opening for an "X-Men" movie. However it failed to open as high as the other blockbusters this summer. "Godzilla," "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" all had better opening weekends. While it may have disappointed, the movie was a huge improvement from "X-Men: First Class," which opened with $55.1 million. "Days of Future Past" is likely to continue strong through the next few weekends. The movie obtained a solid 92 percent aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes and that could lead to good word of mouth.
In second place "Godzilla" stumbled with $39 million and brought its gross to $156 million. The movie had a 57 percent drop, which was on par with "Cloverfield" and ranks among the worst drops for a blockbuster film. The film's second weekend failure was due to competition from "X-Men" and also because most fans were disappointed with the final product. Hence the word of mouth was not strong enough. Despite its shortcomings, the monster flick is likely to end its run with around $205 to $225 million and become the highest grossing film in the series.
In third place "Blended" flopped with a weak $18.2 million opening gross over the four-day weekend. The romantic comedy was the third in a line of disappointments for Adam Sandler. The film came in with very little buzz and terrible reviews. However there was a thought that reuniting Drew Barrymore and Sandler would create the same type of grosses that "50 First Dates" and "The Wedding Singer" generated when they came out. Sandler has been able to generate word of mouth throughout the film's run, and as a result "Blended" still has a chance of making $50 million by end of the run.
"Neighbors" had a 31 percent drop and made $17.2 million. The Zac Efron and Seth Rogan starrer has already made a robust $116 million and is on track to end with $140 million.
"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" continued to drop quickly and added another $10 million to its disappointing gross. The superhero flick has already made $187 million, and pundits are starting to question whether it can even get to $200 million. The movie's fourth weekend drop was also in part due to "X-Men," which provided strong competition.
In its second weekend "Million Dollar Arm" held on strong and brought in another $8.7 million. The baseball feature has made $22 million and will likely surpass its $25 million budget by the end of its run.
In art house theaters "Words and Pictures" opened in 10 theaters to an exceptional $113,000. The movie opened to negative reviews, but Roadside Attractions has big plans for the movie as it will expand it into 200 more theaters.
Meanwhile IFC Films opened "Cold in July" to positive reviews and an impressive gross. While the thriller also had a VOD release, the movie still managed to make $52,000. It is likely IFC will expand it into more theaters, but the company's main push will be on VOD.
Oscilloscope also had an impressive debut with "Stand Clear of the Closing Doors." The movie, which opened in one theater, made $7,000. The film scored rave reviews, but its gross is impressive considering New York's Cinema Village never really generates a lot of movie-going traffic. The distributor is planning on expanding the film into a few more theaters, but it has plans for VOD in the next few weeks.
The holdovers included "Chef," which expanded nationwide into 498 theaters but only pulled in $2.9 million over the holiday, which is a bit disappointing considering the impressive opening a few weeks ago. The comedy has already made $4.2 million. However Open Road is planning on expanding the movie into more theaters in the coming weeks.
Fox Searchlight expanded "Belle" into 453 theaters and made $2.1 million. The period drama has made $4.3 million but has not managed to cross over to mainstream audiences. The company will expand "Belle" into a few more theaters next weekend.
Weinstein Co. had mixed reactions from two of their films. "The Railway Man" expanded nationwide into 600 theaters but only managed to pull in $702,000, which is a $933 per theater average. The movie, starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman, has disappointed thus far as it has only managed to bring in $3.5 million overall. Weinstein Co. is unlikely to expand the movie anymore after the disappointing results.
Meanwhile "The Immigrant" had a better gross with $628,000. The Marion Cotillard starrer expanded to 147 theaters and has already made $558,000. Weinstein Co. ignored the movie throughout a number of months and it received very little marketing. However after impressing this weekend with good word of mouth, the company is likely to expand the movie further.
"Palo Alto" expanded into 42 theaters and continued to soar with another $98,000. The movie has impressed with an overall gross $360,700.