Box Office Analysis & Recap: 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' Makes $100 million
"Transformers: Age of Extinction" dominated the box office this weekend, beating out all competition.
The Michael Bay film opened with $100 million, the highest opening of the year to date. The film, which score terrible reviews, continued to attract fan boys and word of mouth was surprisingly good. Unlike the past three installments, this movie did not get released during the week and as a result it is hard to compare this opening weekend with the other films. "Transformers: Age of Extinction" is likely to remain at number one for the next weekend as it faces no big competitors. Additionally, the July 4 weekend is likely to boosts its box office.
In second place, "22 Jump Street" brought in another $15.4 million. The film has already made $139 million and has exceeded the gross of the original film. If it continues its strong performance, the comedy starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill could easily end up making close to $175 million.
In third place, the DreamWorks animated feature "How to Train Your Dragon 2" added $13 million to its total. The feature has thus far disappointed only making $121 million. After having opened to better numbers than the original 2010 Academy Award nominee, the sequel is $12 million behind its predecessor. With the holiday season coming up "How to Train Your Dragon 2" could make up some ground but ultimately this film could end its run with $160-175 million. That would be far lower than the $217 million "How to Train Your Dragon" made.
In fourth, "Think Like a Man Too" plummeted 64 percent from last weekend. The film made $10 million and brought its gross to $48 million. With such a disappointing second weekend the sequel is on track to end its run with at least $60 million. However, it is unlikely to reach the $91 million the original "Think Like a Man" made.
In fifth spot, Disney's "Maleficent" continued to have legs. The movie made an estimated $8 million and crossed the $200 million mark. The Angelina Jolie starrer is still $11 million behind last year's "Oz: the Great and Powerful" but with the holiday weekend coming up, the movie still has a chance of ending its run close to the $220 million.
Meanwhile, "Jersey Boys" added $7.6 million and brought its disappointing gross to $27.3 million. The movie's gross this weekend proved that audiences are not very interested in the musical and that it will most likely end its run very quickly.
"Edge of Tomorrow" added another $5.2 million and brought its total to $84 million. The film has proved to have legs and while it will not recover the $175 million budget, the Tom Cruise starrer could still make $100 million by the end of its run.
Two milestones were crossed during the weekend. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" became the number one film of the year surpassing "The Lego Movie" while "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" crossed the $200 million mark after having struggled for over two months.
In arthouse cinemas, the Weinstein Company had a terrific weekend with three new releases. Leading the pack was Radius TWC's "Snowpiercer," which opened in eight theaters and made $162,100. The film performed better than expected thanks in part to the hype and controversy between the director and the Weinstein Company. Reviews were also incredible as it scored 93 percent aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Meanwhile, "Begin Again" made $148,000 in five theaters. That is equal to a $29,000 per theater average, which is on par with "Chef" when it opened in limited release. The film benefited from good reviews and will next expand into 75 theaters over the holiday weekend.
The Weinsteins also released "Yves Saint Laurent," which opened to $24,500 in two theaters. The Weinstein Company plans on expanding the film into a few more theaters but it is unlikely it will crossover to the mainstream.
Lionsgate also opened "America" in three theaters. The company made $39,000 and now plans to expand the fictional documentary into 1,000 theaters in time for July 4.
Meanwhile, "Chef" remained in the top ten for the sixth straight weekend and made another $1.6 million. The film has now made $19.4 million and it will be the second arthouse film this year to cross the $20 milion mark.
A24 continued to have mixed results. The company continued its slow expansion with "Obvious Child." A24 added the film to 141 theaters, bringing its total to 196 theaters. The result was an outstanding $556,000 gross. "Obvious Child" has already made $1.28 million and A24 will continue to expand the film. However it will be interesting to see if the movie is able to cross over into the mainstream.
However, the company ejected "The Rover" out of 361 theaters. After a disastrous wide expansion, the film plummeted 79 percent and only made $101,000. The movie has only made $980,000 and while it may make $1 million by the end of its run, this can be considered A24's biggest disappointment to date since its first release, "A Glimpse in the Mind of Charles Swan."
Sony Pictures Classics expanded "Third Person" and made another $80,700. The gross was a big improvement over the opening weekend. However, the film has only made $136,400, which is far from impressive.
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