Box Office Wrap Up- A lot to talk about this morning so a bit of a long post.
Well this weekend was a strange one for box office watchers. Going into it no one knew what was going to happen. Pretty much the only thing people could agree on was that Despicable Me 2 would come out in front making it the 4th weekend in a row that a toon held the top spot. The two new releases had two different target audiences and no one was really sure which would draw the bigger crowd. Could the big budget action flick Pacific Rim take second or would Adam Sandler’s first sequel get the silver. It was a tough call.
The Questions?
Big action movies are usually bigger in the summer and this summer has seen it fair share so the question was were people fatigued with action. Last weekend proved that not even Jonny Depp could open an action movie and the weekend before Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx failed to ignite box office fire. So how as a movie like Pacific Rim with no Hollywood stars going to do? The stars of the movie were the special effects and that was how it was advertised. Reviews were mostly good but would the fanboy turnout be enough?
I have to admit I never saw Grown Ups and didn’t see anything appealing about Grown Ups 2 so I had very little expectations for the movie. Live action Adam Sandler movies have been pretty bad lately and none of his movies have made very much money. So I guess he decided to do a sequel to the last movie that was a hit for him. With Grown Ups 2 most of the cast of the first one is reunited and ready for more antics. Could Adam Sandler reverse the trend and prove he is still loved by millions?
The Answers.
The answer surprised me. It turns out that people still love Adam Sandler and Grown Ups 2 finished right behind Despicable Me 2 with and incredible $42 million. Pacific Rim had to settle for the bronze with an impressive but not stellar $38.3 million. A $38 million opening is not bad by any means but when you have a $200 million budget you hope to do better. But they sold people on the graphics and 3D screens made up 50% of the ticket purchases which is better than any other 3D movie this summer.
The Consequences?
So what does it mean when two sequels are one and two and an original movie comes in third? First results is expect more sequels. Every summer people complain about the number of sequel, prequels, remakes and reboots that come out. But those are the movies that make money. This summer only one original movie opened at number 1 and that was The Purge. Every other movie has some kind of built in audience. Not to say a movie with no built in audience can’t do well. Now You See Me has been the sleeper hit of the summer and The Heat has done very well but the biggest difference is the budget. I think the lesson learned is don’t spend large amounts of money on an original movie. But I think the success of sequels this summer will only prove to Hollywood that is the way to go. The big question now is will Adam Sandler decide to do more sequels?
The Top 10 for the Weekend
1. Despicable Me 2 $44.7 million
2. Grown Ups 2 $42.5 million
3. Pacific Rim $38.3 million
4. The Heat $14 million
5. The Lone Ranger $11.1 million
6. Monsters University $10.6 million
7. World War Z $9.4 million
8. White House Down $6.15 million
9. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain $5 million
10. Man of Steel $4.8 million
Just for the record here are the movies that topped the charts so far this summer.
5/3-5/5 Iron Man 3
5/10-5/12 Iron Man 3
5/17-5/19 Star Trek Into Darkness
5/24-5/27 Fast and Furious 6
5/31-6/2 Fast and Furious 6
6/7-6/9 The Purge
6/14-6/16 Man of Steel
6/21-6/23 Monsters University
6/28-6/30 Monsters University
7/5-7/7 Despicable Me 2
7/12-7/14 Despicable Me 2
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