At The Box Office: ‘MI-Rogue Nation’ Rules, ‘Fantastic Four’ DOA
$FOX, $IMAX, $VIA, $SNE, $DIS
In a major blow for 20th Century Fox’s (NASDAQ:FOX) plan to secure the fate of a Key franchise, controversial director Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four opened to a grim $26.2-M from 3,995 theaters at the North American box office after being rejected by critics and audiences world wide. This all due to a dismal C- CinemaScore, and media drama from the director.
The $120-M tentpole lost the weekend crown to Mi-Rogue Nation, starring Tom Cruise. Rogue Nation fell just 48% in its 2nd weekend to $29.4-M from 3,988 theaters for a domestic box office total of $109.5-M for partners Paramount, a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ:VIA) and Skydance Productions, the film’s success is buoyed by strong Imax (NYSE:IMAX) numbers.
At the overseas box office overseas Fantastic Four launched to a weak $34.1-M from 43 markets for a global bow of $60.3-M.
MI-Rogue Nation was the winner internationally, taking in another $65.5 -M as expanded into a total of 58 territories for a foreign box office take of $156.7-M and global take of $265.3-M to date.
Elsewhere, The Gift, Joel Edgerton’s directorial debut, placed #3 with $12-M from 2,503 theaters and skewed female (53%).
The Gift is a psychological thriller, is the 1st box-office test for Bob Simonds’ STX Entertainment and is being boosted by stellar reviews. .
Jonnathan Demme’s ‘Ricki and the Flash’, starring Meryl Streep, placed #7 in its debut with $7-M from 1,603 theaters (numbers from Sony (NYSE:SNE) were not immediately available).
That is about the lowest nationwide openings for a Streep film, the verdict is out, and much will depend upon how Ricki fares when it expands into more theaters next weekend, when it will be playing in more than 2,000 locations. Likely it will be a looser for Sony.
This weekend’s 4th new offering is animated film Shaun the Sheep, from Aardman Entertainment and Lionsgate (NYSE:LGF). A spinoff of the hugely successful, dialogue-free British TV series, the film, which opened Wednesday and earned a B+ CinemaScore, placed # 11 with $4-M from 2,320 theaters for the weekend.
Back in the Top 10, Vacation placed #4 in its 2nd weekend, declining a slim 38% to $9.1-M for a 12-day domestic take of $37.7-M.
Disney (NYSE:DIS) and Marvel’s superhero entry Ant-Man, which crossed $300-M worldwide last week, followed with $7.8-M domestically for a global box office take of $326.3-M through Sunday, including $147.4-M domestically and $178.9-M internationally.
Universal is a until of Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA), and Illumination Entertainment’s Minions continued to make headlines, crossing $300-M domestically and $600-M internationally for a global gross of $912.5-M through Sunday. Overseas, it has earned $609.8-M to date, passing up Despicable Me 2 ($607.8-M).
At the specialty box office, Sony Pictures Classics’ The Diary of a Teenage Girl, based on the graphic novel by Phoebe Gloeckner, opened to $54,525 from 4th screens for a location average of $13,631, the best of the weekend. The dramedy, debuting at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, stars Kristen Wiig, Alexander Skarsgard, Bel Powley and Christopher Meloni.
Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, directed by Salma Hayek and based on the celebrated book, also debuted, launching in 2 theaters to $22,601 for a theater average of $13,300. The animated film made its world premiere in May at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and is being distributed in the U.S. by GKids.
Have some fun, see a movie this week.
HeffX-LTN
Paul Ebeling
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