Weekend Box Office (May 30 - June 1, 2014)

by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND Angelina Jolie dominated the box office with the fairy tale-inspired epic Maleficent which generated the largest opening of her career with $69.4M from 3,948 theaters for a sensational $17,586 average, according to final studio figures. Disney's PG-rated tale of the villain from Sleeping Beauty used its starpower to attract a wide audience and came close to the $79.1M debut of the studio's Oz: The Great and Powerful from last year. This also marked the first time in nine years that Jolie hit the number one spot with a live-action film. Mr. & Mrs. Smith with future life partner Brad Pitt was her last one from this month in 2005.

Reviews were mixed but audiences came out for the big-screen spectacle and for Jolie and were very satisfied by what they got as the CinemaScore grade was a solid A. Studio research showed that the audience was 60% female. Appeal was broad across all age groups as 51% were over 25. 35% of the business came from 3D formats and IMAX screens accounted for $6.7M, strong for a family film.

The global marketing push resulted in audience excitement around the world leading to a mammoth $100.6M debut from international markets for a $170M worldwide start with the whole summer still ahead. Plus China and Japan have yet to open.

Falling from first place was the super hero epic X-Men: Days of Future Past which fell a sharp 64% in its second round to $32.6M giving Fox $162M to date. That was slightly better than the 67% tumble that the franchise's The Last Stand suffered coming off of the same Memorial Day holiday weekend in 2006 for a total of $175.3M at the same point in the run. A domestic future final of about $210M seem likely.

Seth MacFarlane's new raunchy comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West struggled in its opening weekend and landed in third with $16.8M from 3,158 locations for a mild $5,319 average. That was down a troubling 69% from the $54.4M debut of the Family Guy creator's last hit Ted from June 2012. That film featured MacFarlane in only a voice role, similar to what fans are used to, and packed more starpower with Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis. West, instead, was the funnyman's first attempt at anchoring a film with a live-action role plus co-star Charlize Theron has a weaker box office track record.

Studio research showed that 55% of the audience was male and 72% was over 25. A lackluster B CinemaScore indicates that customers were only somewhat satisfied with what they got so reaching a broader audience will be difficult. West played mainly to the core Family Guy crowd this weekend.

The Warner Bros. tentpole Godzilla followed with $12M thanks to another steep fall of 61% in the third frame. The cume to date is $174.4M. Dropping a reasonable 43% in its second weekend was the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore flop Blended with $8.1M. With just $29.4M so far, look for a weak $50M final. The raunchy comedy Neighbors declined by 42% to $8.1M and has banked an impressive $129M to date.

In its fifth weekend, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 collected $3.8M, off 52%, giving Sony $192.7M domestically. The international cume climbed to $497.3M putting the webslinger reboot sequel at $690M worldwide. Down 49% was the baseball drama Million Dollar Arm with $3.6M and $28M overall for Disney. Jon Favreau's indie title Chef expanded again and grossed $1.9M putting Open Road at $6.8M. Fox's The Other Woman tumbled 63% to $1.4M for a total cume of $81.1M.

The top ten films grossed $157.7M which was off 1% from last year when Fast & Furious 6 stayed at number one with $35.2M; but up 19% from 2012 when Snow White and the Huntsman debuted on top with $56.2M.


Compared to projections, Maleficent opened ahead of my $62M forecast while A Million Ways to Die in the West debuted well below my $28M prediction.

Get earlier box office updates and analysis by following BoxOfficeGuru.com on Twitter.

Watch the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy. For a review of X-Men visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when The Fault in our Stars and Edge of Tomorrow open.

# Title May 30 - Jun 1 May 23 - 25 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Maleficent $ 69,431,298 3,948 1 $ 17,586 $ 69,431,298 Disney
2 X-Men: Days of Future Past 32,551,098 90,823,660 -64.2 4,001 2 8,136 162,020,201 Fox
3 A Million Ways to Die in the West 16,797,385 3,158 1 5,319 16,797,385 Universal
4 Godzilla 12,008,129 30,946,416 -61.2 3,501 3 3,430 174,439,686 Warner Bros.
5 Blended 8,144,303 14,284,031 -43.0 3,555 2 2,291 29,350,839 Warner Bros.
6 Neighbors 8,080,645 14,022,660 -42.4 2,939 4 2,749 128,966,365 Universal
7 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 3,778,605 7,823,388 -51.7 2,152 5 1,756 192,735,902 Sony
8 Million Dollar Arm 3,588,444 6,968,980 -48.5 2,329 3 1,541 27,985,053 Disney
9 Chef 1,911,548 2,266,586 -15.7 624 4 3,063 6,826,430 Open Road
10 The Other Woman 1,388,886 3,710,407 -62.6 1,114 6 1,247 81,076,034 Fox
11 Belle 1,258,965 1,654,799 -23.9 525 5 2,398 6,188,898 Fox Searchlight
12 Rio 2 1,116,233 2,467,206 -54.8 983 8 1,136 124,320,737 Fox
13 Heaven Is For Real 800,872 2,033,488 -60.6 722 7 1,109 88,013,347 Sony
14 Captain America: The Winter Soldier 627,266 1,744,727 -64.0 539 9 1,164 255,176,550 Disney
15 The Grand Budapest Hotel 374,752 657,051 -43.0 249 13 1,505 57,338,771 Fox Searchlight
16 Divergent 327,133 691,352 -52.7 373 11 877 148,640,555 Lionsgate
17 The Grand Seduction 323,743 94 1 3,444 323,743 eOne
18 The Immigrant 311,769 442,774 -29.6 150 3 2,078 1,085,340 Weinstein Co.
19 Moms' Night Out 293,047 777,515 -62.3 383 4 765 9,590,223 Sony
20 The LEGO Movie 276,486 407,255 -32.1 302 17 916 255,436,997 Warner Bros.
Top 5 $ 138,932,213 $ 157,900,155 -12.0
Top 10 157,680,341 175,346,822 -10.1
Top 20 163,390,607 183,307,237 -10.9
Top 20 vs. 2013 163,390,607 159,459,413 2.5

Last Updated: June 4, 2014 at 9:50PM ET

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