In a surprising turn of events, 'Ant-Man' led the box office for the second time this weekend, with disappointing newcomer 'Pixels' following closely. Fellow new release 'Southpaw' opened above expectations while 'Paper Towns' did the opposite.
'Ant-Man' fell 56.5% from opening weekend to earn $24.9 million. That second weekend hold is an improvement over the 60.1% drop of 'The Incredible Hulk' and the 60.7% decline of 'Captain America: The First Avenger'. However, that drop is worse than the drop experienced by Thor (-47.2%) and the 48.1% drop of Iron Man. The solo film from Marvel is so far experiencing unremarkable holds, as it is performing on the lower end of expectations. 'Ant-Man' has so far earned $106.2 million and is on track for over $160 million.
'Pixels' led the newcomers this weekend with an unimpressive $24 million debut. That translates into a weak $6,450 per-theater average from 3,723 locations. This opening was well below pre-release expectations, with projections going as high as $57 million. Unfortunately, 'Pixels' opened below even the most pessimistic predictions, opening lower than 2011's 'Jack and Jill' ($25m OW/$74.2m cume) and barely beating Kevin James' most recent film 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2' ($23.8m OW/$70.96m cume). This film provides further proof that Adam Sandler is no longer a box office draw, whose only hits in the last 3 years are 'Hotel Transylvania' ($148.3m cume) and 'Grown Ups 2' ($133.7m cume). 'Transylvania', however was an animated film that opened in September (usually one of the weakest months of the year), and 'Grown Ups 2' was a sequel to a relatively popular film. 'Pixels' underperformed this weekend, and if it doesn't hold up well in the upcoming weeks, it will have a hard time making back its budget ($88m) domestically and will need overseas grosses to save it. However, Adam Sandler movies tend to be relatively back-loaded. Still, the reviews are brutal (18% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences aren't really having a great time either ('B' on CinemaScore). In the long run, look for a gross of over $60 million total.
In third place, Universal's animated blockbuster 'Minions' fell a (comparatively) sharp 53.5% for a $22.9 million take in its third weekend. It is performing rather front-loaded, with weaker holds than its predecessors and similar animated spin-offs. However, it is still a big hit, with a budget of just $74 million (Pixar films usually cost over $150 million). 'Minions' has so far made a huge $262.5 million, surpassing the lifetime gross of the first 'Despicable Me' ($251.5m). It should pass $300 million in the next two weeks, and will likely wind up with a total domestic cume north of $340 million.
Judd Apatow's R-rated comedy 'Trainwreck' eased a light 42.6% in its second weekend, bringing in $17.3 million. That is a weaker hold than most of Apatow's other comedies, but is still a pretty good hold considering it (somewhat) faced competition from 'Paper Towns', which also targeted female audiences, and 'Pixels', which attracted male audiences and looked for comedy fans, so it made sense that 'Trainwreck' had a weaker hold. The Amy Schumer led comedy has so far earned a stellar $61.5 million, and should finish with around $115 million.
One of the other newcomers this weekend rounded out the Top 5 with $16.7 million. That number belongs to boxing drama 'Southpaw', starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams. That is above many of the pre-release expectations, which projected an opening weekend of $14 million. The R-rated drama significantly outpaced Gyllenhaal's 'Nightcrawler', which opened to $10.4 million last October. However, it is worthy to note that that film opened on Halloween Day, therefore holding back its gross a bit. Nevertheless, 'Southpaw' opened strong, and if it holds up well in the following weeks, it will end up with a total over $55 million.
'Paper Towns' opened right outside the Top 5 this weekend, earning an underwhelming $12.7 million. That is a small fraction of what 'The Fault in our Stars' opened to last June ($48m). It was very, very front-loaded this weekend, with a weekend-to-Friday ratio of 2.02-to-1. It opened to a decent $6.3 million on Friday, then plummeted 44.4% on Saturday to earn $3.5 million, and slipped 20.3% on Sunday, going on to earn $2.8 million. Although this is a fairly disappointing debut, 'Paper Towns' is still a
success, passing its modest budget of $12 million in 3 days. It is likely 'Paper Towns' quickly falls off in the following weeks, going on to earn around $30 million total.
Pixar's 'Inside Out' eased 35.8% this weekend, earning $7.4 million and bringing its domestic total to $320.4 million. It should earn a total north $345 million overall.
In eighth place, 'Jurassic World' fell a light 37.3% to go on and added $7.2 million to its HUGE $624.1 million. The Chris Pratt led dino flick passed 'Marvel's The Avengers' ($623.4m) this weekend on the all-time domestic chart. 'Jurassic World' is still on track to earn over $650 million total.
'Mr. Holmes' increased 17.8% this weekend, making $2.9 million and bringing its total to $6.5 million. If it continues expanding, it will likely make over $15 million.
The Arnold Schwarzenegger led, $155m box office bomb (domestically) 'Terminator Genysis' continued its disappointing run with $2.4 million this weekend. So far, the critically panned fifth installment of the once popular franchise continues to self-terminate with a paltry $85.7 million.
Magic Mike XXL placed in 11th place this weekend, dancing its way to $1.9 million. The $14.8 million Channing Tatum sequel still under performs with a decent, but lower-than-expected, $63.1 million take so far.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan earned a solid $1.6 million, bringing its domestic cume to $5.6 million in 10 days of release.
The Top 12 earned $138.4 million this weekend, which is 24.6% from last weekend and up 1.1% from the same weekend last year.
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