Weekend Actuals: 'Rogue Nation' Back on Top While 'Fantastic Four' Breaks Down, 'The Gift' a Pleasant Surprise, 'Ricki' Fails to Rock 'n' Roll, 'Shaun' Gets Sheared

     The box office was surprisingly slow this weekend, where a franchise reboot flops, an under-the-radar thriller surprises, and a dramedy and comedy fail to live up to expectations. This weekend was worse than last year's, where another reboot ('Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles') and a 'marvel'ous surprise led the weekend.

     'Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation' claimed the top spot again, with an estimated $28.5 million, down a solid 48.7% from its opening. The $150m Tom Cruise led spy-action flick from Paramount easily took first place from 'Fantastic Four', which was betrayed by horrible reviews and atrocious word-of-mouth. So far, 'Rogue Nation' has earned $107.8 million, and should end its run with around $165 million.
  

One of the weekend's newcomers, Fox's reboot of the 'Fantastic Four' franchise, bombed with just $25.7 million in three days. The $120m superhero pic brought in a lackluster $11.3
million on Friday (including $2.7m from previews), fell 24% on Saturday, earning $8.6 million, and declined a troubling 32.1% on Sunday to make a disappointing $5.8 million. That puts its weekend-to-Friday ratio at 2.27-to-1. That marks a pretty front-loaded weekend, and indicates that this film will have trouble holding up well in the following weeks. Plus, its per-theater average was a breathtakingly terrible $6.4k, which is abnormally low for a summer blockbuster, and especially considering that superhero films usually perform rather successfully. 'Fantastic Four' was absolutely crushed by heavily negative reviews (an atrocious 9% on Rotten Tomatoes) and very unenthusiastic word-of-mouth (a terrible 'C-' on CinemaScore and a Flixter score of just 23%). This usually doesn't guarantee great holds, so a total north of $55 million is likely.
     In third place, fellow new wide release 'The Gift' from STX Entertainment surprised with a strong opening of $11.9 million. The psychological thriller debuted to a solid $4.1 million on Friday, was up 9.6% to earn $4.5 million on Saturday, and decreased 28.8% on Sunday to go on and earn $3.2 million. The weekend-to-Friday ratio here is a solid 2.90-to-1, indicating strong holding power going through the weekend. If it can replicate that hold in the coming weeks, a total cume of around $35 million is a lock.
     Fourth place belonged to 'Vacation', which eased 39% from its opening to earn $8.96 million this weekend. Although that is a solid hold, the R-rated road trip comedy franchise revival has earned an underwhelming $37.1 million in 12 days. Still, with strong holds thus far, 'Vacation' should close with over $65 million.
     Marvel's 'Ant-Man' rounded out the Top 5 with $7.9 million, down a very respectable 38.2%. The strong hold is likely due in part because of the very underwhelming performance of 'Fantastic Four' this weekend. With a current total of $147.5 million, a solid final gross of just below $170 million is likely.
     Universal's 3D animated blockbuster 'Minions' fell 39.9% this weekend, grossing an estimated $7.4 million. 'Minions' has earned an impressive $302.8 million, and should make it past $330 million total.

     'Ricki and the Flash' debuted in seventh place with a fairly low $6.6 million take this weekend. That is way below star Meryl Streep's most recent releases, opening below 'Into the Woods' ($31.1m), 'The Giver' ($12.3m), and 'Hope Springs' ($14.7m). Performing in line with expectations, the comedy-drama from TriStar cost just $18 million, so if 'Ricki' does experience strong holds, this will undoubtedly be a hit. It will likely end up in the range of $20-30 million total.
     'Trainwreck' eased 36%, earning $6.1 million. The Judd Apatow led Amy Schumer led comedy has made a promising $90.9 million, and a cume north of $110 million is still a lock.
     Late summer misfire 'Pixels' fell 48.3% from last weekend and made $5.4 million this weekend. The $88m Adam Sandler led sci-fi comedy disappointment has grossed a lackluster $57.6 million, and, with unimpressive holding power, should make a total of around $68 million.
     The $30m Jake Gyllenhaal led boxing drama 'Southpaw' rounded out the Top 10, dropping 38.3% and earning $4.7 million this weekend. It has so far totaled $40.7 million, and is currently on track to end its run with a solid $50 million take.
     'Shaun the Sheep Movie' earned a disappointing $4.04 million this weekend, making a lackluster $1,741 per-theater take. Since opening on Wednesday, the stop-motion animated comedy has earned an unimpressive $5.6 million. Even though films like these are usually back-loaded, 'Shaun' is likely to gross just $15 million total.
     'Inside Out' fell 40% to make $2.7 million this weekend. The $175m animated flick from Pixar has so far made an impressive $335.4 million, and should make it over $340 million total.
     The Top 12 grossed $120 million, which is down a disappointing 31.1% from last year when, as previously said, 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' opened to a stellar $65.6 million and 'Guardians of the Galaxy' had the biggest second-weekend of the summer with $42.1 million (-55.3%). The Top 12 then earned $174.2 million. With only a few appealing releases debuting this month, August 2015 should be one of the slowest months of the year and on of the slowest overall. Two new wide releases will hope to reverse that trend next weekend when The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Straight Outta Compton arrive in theaters.