So over the weekend I spread my review of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on a few social media outlets and I saw some comments saying that “movie critics suck” and that “sometimes we just want to be entertained” as a defense to the new Spider-Man movie. Hey, I’m all for entertainment, but you are deluding yourself if you don’t think this Spidey sequel isn’t flawed. With the advent of Twitter and the ability to compartmentalize your thoughts on a movie in 144 characters or less, instead of long-form writing where you can take the time to discuss a movie in full, film criticism is a rarefied art. Just because the opinion differs from your own doesn’t make it any less valuable. If anything, it adds to the discussion.
Besides, it’s not that I didn’t hate The Amazing Spider-Man 2; I found it average with a few highlights but many more low points. As I expressed on Facebook, it’s more akin to being Joel Schumacher Batman Forever cheesy, as opposed to Joel Schumacher Batman & Robin cheesy.
Nevertheless, the film opened to gonzo numbers easily taking the top spot with $92 million. Overseas, where it’s had a two-week head start opening north of $275 million, this weekend puts the film over $365 million worldwide. The opening easily surpassed the performance of The Amazing Spider-Man, which made $62 million when it opened back on July 3, 2012. The three-day opening places it third on the list of Spider-Man openings, following Spider-Man 3 ($151 million) and Spider-Man ($114 million). The release will definitely kill overseas in the long haul, but I have a feeling that it will have a hard time eclipsing its predecessor’s $262 million domestic total. It’ll finish in the $700 million range overall, so in the end Sony Pictures still wins.
A distant second was last week’s number one, The Other Woman. Opening at a modest $24.7 million a week ago, the girl power comedy took in a mere $14.2 million, which isn’t bad all things considering. Besides, outside of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 running away with the top spot, the rest of the field was just looking to chug along and make any kind of money.
This was good news for Heaven Is For Real, which continues to be one of the better counterprogramming releases of 2014, along with God’s Not Dead. Sure, the religious aspect has something to do with both films finding success, but after three weeks Heaven has $65 million and the drops it has incurred each week are low compared to bigger titles which seem to fall by the wayside as the weeks go by. This definitely includes Johnny Depp’s Transcendence. Dropping way out of the top 10 meant that it allowed Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel to find its way back onto the list. Now the hit comedy is less than $1 million away to become Anderson’s biggest domestic grosser. Already it is a international sensation having collected $89 million in gross receipts to put its worldwide total at $140 million and climbing.
In limited release, John Turturro’s Fading Gigolo adds 73 screens to give it $508k for the weekend, plus Fox Searchlight debuted Belle at four locations to $105k. Both Locke and Blue Ruin went from four and seven to 25 and 60 screens respectively, and took home $140k and $73.3k each.
01. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – $92 million ($369 mil worldwide)
02. The Other Woman – $14.2 million ($47.3 mil cume)
03. Heaven is for Real – $8.7 million ($65.6 mil cume)
04. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – $7.7 million ($680 mil worldwide)
05. Rio 2 – $7.6 million ($393 mil worldwide)
06. Brick Mansions – $3.5 million ($15.4 mil cume)
07. Divergent – $2.1 million ($250 mil worldwide)
08. The Quiet Ones – $2 million ($6.7 mil cume)
09. God’s Not Dead – $1.769 million ($55.5 mil cume)
10. The Grand Budapest Hotel – $1.735 million ($140.5 mil worldwide)
