The big story at the box office this past weekend was The Angry Birds Movie taking the number one spot, pushing Captain America: Civil War to second place. The latest in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe may have been dethroned domestically but with a cumulative total of $347 million domestic and another $706 million worldwide Civil War lays claim as becoming the first 2016 release to cross $1 billion. The other new wide releases, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising and The Nice Guys finished No. 3 and No. 4 respectively.
For a movie based on mobile gaming app that debuted back in 2009 it seems that Hollywood was a little late in getting this to the big screen. Then again, this release is from the same studio that invested more than $80 million in Adam Sandler and his team to make the dreadful Pixels (poor Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad – both of whom lend their voices to characters in Angry Birds – deserved better). I don’t suspect it will have a hold with children the same way that Disney’s Zootopia has had. Twelve weeks into its run it is still among the top 10 discussion with more than $330 million U.S. Also worth noting is that The Jungle Book has accumulated $327 million in domestic earnings giving Disney the supreme distinction of having three films in the top 10 with grosses of more than $300M.
Neighbors 2 with its estimated $21.79 million is below expectations for a sequel to a film that opened with $49 million in 2014. Favorable word of mouth among 18-25 year olds should allow for an okay hold this weekend but triple-digit earnings – at least domestically – may be difficult to achieve with the arrivals of X-Men: Apocalypse, The Conjuring 2 and Central Intelligence in the coming weeks.
The best new release, The Nice Guys, finished with $11.2 million. A critical favorite with stars Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling doing their best Abbott and Costello impressions in a ’70s-set pulp detective comedy, this is a movie that more audiences need to see. It is one of the few movies where I want sequels as Holland March (Gosling) and Jackson Healy (Crowe) misadventures need to continue!
Outside of the top ten, the per theater average winner was the documentary Weiner about Anthony Weiner, which brought in an estimated $85k from five theaters. A24’s The Lobster added 20 new screens and finished with $408k in its ninth weekend. Sony Pictures Classics having garnered minor success with the Susan Sarandon comedy The Meddler debuted Maggie’s Plan in five theaters to an estimated $66k.
Upcoming this weekend will see the openings of X-Men: Apocalypse and Alice Through the Looking Glass. Apocalypse has a head start having opened in 75 markets and bringing in $103.3 million, which is the largest Fox opening weekend ever internationally. With Apocalypse arriving in more than 4,000 domestic theaters during the Memorial Day holiday it will be the one to beat and should open north of $70 million over a four-day span. Where that leaves Alice Through the Looking Glass is anyone’s guess. The original opened in March 2010 with $116 million. I don’t foresee a repeat in such a crowded summer season. $50-$65 million is not outside the realm of possibility.
Top 10 results below.
01. The Angry Birds Movie – $39 Million
02. Captain America: Civil War – $33.1 Million ($347.3M)
03. Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising – $21.7 Million
04. The Nice Guys – $11.2 Million
05. The Jungle Book – $11 Million ($327.4M)
06. Money Monster – $7 Million ($27.1M)
07. The Darkness – $2.3 Million ($8.4M)
08. Zootopia – $1.7 Million ($334M)
09. The Huntsman: Winter’s War – $1.19 Million ($46.6M)
10. Mother’s Day – $1.1 Million ($31.2M)
