After the success of “Ted” and some decent trailers it looked like “A Million Ways To Die in the West” might do ok in the box office. I couldn’t have been more wrong, Macfarlane’s second film and first time starring earned just $16.7 million over the weekend. “Maleficent” on the other hand earned a solid $69.4 million making it the highest over opening for Angelina Jolie. The dark take on “Sleeping Beauty” also kicked ass overseas making over $100 million. It will be interesting to see how the upcoming live action Disney re-imaginings of “Cinderella” and “The Jungle Book” perform in the future.
Numbers are actual results not estimates.
- Maleficent: $69.4 for the opening weekend, not a bad start at all.
- X-Men: Days of Future Past: A surprising 64% drop down to $32.5 million. With good reviews you’d think it’d have more staying power.
- A Million Ways to Die in the West: $16.79 million for my doppelganger. Not good Seth, not good.
- Godzilla: Another big drop down 61% to $12 million, this one just may not make $200 million
- Blended: Down 43% to $8.1 million. I’d be surprised to see this recoup its budget.
Next week we get the Tom Cruise Sci-Fi flick “Edge of Tomorrow” which may not do wonderfully if the last Cruise Sci-fi flick is any indication.
A quick note on budgets and dollar figures:
Films making back their budgets is a good sign, but that is just the money to film. It doesn’t include distribution and marketing. Marketing can cost as much as a film. That big Superbowl spot is spendy. So take that into account when judging a films success. Hitting $100 million isn’t the same as it once was.
All dollar amounts in the top 5 come from estimates based on ticket sales unless noted otherwise. Occasionally this article will be published when actual results come out, which is usually late Monday afternoon. For more about this and other ins and outs of movie tracking click here.