The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.
Michael Bay’s return to the blockbuster franchise based on Hasbro’s popular toys with Transformers: Age of Extinction (Paramount), starring Mark Wahlberg, Jack Reynor, Nicola Peltz, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Sophia Myles, Li Bingbing and T.J. Miller, exploded into theaters across the globe starting on Wednesday (with North America getting it on Thursday night). By Sunday, the fourth installment of the franchise had grossed over $300 million worldwide.
Domestically, the poorly-reviewed franchise reboot opened with $8.8 million in Thursday previews which added to the Friday take for an opening day of $41.6 million, the biggest opening day of the year. It dropped significantly on Saturday, down 23% to $32.1 million, but it’s still being estimated to make $100 million its opening weekend, making it the top opener for 2014 over the $95 million opening by Captain America: The Winter Soldier back in early April. 353 IMAX screens contributed $10.7 million to the movie’s domestic take, which is the second best for a June opening after last year’s Man of Steel with nine of the top 10 runs for the movie being IMAX.
Internationally, Transformers: Age of Extinction brought in just over $200 million, and saying that its opening weekend in China was impressive would be an understatement. China accounted for $90 million of that amount, nearly as much as North America in significantly fewer theaters, while Russia and Korea both brought in over $21 million each.
China also set a new IMAX record for the country with “Age of Extinction” bringing in $10 million on 150 IMAX screens, more than doubling the previous largest IMAX opening for the country. (China’s IMAX theaters accounted for nearly 25% of the global IMAX release for the weekend, which attained the second-highest global IMAX openings with $27.3 million, just behind last year’s Iron Man 3.)
Next week, the movie will open in the United Kingdom with other European and South American countries following later in July as the World Cup winds down.
The fact that Bay’s movie won’t be opening in Japan until early August meant that Disney’s Frozen was able to retain the #1 spot there for the 16th consecutive weekend, which is slightly more impressive than its similar run in the Top 10 domestically. So far, Frozen has grossed $231.8 million in Japan alone.
Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill’s hit comedy sequel 22 Jump Street (Sony) keeps chugging along with a rare hold in second place with $15.4 million, down 44% from last weekend, as it brought its total domestic take to $139.8 million. It added another $9.6 million internationally to bring its overseas total to $54.2 million and its overall global take to $194 million.
For the third week in a row, it held off DreamWorks Animation’s animated sequel How to Train Your Dragon 2 as it remained in third place with $13.1 million, down 47% from last weekend, and closed its third week with $121.8 million domestic. That is $12 million less than the predecessor’s gross after three weekends despite opening in late March and it’s certainly showing that there are diminishing returns for animated films as it’s the year’s second disappointment for DreamWorks Animation. Worldwide, the sequel has brought in $227.9 million.
After opening in first place last weekend, the ensemble comedy sequel Think Like a Man Too, starring super-hot Kevin Hart, took a nosedive in its second weekend, dropping all the way to fourth place with $10.4 million, a sizable 64% drop-off. It has grossed $48.2 million in ten days which is less than the $60.5 million amassed by the film’s predecessor in the same time period.
Angelina Jolie’s fairy tale epic Maleficent (Walt Disney Studios) was the third movie in the Top 10 to maintain its position, in this case fifth place with $8.2 million as it crossed the $200 million mark – the fourth movie of the year to do so. Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 also finally crossed the $200 million mark over the weekend with Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla likely to join that benchmark sometime over the next week. Overseas, the reimagining of the “Sleeping Beauty” tale has grossed $383.7 million–it opened in China this weekend with $20.3 million, nearly half the overseas weekend gross of $44.7 million– bringing its worldwide total to $585.5 million.
Clint Eastwood’s Frankie Valli musical drama Jersey Boys (Warner Bros.) dropped to sixth place with $7.6 million, down 43% from opening weekend with a running total of $27.3 million so far.
Falling to seventh place, the Tom Cruise-Emily Blunt sci-fi action flick Edge of Tomorrow (Warner Bros.) was down 47% with $5.2 million to bring its total to $84 million, as it struggles its way to $100 million domestically. It has performed significantly better overseas with $234.5 million for a worldwide total of $318.7 million.
Based on the bestselling book, the teen cancer drama The Fault in Our Stars (20th Century Fox), starting Shailene Woodley, took eighth place with $4.8 million and has grossed a total of $109 million domestically so far.
Ninth place went to Bryan Singer’s popular take on Marvel’s mutants, X-Men: Days of Future Past (20th Century Fox), with $3.3 million and $223.4 million total domestically. Internationally, the film has brought in $489.3 million and has now earned $712.7 million worldwide, making it the biggest movie of 2014 so far.
Once again, Jon Favreau’s Chef (Open Road) remained in the Top 10 with $1.7 million, down a negligible 3% from last weekend despite losing theaters as it’s grossed $19.4 million without ever expanding into too many theaters nationwide.
The Top 10 grossed approximately $169.7 million, which is actually down from last year when Monsters University remained at #1 with $45.6 million, followed by the Sandra Bullock-Melissa McCarthy comedy The Heat with $39 million and the Roland Emmerich invasion movie White House Down bombing with just $24.8 million.
Opening in five theaters in New York and L.A., Begin Again (The Weinstein Company), the new musical film from Once director John Carney starring Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo, grossed $148 thousand in its first weekend, roughly $30 thousand per venue. It’s expected to expand into more theaters over the 4th of July weekend.
The Host director Bong Joon-Ho’s English language debut Snowpiercer (RADiUS-TWC), starring Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton, finally opened in the United States in eight theaters where it took in $162 thousand.
Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.
