Box Office Results: New Movies Overshadowed by Transformers

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.

Any proof that this year’s summer box office has been faltering only has to look at this week’s 4th of July offerings which seemed rather weak compared to past years when franchises like “Transformers” and “Spider-Man” dominated. In fact, only two movies grossed more than $20 million this weekend and one just barely, as four new movies failed to find much of an audience over the returning movies.

Michael Bay’s global blockbuster Transformers: Age of Extinction (Paramount), starring Mark Wahlberg, Jack Reynor and Nicola Peltz, retained first place for a second weekend in a row, but took a massive 64% plunge from its $100 million opening to bring in $36.4 million in its second weekend. It has grossed $174.7 domestically, which is less than the $228.8 million made by the previous installment “Dark of the Moon” in the same period of time.

Bay’s movie did huge business in China for a second weekend in a row, taking in $51 million, a much smaller 43% drop-off from its record-setting opening weekend and more than half the weekend’s overseas take. China’s gross on its own is $212 million, more than half the overseas gross of $400 million which brings its global total to $577.7 million after less than two weeks. IMAX screens brought in $13.1 million worldwide this weekend, $5.7 million from China alone, as its $53 million worldwide IMAX total makes it the fastest IMAX movie to cross the $50 million ahead of 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises.

The top new movie of the weekend was the Melissa McCarthy comedy vehicle Tammy (Warner Bros.), co-written and directed by her husband Ben Falcone, and co-starring Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Allison Janney, Mark Duplass, Sandra Oh and more. It opened on Tuesday night to bring in $6.2 million its opening day including those previews, took in another $5.5 million on Thursday and then $21.1 million over the three-day holiday weekend in 3,465 theaters to take second place. The $32.9 million it has grossed in its first five days isn’t bad for a comedy that’s reported to have cost just $20 million.

It was a tight race for third place between two Sony releases but their estimates give a slight advantage to the Scott (Sinister) Derrickson horror thriller Deliver Us From Evil (Screen Gems/Sony), starring Eric Bana, Olivia Munn and Edgar Ramirez, with a three-day gross of $9.5 million in 3,049 theaters, a measly $3,116 per site, and $15 million including Wednesday and Thursday.

Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill’s hit comedy sequel 22 Jump Street (Sony) is settling for fourth place (for now) with $9.4 million over the weekend and $158.8 million grossed domestically in four weeks. That’s nearly $20 million over the total gross of its predecessor 21 Jump Street two years ago. It also added another $10 million internationally as it opened in Russia to second place behind “Transformers” while bringing its overseas total to $69.7 million, ahead of 21 Jump Street‘s $63.5 million international total. It’s going to continue to open in new markets over the next few weeks as the World Cup comes to an end.

DreamWorks Animation’s animated sequel How to Train Your Dragon 2 was in fifth place with $8.7 million, down a modest 33% but still tailing behind 22 Jump Street with $140 million (based on a production budget of $145 million).

The family sci-fi action-adventure Earth to Echo (Relativity) opened on Wednesday and after bringing in $5.2 million in its first two days, it tailed off a bit over the weekend with $8.2 million over the three-day weekend and $13.5 million in its first five days in 3,230 theaters.

Angelina Jolie’s fairy tale epic Maleficent (Walt Disney Studios) crossed the $600 million mark worldwide as well as replaced Frozen as the #1 movie in Japan after that film’s unprecedented 16-week run in first place. Maleficent grossed $7.1 million in its Japanese debut weekend. Domestically, it took seventh place with $6.1 million and with $213.8 million, it’s currently the fourth-highest grossing movie of the year for North America.

Eighth place went to Clint Eastwood’s Frankie Valli musical biopic Jersey Boys (Warner Bros.) with $5.2 million (down just 33%) and a three-weekend total of $36.7 million.

The ensemble comedy sequel Think Like a Man Too (Screen Gems/Sony) continues to drop, down from fourth to ninth place with $4.9 million and $57.2 million total, a far cry from the original movie’s three week take of $73.3 million.

Rounding out the Top 10 was the Tom Cruise sci-fi action flick Edge of Tomorrow (Warner Bros.), which had a mere drop of 33% to add $3.6 million to its domestic take of $90.9 million.

Director Dinesh D’Souza’s documentary America: Imagine a World Without Her (Lionsgate) didn’t fare as well as his previous film 2016: Obama’s America, this one grossing just over $4 million since opening in select cities last weekend with $2.7 million grossed over the 3-day 4th of July weekend in 1,105 theaters. That put it just outside the Top 10 at #11.

The Top 10 was down nearly 47% from the same weekend last year, grossing an estimated $113 million compared to last year’s $220 million for the Top 10 when the animated sequel Despicable Me 2 and the Johnny Depp bomb The Lone Ranger were able to gross $112 million between them.

John Carney’s Begin Again (The Weinstein Company), starring Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo, expanded into 175 theaters where it brought in $1.3 million or $7,500 per site. Likewise, Bong Joon-Ho’s critically-acclaimed Snowpiercer (RADiUS-TWC), starring Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton, expanded into 250 theaters where it grossed a cool million or $4,000 per theater.

As far as new limited releases, Steve James’ Roger Ebert documentary, Life Itself (Magnolia) opened in 25 theaters in select cities where it took in $140 thousand, roughly $5,600 per theater.

Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.