Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse, which received much worse critical notices (only 48% positive, the worst of any X-Men film so far) than its well-reviewed predecessor (91% positive for Days of Future Past), was expected to bring in as much as $100 million for the four-day weekend, but with a 3-day total of $65 million, Apocalypse will be fortunate to earn $75 million by the end of Memorial Day. A 23.3% drop from Friday’s total to Saturday’s is a pretty strong indication of poor word-of-mouth, though Fox announced that opening weekend audiences gave the $178 million production an “A-“ CinemaScore, so there is reason to hope that X-Men: Apocalypse can avoid the fate of the front-loaded Batman v. Superman.
Overseas X-Men: Apocalypse has been playing for some time, and has now opened in 79 markets and earned $55.3 million this week to bring its earnings to $185.8 million outside of North America for a worldwide total of $265.8 million. With that total Fox is about half way to the break even point on this $178 million film, which could be the first big superhero saga of 2016 to lose money, though it is too early tell whether or not that will be the case.
If the box office news was a little bad for X-Men: Apocalypse, it was brutal for Disney’s Alice Through the Looking Glass, which debuted 70% behind Tim Burton’s 2010 Alice in Wonderland. Burton’s film had better reviews, and more importantly, better timing—the modern 3-D process was new and exciting in 2010 and few films benefited more from it than Burton’s visual extravaganza. Only 59% of the opening weekend audience chose to see Through the Looking Glass in 3-D in spite of the fact that 82% of the theaters showing the film were offering it in 3-D. As noted many times in this column, the bloom is off the 3-D rose here in the U.S. where it is now only the exceptional film that uses the extra dimension expertly (and flamboyantly) that can expect a huge box office bonus from 3-D.
The news that broke last week that Johnny Depp, who stars in Alice: Through the Looking Glass, has been accused of domestic abuse by his wife Amber Heard, certainly did not help the prospects for Through the Looking Glass, which will be lucky to earn in its full run, what Burton’s Alice film made during its first weekend. The good news, if there is any concerning this $170 million production, comes from the “A-“ CinemaScore that opening weekend audiences gave the movie, which has only a 29% positive rating from the critics on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Through the Looking Glass managed to top the international market this weekend with $65 million, but that was accomplished by opening in roughly 72% of overseas territories, so there doesn’t appear to be huge room for growth there. Don’t feel bad for Disney however, the studio just passed $4 billion worldwide for 2016 faster than any studio in history, so one bomb is certainly not going to sink the Mouse House, which currently has the top 3 films of 2016 in global totals (Captain America: Civil War, Zootopia, and The Jungle Book).
Speaking of Captain America: Civil War, it should add about $19.4 million over the 4-day holiday to push its domestic total to $377 million, well ahead of Deadpool’s $362.8 million. Civil War is 2016’s first billion dollar earner (currently $1.11 billion), and Disney will try and make sure that Civil War will end up with more than $400 million, which is sort of the new benchmark for Marvel Studio mega-hit, well down from the pinnacle attained by Joss Whedon’s 2012 The Avengers ($623 million), and more in line with Whedon’s follow-up Avengers: Age of Ultron ($459 million).
Coming in a bit ahead of Captain America: Civil War was the phone game-based Angry Birds movie, which dropped 51% as it earned $18.7 million to bring its domestic total to $66.4 million after two weeks. The R-rated comedy Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising slipped 58.2% (the steepest drop in the top 10 and a bad showing for a comedy with solid reviews) in its second weekend) as it brought in $9.1 million to bring its total to $38.3 million.
Disney had the #6 film in Jon Favreau’s live-action Jungle Book, which dipped just 36.3% in its seventh weekend as it earned $7 million to bring its domestic total to $338.5 million. Overseas The Jungle Book brought in enough to surpass Batman v. Superman and give Disney the top three films of the year so far.
Shane Black’s retro buddy/mystery/comedy The Nice Guys posted a good hold after a disappointing debut, dropping 43.1% as it earned $6.4 million and brought its domestic total to $21.7 million. Jodie Foster’s adult-skewing drama Money Monster slid 39.4% in its third weekend as it brought its domestic total to $33.9 million.
Amazon Studios’ Jane Austen adaptation Love & Friendship went from 57 theaters to 493 and earned $2.5 million, which was good enough for ninth place during a very soft holiday weekend.
The tail end of the Top 10 was especially feeble this session with Disney’s Zootopia taking the #10 spot with just $831,000 in its thirteenth weekend in theaters. This original animated feature has earned $335.9 million in the domestic market and currently stands as the #4 film of 2016 so far.
Be sure to check back here next week to check on the debuts of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, the behind-the-scenes Andy Samberg comedy Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, and the romantic drama Me Before You.
