OPENINGS: DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (20th) brought in $73M in the US, and added $31.1M in 26 (mostly smaller) international markets. While a terrific boost to the franchise (which rebooted at $54.8M with Rise 3 years ago), it’s still a level below the summer’s mega-franchises. However, Dawn has weeks to play out with relatively little competition, and with strong word of mouth it could catch up over time. The challenge will be bigger overseas, where some of the summer’s biggest titles have been sitting on the shelf in many territories, waiting for the World Cup to end.
BEGIN AGAIN (Weinstein) had a quiet expansion to 939 theatres with a $3100 per-theatre average and $2.9M total. (And that estimate relies on the softest Sunday drop of the weekend, so it may not hold up tomorrow.) On its side are its extremely low production budget and relatively low-key marketing campaign.
HOLDOVERS: TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION (Paramount) is losing steam quickly in the US, down another 56% to $16.5M, and unlikely to reach $250M. Overseas, though, it’s an entirely different story, as the spectacle opened in some World Cup territories (including the UK and Mexico) and earned $102M–with most of western Europe, Brazil and Japan still to come. It’s the #1 film of the year worldwide at $753M, and although it may not quite reach the $1.1B of Transformers 3, it should at least get to $900M+. Of course, trading some US success for international, especially in China, results in lower revenue to the studio than that gaudy total number might suggest–but still, there’s plenty of money to go around.
TAMMY (Warners) had an OK hold, down 40% to $12.9M and a $57.4M total. It might get to $80M+ in the US, and considering how relatively low-concept the movie is compared to Melissa McCarthy’s other hits, that’s an underwhelming but hardly terrible result.
22 JUMP STREET (Columbia/Sony) continues to hold well, down just 32% to $6.7M and on its way to over $180M in the US. It also earned $6.3M overseas, where it’s currently at $81.7M. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 (DreamWorks Animation/20th) dropped 35% to $5.9M, headed to $165M in the US. That’s far from the first Dragon‘s $217.6M. Overseas, Dragon 2 brought in $34.4M for a $197.5M total–unlikely to get much higher than its predecessor’s $277.3M international tally, so it may end up in the minus column worldwide. MALEFICENT (Disney) slipped 32% to $4.2M, now at $222M in the US, and at $447M overseas after a $13.4M weekend. It has a $700M worldwide total in sight that will bunch it with X-Men: Days of Future Past ($731.4M worldwide), Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($712.4M worldwide) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($705M worldwide) at the sub-Transformers level.
EARTH TO ECHO (Relativity) held well, down 34% to $5.5M, but the bottom dropped out of DELIVER US FROM EVIL (Screen Gems/Sony), down 51% to $4.7M. Both should end up around $35M in the US.
LIMITED RELEASE: The weekend belonged to Richard Linklater’s BOYHOOD (IFC), which had a sensational $72K average at 5 NY/LA theatres. That’s not quite at the insane level of The Grand Budapest Hotel and its $202K opening weekend average, but it’ll do. LAND HO (Sony Pictures Classics) had a much milder start, with a $9500 average at 4. A pair of semi-wide expansions didn’t go very well, as SNOWPIERCER (Weinstein/Radius) had a $1900 average at 356 (it’s also available on VOD), and THIRD PERSON (Sony Pictures Classics) had a $1200 average at 227.
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