Two blockbuster franchises “got the band back together,” but only one opened with impressive holiday box office numbers.
In at number 1 is Fast & Furious 6 (read our review) with $98 million. Not only is Fast & Furious 6‘s opening the highest in the franchise, it’s also the highest opening weekend for any Universal Pictures film, surpassing Fast Five‘s $86 million.
While most franchises are tapering off after entries number 4 or 5 (maybe even sooner), Fast and Furious keeps setting new benchmarks. Not only that, but this particular entry – more specifically the film’s mid-credits scene – left us excited to see where the franchise will go next.
The Hangover Part III (read our review) comes in at a surprisingly distant number 2 with $42 million. Speaking of tapering off, Part III‘s opening weekend is the lowest for The Hangover franchise, and is a far cry from Part II‘s $85 million.While Bradley Cooper and Co. hoped to send off The Wolfpack in style, it appears audiences were less interested in a third go-around with these characters.
The Hangover Part III actually opened this past Thursday, and is now up to $54 million in domestic grosses. The film will certainly make back its $103 million budget, but it’s probably a good thing this was the end for the series.
Star Trek Into Darkness comes in at number 3 with $38 million, which brings its totals up to $146 million domestic and $248 million worldwide. Although Into Darkness failed to eclipse its predecessor’s opening weekend tally, it’s still going strong and dropped only 45% from last weekend. That being said, the sequel still has a long way to go if it wants to catch the 2009 Star Trek‘s $257 million domestic tally.
Blue Sky Studios’ Epic (read our review) comes in at number 4 with a very strong $34 million. Although Epic is the lowest opening gross for a Blue Sky (Ice Age, Rio) feature, it performed admirably considering the competition and limited marketing. With a reported budget of $100 million, however, we doubt the film’s opening weekend tally will help Epic become a franchise.
Rounding out the top 5 is Iron Man 3 with $19 million. Marvel’s latest adventure is up to $367 million in domestic grosses and a whopping $1.14 billion worldwide. It’s also now the 5th highest grossing movie of all time behind Harry Potter 7 Part 2 ($1.3 billion), The Avengers ($1.5 billion), Titanic ($2.1 billion), and Avatar ($2.7 billion).
The Great Gatsby comes in at number 6 with $13 million. Baz Luhrmann’s glitzy adaptation has cleared its $105 million budget, and is up to $114 million in domestic grosses.
Several leagues below Gatsby, Mud comes in at number 7 with $1.9 million. The film is now up to $14 million.
42 is the number 8 film this weekend with $1.24 million. The Jackie Robinson biopic has earned $91 million over seven weeks.
Not far behind 42 is The Croods with $1.21 million, which brings its total up to $179 million.
Oblivion limps in at number 10 with $815,000. $87 million over 6 weeks isn’t bad for star Tom Cruise, but Universal was likely hoping for more considering the film cost $120 million to make. Luckily, foreign markets love Cruise even more than moviegoers here in the states do, helping the film to $266 million gross overall.
Outside the top 10: Before Midnight opened with $274,000 on only 5 screens ($54,800/screen). Richard Linklater’s latest entry in his Before series has been getting mostly positive reviews, and should hit a theater near you in the next few weeks.
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[NOTE: These are only weekend box office estimates – based on Friday and Saturday ticket sales coupled with adjusted expectations for Sunday. With this being Memorial Day weekend, official weekend box office results as well as 4-day totals will not be released until Tuesday, May 28th – at which time we’ll update this post with any changes.]
