Weekend Wrap-Up: The Sun didn't Shine on Tomorrow
May 27, 2015
The Memorial Day long weekend was not as strong as anticipated, as no film in the top five really topped expectations. Tomorrowland did earn first place, but it barely earned more in four days as it was expected to earn in three. Pitch Perfect 2 crossed $100 million over the weekend and The Avengers: Age of Ultron crossed $400 million, so those milestones helped cushion the blow. Even so, the overall box office fell 18% when compared to last week, falling to $152 million over the three day weekend. It was also down 19% from last year over the three day period. Over four days, the box office pulled in $191 million, which was 17% lower than the same weekend last year. This is a disappointing loss. 2015 is still ahead of 2014, albeit by a margin of just 2.1% at $4.02 billion to $3.95 billion.
Tomorrowland cost $170 million to make, but despite opening on Memorial Day long weekend, one of the busiest weekends of the year, it only managed $33.03 million / $42.68 million over the weekend. It would need incredible legs to merely match its production budget and its reviews are barely above 50% positive, so that seems unlikely. Unless it is a surprisingly strong international hit, the studio will lose money.
It was a milestone weekend for Pitch Perfect 2, as it crossed $100 million over the weekend. During its sophomore stint, the film pulled in $30.81 million / $38.25 million over the weekend for an eleven-day running tally of $125.74 million. This is already more than the first film earned worldwide. If the film hasn't broken even yet, it will get there very shortly.
Mad Max: Fury Road was next with $24.64 million / $31.29 million, which is close enough to predictions to call it a victory. After eleven days of release, the film has made $94.72 million and should top $100 million by Thursday or Friday at the latest. This is already more than all of the previous films in the franchise made domestically. Then again, it cost more than 10 times more than the first three films in the franchise cost to make. It will break even, but it will need a strong international run to get there before the home market.
Poltergeist earned fourth place over the three day weekend, but fifth place over four with $22.62 million / $26.34 million. Its reviews were all over the place last week going from high 20% range to nearly 50% positive and back down to 33%, which is what the current Tomatometer Score is. This score, plus its genre, will likely result in short legs. Fortunately, the film will match its production budget this coming weekend, so if it can do as well internationally as it is performing domestically, it will break even sooner rather than later.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron slipped to fifth place over the three-day weekend with $21.69 million giving it $404 million at the box office. Add in Monday, and the film made $28.20 million over the weekend for a total of $411.37 million after four weeks of release. It became the 19th film to reach $400 million and it is now the 14th highest grossing all time domestic hit.
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Poltergeist, Mad Max: Fury Road, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tomorrowland, Pitch Perfect 2, Mad Max