X-Men: Days of Future Past Falls Short of The Last Stand
The mutants of past and present knocked off the King of Monsters this Memorial Day weekend. Opening with an estimated $90.7 million, X-Men: Days of Future Past rose to the top spot this weekend. Day of Future Past is the third film in four weeks to open north of $90 million.
Dropping to second place, Godzilla grossed another $31.4 million after a 66% tumble. In 10 days of release, the King of Monsters is on the doorstep of $150 million. Adam Sandler’s Blended debuted in third with $14.2 million. Blended is Sandler’s weakest opener since 2012’s That’s My Boy.
Round out the charts, Neighbors and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 both dipped one spot. Neighbors held onto fourth place with another $13.9 million. The film has grossed nearly $114 million in three weeks. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ended its fourth weekend in fifth with $7.8 million.
Note: These #’s are based on Sunday’s projections and can change with Monday’s actual #’s.
#1 – X-Men: Days of Future Past (NR)
$90.7 million / $90.7 million total
There’s both positives and negatives to be said about X-Men: Days of Future Past opening. Days of Future Past is the largest opener for the franchise since 2006’s The Last Stand. A major improvement over X-Men: First Class and The Wolverine, Days of Future Past boasted the second best franchise opening. It is, however, the lowest superhero opener of 2014 and opened lower than projected. The film is just a few million shy of the openings of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Positive word-of-mouth should result in strong legs.
#2 – Godzilla (1)
$31.4 million / $148.8 million total
Like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Neighbors, Godzilla became the third film in May to hold the top spot for just one week. With Days of Future Past coming out, a second place finish was more than expected. But with that came a rough 66% drop from last weekend. That’s harder than the last two top openers. Godzilla is already the highest-grossing film for the franchise. The film will pass $200 million by the end of its run, but not enough for $250 million.
#3 – Blended (NR)
$14.2 million / $14.2 million total
Blended proved this weekend that not all Adam Sandler movies are box office hits. The last time Sandler and Drew Barrymore team up was for 50 First Dates in 2004. That film pulled in nearly $40 million, while Blended grossed one-third of that. This along with 2012’s That’s My Boy is one of Sandler’s worst comedic openings of the past decade. Blended will have a quick in-and-out run at the theater over the coming weeks.
#4 – Neighbors (2)
$13.9 million / $113.6 million total
Even with Blended arriving on the scene, Seth Rogen’s Neighbors continues to plug along in its third weekend. Neighbors passed the $100 million mark on Friday, bringing its total to nearly $114 million come Sunday. Neighbors will become Rogen’s second highest-grossing live-action film in the next week, topping Superbad. $150 million is still in play as is outperforming his top live-action film Knocked Up.
#5 –The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (3)
$7.8 million / $184.9 million total
Four weeks in theaters and Spider-Man has still yet to pass $200 million domestically. This is a record low for the 12-year-old franchise. Even 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man crossed that mark within two weeks. With more summer releases on the horizon, Spidey’s chances of anything more than $200 million are slim to none.
Opening Next Week: Maleficent, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Filth (limited), Night Moves (limited)
Source: Box Office Mojo
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Matt Marshall is a YouTube movie reviewer who hosts MNMreviews. He has a B.A. in Communications/Journalism from St. John Fisher College and resides in Rochester, NY.