Weekend Box Office Report: May 1-3 2015

By Kip Mooney • On • In News News 0

 

BOX OFFICE REPORT 

May 1-3, 2015(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 51. Avengers: Age of Ultron (187.6 million)2. The Age of Adaline ($6.2 million)3. Furious 7 ($6.1 million)4. Paul Blart 2 ($5.5 million)5. Home ($3.3 million)

Avengers: Age of Ultron was No. 1, but had to settle for second place in several areas. First, it didn't have the biggest opening day ever. That honor still belongs to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. And it didn't have the biggest weekend ever. The original Avengers made about $20 million more. But you'd have to be a complete fool "” or a studio executive "” to look at that as a disappointment.

A few things to look at: 1. The first one built to a crescendo with all the origin stories laying the groundwork. This is just another big summer sequel. 2. It also can't be discounted how many people were watching the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. Sure, it started pretty late Saturday night, but if you were one of the folks who spent $100 to watch it on pay-per-view, you might not have been willing to fork over $15 to see Age of Ultron, even if it was more satisfying and entertaining. 3. This means Marvel has the three biggest debuts of all time (Iron Man 3 sits in third place), and will surely own more of the Top 10 as we get to a point where every movie is based on a comic book series, best-selling book or something to do with cars.

So did anything else happen this weekend? There weren't any other major releases, but The Age of Adaline moved up to No. 2, though it's so close to Furious 7, I wouldn't be surprised if they traded places again. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 continued its decent run (honestly, it would have done even better if it had been released earlier in the year) and Home stuck around in the Top 5 for a sixth weekend.

Outside the top 5: - This Weekend's Indie Champ: Welcome to Me, a dark comedy with Kristen Wiig, averaged $19,000 on its pair of screens.

- Far from the Madding Crowd, yet another adaptation of the British romance classic starring Carey Mulligan, averaged $17,200 on its 10 screens. 

- Furious 7 still remains the No. 1 movie of 2015, but it could be unseated as early as May 11.

Next week: Ultron's going back for seconds. I think $75 million is about where it will end up. That's a huge drop, but it will be plenty to stay on top. The only other wide release is the Sofia Vergara-Reese Witherspoon buddy cop comedy Hot Pursuit. I would be shocked if it makes more than $30 million.

Facebooktwitterredditmail

About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

Leave a Reply