Weekend Box Office Report: May 16-18 2014

By Kip Mooney • On • In News News 0

 

BOX OFFICE REPORT May 16-18, 2014(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 51. Godzilla ($93.2 million)2. Neighbors ($25.9 million)3. Amazing Spider-Man II ($16.8 million)4. Million Dollar Arm ($10.5 million)5. The Other Woman ($6.3 million)

The big lizard stomped the competition this weekend. Godzilla produced the second-biggest debut of the year, behind Captain America but ahead of Spider-Man. That's nearly $50 million more than 1998's rather dreadful Godzilla made on its first weekend. Judging by Facebook posts and tweets, audiences responded much better to this one. It won't repeat at No. 1 this weekend, but seems likely to wind up as one of the year's top 10 films.

Neighbors held on surprisingly well. It fell 47 percent. That's not as strong a hold as the first Hangover film, but it's already made $91 million in just 10 days. It will pass Ride Along quickly to become the highest-grossing comedy of the year. But it will have some competition from A Million Ways to Die in the West in two weeks.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 dropped another 52 percent. It's already the third highest-grossing movie of the year, but it's going to be consistently overshadowed by other blockbusters the rest of the summer.

Million Dollar Arm did so-so business, opening with a modest $10 million. Budgeted at only $25 million, it's sure to be a write-off for Disney. But it's not a good return for sports movies or an indication of what Jon Hamm can do after Mad Men ends next year. 

Outside the top 5: - This Weekend's Indie Champ: The Immigrant, an early Oscar contender from unsung director James Gray, rode great reviews to a terrific debut. It made $15,133 on each of its three screens.

- Captain America: The Winter Soldier finally joined the $250 Million Club. By next weekend, it will be the year's top-grossing movie.

- Noah joined the $100 Million Club, and has made $343 million worldwide, which makes it director Darren Aronofsky's highest-grossing movie ever.

Next week: X-Men: Days of Future Past is going to be the No. 1 movie. Even with some superhero fatigue, it's going to make at least $80 million and probably a lot more. Then there's Blended, the less said about the better. It's another one of Adam Sandler's vacations that he gets to call "a movie." It's going to make at least $40 million. Ugh.

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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.

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