22 Jump Street was the big winner this weekend, as the Channing Tatum/Jonah Hill buddy cop movie earned a whopping $60 million over Father's Day weekend, along with good reviews and an "A-" Cinemascore. The sequel played over 50% female and under age 25 (showing just how seriously strong Channing Tatum's female fanbase is- the guy's a major star), and the opening is the second biggest debut ever for an R-rated comedy (behind the original Hangover in 2009). Meanwhile, How to Train Your Dragon 2, the other big release, opened with "just" $50 million, which was genuinely surprising, given the amazing reviews, beloved status of the first movie, and especially the fact that there was no other competition for that coveted "family audience" slot this weekend. The first film opened with $43 million but held very strong, eventually becoming a sleeper hit and earning $217 million total, so maybe the same thing will happen here (it did get a strong "A" rating from crowds). So yeah, it's kind of baffling to me on that one (was the four year wait between films just too long?), but since there are no other animated movies out for the next month, it still has the market free to itself for a while. We'll see what happens.
In holdover news, The Fault in Our Stars fell off a cliff, dropping 67% to land in fifth place this weekend (totally unsurprising due to the teen only targeting crowd), while Maleficent came in third with $19 million, another fairly leggy hold for the fantasy, which takes its total to $163 million and it will easily pass $200 million now. Edge of Tomorrow was fourth, actually showing some decent legs of its own after it's light opening last week, and X-Men passed $200 million total, beating both Godzilla and Amazing Spider-Man 2 to that marker, so that's clearly the most popular of the recent blockbusters that all opened with $90 million weekends, but haven't been able to really sustain momentum (Captain America remains the box office winner of the year overall).
Top 5:
- 22 Jump Street- $60 million
- How to Train Your Dragon 2- $50 million
- Maleficent- $19 million
- Edge of Tomorrow- $16 million
- The Fault in Our Stars- $15.7 million
In limited release, Chef has turned out to be the second major indie hit of the year (after Grand Budapest Hotel), amassing $13 million so far and now expanding to more theaters thanks to increased interest. Check back in next week to see how Think Like a Man 2 and Clint Eastwood's Jersey Boys fare against the current films in release.
