Scarlett Johansson's action vehicle Lucy earned a pretty stunning $44 million at the box office this weekend, stomping over the other new release, Hercules to land at No. 1 and solidify ScarJo as a major box office draw all by herself. The movie shattered all expectations with that amount, but we'll have to see how much it can hang on against Guardians of the Galaxy next weekend, especially with a terrible "C+" Cinemascore. It got mixed reviews and probably confused people with its nutty science fiction angle, but maybe that will help it attract a cult audience. Still, it's a huge success for Johansson after building up her appeal for all these years as a member of The Avengers, and this is the biggest opening for any non-Robert Downey Jr. member of that team outside the Marvel universe.
In second place was Dwayne Johnson's Hercules, which also came in above expectations with $29 million, although with a $100 million budget, it's not nearly as big a success story as Lucy, which already outgrossed its $40 million production costs. It got a better audience rating though (B+), so maybe it will have a better drop next weekend. The rest of the top five were holdovers, with Dawn of the Apes coming in third with $16 million (a nasty 55% drop from last week), and Purge: Anarchy fourth, with $9 million (an even worse 67% drop). in fifth was Planes: Fire & rescue, just behind The Purge.
Top 5:
- Lucy- $44 million
- Hercules- $29 million
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes- $16 million
- The Purge: Anarchy- $9.9 million
- Planes: Fire & Rescue- $9.3 million
In specialty release news, A Most Wanted Man, the last leading role for Philip Seymour Hoffman, was the big success, coming in at No. 10 with $2.7 million from just 360 screens. Reviews were great for that movie, which combined with interest in seeing the late Hoffman to help it score big in limited release. Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight also did well, pulling in $426k from just 17 screens, and the comedy concert film The Fluffy Movie made $1.3 million from 430 theaters. Next week it's Marvel's big Guardians of the Galaxy movie, along with the James Brown biopic Get On Up as counter-programming, taking over the August slot that did so well for The Help and The Butler these last couple of years.
