To the surprise of no one, Avengers: Age of Ultron took first place once again, earning $77 million to take the record for the highest grossing second weekend of all time, which is of course held by the original Avengers, which took $103 million in week two, back in 2012. That's actually a pretty steep drop when you look at that number, though, isn't it? It's true, and even though the movie opened strong, there's real evidence in the numbers that there is less interest in this film than the last one, and by a significant amount. Its legs are not holding up to a similar standard. But worldwide the damage is massive of course, as the movie has already made over $875 million, and it still has to open in China and Japan. That means it's crossing the billion mark for sure, the question now is how well it can compete against Furious 7 (something I never thought would be asked of any movie).
In second place, Hot Pursuit was the only new wide release this week, and it targeted the female demographic and opened with a middling $13 million- reviews didn't help, as the movie got destroyed by critics and is sitting at an embarrassing 6% on Rotten Tomatoes. It also got a C+ Cinemascore, so it can probably be expected to disappear just as fast. The Age of Adaline, Furious 7 and Paul Blart rounded out the top five.
Top 5:
- Avengers: Age of Ultron- $77.2 million
- Hot Pursuit- $13.3 million
- The Age of Adaline- $5.6 million
- Furious 7- $5.3 million
- Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2- $5.2 million
Meanwhile, Ex Machina continues to do well as it sits at number six, just outside the top five and will probably finish with at least $20 million (pretty good for a specialty release at this time of year), and Far From the Madding Crowd is also doing well, as it expanded for about $630k this weekend. Next up it's some actual competition for Avengers, as Mad Max: Fury Road and Pitch Perfect 2 try to see if either of them can take town the superheroes. My money is on Pitch Perfect 2, believe it or not. The tiny movie became huge on DVD a couple years ago, and the new one is primed to capitalize on it with a female audience that actually wants to see it- I think there's a strong chance it'll open in first place next week.
