Angelina Jolie Surprises Everyone at the Box Office; Seth MacFarlane Doesn't
Welcome to the Box Office Report, where Angelina Jolie reigns and Seth MacFarlane fizzles.
.Welcome to the Box Office Report, where Angelina Jolie reigns and Seth MacFarlane fizzles.
1. Maleficent (Buena Vista): $70 million in 3,948 theaters.
Maleficent defied some middling expectations and some mixed reviews with a pretty impressive performance at the box office. The Disney flick won the box office by sheer dint of Angelina Jolie's cheekbones/star power/skill. Or as The Wire's Joe Reid put it, Jolie "seemed so right for the role of the wicked queen that whatever else was going wrong with the film, we were guaranteed to walk away at least somewhat satisfied."
2. X-Men: Days of Future Past (Fox): $32.6 million in 4,001 theaters.
After winning the box office handily last week, the X-Men took a tumble at American theaters. The rest of the world was characteristically nostalgic for their days of future past, though, because X-Men's insane performance overseas brought it past the $500 million mark. That's half a billion dollar in two weeks. That's Hugh huge.
3. A Million Days to Die in the West (Universal): $17 million in 3,158 theaters.
Without the aid of Mark Wahlberg and a cartoon bear, Seth MacFarlane was helpless against the semi-discerning American filmgoer. After a $54 million opening with Ted, both reviewer and audience respondent joined hands and finally admitted that that maybe the idea of Family Guy-style narrative chaos seems like kind of a nightmare in a live action movie. We had some problems with it.
4. Godzilla (Warner Brothers): $12.2 million in 3,501 theaters.
Despite not having a Puff Daddy song in it, like its 1998 predecessor, Godzilla has persevered and made back its $160 million budget with $174 million in domestic gross alone. It's made another $200 million oversea.
5. Blended (Warner Brothers): $8.4 million in 3,555 theaters.
It's a heart-warming tale you've already seen too many times: Adam Sandler somehow manages to stay in the top five at the box office. Just two weeks in, the Sandler-Barrymore rom-com skulks along with disappointing numbers. More notably, he film has inspired a potentially historic divide between audience and critic reviews.