Two major comedy sequels opened over the weekend, with expectations as to each film's individual success reversed between the two. Despite two such high profile openers, box office was nevertheless down on the same weekend last year, when Man of Steel and This Is the End proved a more compelling pair for audiences.
1) 22 Jump Street ($57,071,445)
This is a terrific improvement on 21 Jump Street, with the move to a summer release resulting in a 57% increase in opening weekend gross. Comedies, particularly well-received ones like this, tend to hold fairly well, though signs are that this may take a tumble: Thursday evening earnings placed the film in line for an opening around $80 million, while Friday earnings had it at around $67 million. It will certainly outgross its predecessor, however.
2) How to Train Your Dragon 2 ($49,451,322)
Chalk this disappointment down to the strong recent performance of Maleficent and to action-focused marketing, never a good ploy for animation. Only a mild improvement over the first Dragon, this small gain far from represents the goodwill toward DreamWorks' tentpole franchise, nor the positive responses to this sequel. If this holds up like its predecessor, it ought to end up the summer's highest grosser, as expected, though not by the margin many predicted. It won't, however, despite the lack of competition over the coming weeks, due to its summer release (the first film opened in March 2010). Still, with this moderate take and an A Cinemascore, this will likely end up topping 22 Jump Street when both films close.
3) Maleficent ($18,504,997)
4) Edge of Tomorrow ($16,527,215)
5) The Fault in Our Stars ($14,791,933)
6) X-Men: Days of Future Past ($9,816,449)
7) Godzilla ($3,311,185)
8) A Million Ways to Die in the West ($3,246,400)
9) Neighbours ($2,369,250)
10) Chef ($2,187,526)
27) The Signal ($155,642)
A stumbling Focus Features has been unable to target sci-fi audiences in an effective manner with this moderate release of the buzzed-about indie.
33) The Rover ($69,302)
A middling reaction at Cannes leads to this middling gross for the Robert Pattinson / Guy Pearce dystopian thriller.
54) Ivory Tower ($17,857)
64) Hellion ($7,601)
Aaron Paul's star power seems to have been reliably tested by now, and the outcome is not good for the TV star.
66) Policeman ($7,379)
Good reviews translate into a weak start for this Israeli feature, which was a long time reaching American screens.
77) A Coffee in Berlin ($3,918)
95) The Amazing Catfish ($733)
An outrageous opening gross for this female-led festival hit. Strand Releasing has dropped the ball on this one.
Warner Bros. hopes to save face on a disappointing summer for the studio with Jersey Boys next weekend - early word is that things aren't looking good on that front, though. Think Like a Man Too will vie for the top spot with two other comedy sequels: those two who fought the same battle alone this weekend. And The Rover expands nationwide, but don't expect much after this humdrum start.
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