You could say the narrative was the battle of the bros vs. the outsized lady and if you thought the dudes would take it, you were wrong. Three new films vied for box-office dominance this weekend and 20th Century Fox’s “Spy” starring the still eminently bankable Melissa McCarthy won the weekend singlehandedly from all the newcomers. The flipside, Warner Bros.’ “Entourage” movie mostly flopped barely even topping the $10 million mark despite being on more than 3,100 screens. While McCarthy’s spy spoof opening dipped a little from the $34 million of 2013’s "Identity Thief" — her number one grossing starring solo starring vehicle thus far— "Spy" is her third +$30 million grosser which includes the $39 million for "The Heat" co-starring Sandra Bullock. And the figure is much higher than her last film “Tammy” which opened to a much lower $21 million opening in 2014.
READ MORE: Why Melissa McCarthy Deserves Awards Consideration For ‘Spy’
On a greater plus, McCarthy seems to be finally taking off internationally as a unlikely star too. While the total foreign gross of “Identity Thief” was $39 million (“Tammy” was $15 million), internationally, “Spy”—which has been out in Asia already for two weeks— is now at $56.5 million making this weekend’s global tally $86.5 million. That’s gold for an R-Rated comedy and a star that’s never cracked $35 million in an opening domestic weekend (now you know why CAA fought so hard from her to keep her after the comedy client exodus of last month). Given this is week one, “Spy” should be able to crack $200 million worldwide and McCarthy’s fame continues to ascend.
In its second week WB’s “San Andreas” fell 51.6%—that’s fairly low for a big blockbuster that everyone sees on opening weekend, so that suggests legs. And the movie is already closing in on $100 million at home. Internationally, "San Andreas" has taken off thanks to China and strong performances in 67 other markets. The movie shook up another $98.2 million overseas this weekend which makes for a worldwide total of a massive $280 million. Fantastic numbers for two weeks of release. In the third position for its debut weekend, Focus Features’ “Insidious 3” scared up $23 million and that’s down a whopping 42.7% from “Insidious 2” which opened up to a terrific $40.2 million in 2013 on essentially the same number of screens. Still, these films are budgeted in the $8-$15 million range (probably on the high end for part 3), so perhaps in the end it could show a profit, but serious fatigue is showing for this series even in its debut weekend.
The aforementioned “Entourage” sputtered in at #4 in its opening week, which will probably have agents and studio heads screaming at each other much like they did in the movie. It’s a really unremarkable showing for the movie; the upside for “Entourage” is the movie has already grossed $17.8 million so far since it opened early on Wednesday (a canny movie by WB) and modestly budgeted, somewhere around the $15-$25 million range, the movie could still muster a few more millions. The downside is: international box-office usually gooses low domestic box-office numbers, but since “Entourage” was largely an American phenomenon on HBO, it’s doubtful an intercontinental audience is going to lend much in the way of profits. The other silver lining is the largely male crowd (65%) that saw it gave it an A- Cinemascore, so they could tell their bros and it could live on for an extra week or two. But I wouldn’t be dusting off ideas for “Entourage 2” if I were Doug Ellin any time soon. For comparison? The HBO movie version of “Sex and the City” opened to a huge $58 million in 2008, though that seems like another box-office era ago when audiences actually cared about movies on the big screen.
Elsewhere in the box-office top 10, two films celebrated some major milestones. Universal’s “Pitch Perfect 2” crossed the $250 million mark worldwide (the entire global gross of the original was $115 million) and “Mad Max: Fury Road” surpassed the $300 million mark around the world too.
READ MORE: Watch: Tom Hardy Is A Road Warrior In New International Trailer For ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
In week three, Disney‘s "Tomorrowland" looks to have stalled around the $170 million mark. That’s the movie’s entire budgets not including promotion and advertising. While it should cross the $100 million mark internationally next weekend, the hope that foreign audiences could soften the blow of the movie’s week North American showing aren’t going to happen. Meanwhile, audiences are about to say goodbye to Cameron Crowe’s “Aloha.” The already beleaguered film fell a drastic 66% in week two and the troubled rom-com has almost fallen out of the top 10 already. The narrative is slightly better for Fox’s "Poltergeist" remake given its relatively cheap cost. In its third week the horror movies nears the $45 million mark, but overall, this isn’t a remarkable number for a film that should have jumpstarted a new franchise.
In limited release, Roadside Attractions’ "Love And Mercy" had a good showing, almost cracking the top 10 (came in at #11) with $2.2 million from 483 screens. Sony Pictures Classics’ "Testament Of Youth" showed decent numbers too; $53,000 from four screens for a good, though not amazing $13,250 per screen average. Magnolia‘s "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" scored $19,00 from two screens for a $9,500 PSA. Evidently audiences didn’t want to hear about tragedy and horror in arthouses. Amy Berg‘s controversial "An Open Secret," a movie about teen molestation and sex rings in Hollywood. In nine theaters, Rocky Mountain Pictures declined to release numbers but said it was their lowest grossing release in 26 years. It’s a huge shame considering how good of a film it is.
1. Spy—$30,000,000 ($30,000,000)
2. San Andreas — $26,440,000 ($92,163,000)
3. Insidious Chapter 3 — $23,000,000 ($23,000,000)
4. Entourage — $10,420,000 ($17,805,000)
5. Mad Max: Fury Road — $7,970,000 ($130,804,000)
6. Pitch Perfect 2 —$7,700,000 ($160,982,000)
7. Tomorrowland — $7,022,000 ($76,236,000)
8. Avengers: Age of Ultron — $6,201,000 ($438,015,000)
9. Aloha Sony $3,300,000 ($16,342,000)
10. Poltergeist —$2,850,000 ($44,452,000)
