It wasn’t long ago when the Twittersphere shared rumblings that Sony were concerned about the tracking for “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” Whether that’s true or not, the studio had nothing to worry about. While there were complaints about the “show everything” marketing campaign, and though critics were far less kind to the sequel than its predecessor, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” shot a web into the top spot this weekend, with a massive $92 million opening.
Already open overseas for the past two weeks, where it has already earned north of $275 million, this weekend puts the film over $365 million worldwide, with much more to come. The film’s performance beat the opening of Sam Raimi‘s “Spider-Man 2,” and puts the movie among the best May openings ever (it’s about ten million behind “Iron Man 2“). However, it’s the international numbers (which are very, very good) that will be the bread and butter of the film’s haul (just like the first film which killed overseas). But perhaps most crucially, it means the franchise is very much alive, so don’t be surprised if the wheels start turning hard on the spinoffs (“Sinister Six,” “Venom“) in the coming weeks, while Marc Webb and co. are already gearing up “The Amazing Spider-Man 3” for 2016.
Rolling into (distant) second place, with everyone else picking up the scraps of box office ‘Spider-Man 2’ let behind, “The Other Woman” filled the comedy niche taking a mere $14.2 million, a pretty steep drop from its $47 million opening last week. And really, its indicative of the top ten in general this week, with most films doing what they could, while audiences forked over cash for the big summer movie instead.
However, there were some surprises. “Heaven Is For Real” continues to make believers in faith based dramas, with the film hanging on in third with $8.7 million. The movie is now over $65 million domestic and counting, and will provide a nice, tidy profit to Sony’s Screen Gems arm. And it will also give execs more reasons to pursue modestly budgeted, niche programming for Christian audiences who have shown that if you build it, they will come.
In limited release, “Belle” took $104,000 at four theaters. Meanwhile, Johnny Depp‘s “Transcendence” basically wound down its run, earning a paltry $25 million, one of the worst ever wide release efforts from the actor.
1. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Columbia Pictures) – $92 million
2. The Other Woman (20th Century Fox) – $14.2 million ($47.3m cume)
3. Heaven is for Real (TriStar Pictures) – $8.7 million ($65.6m cume)
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Walt Disney Pictures) – $7.7 million ($237.1m cume)
5. Rio 2 (20th Century Fox) – $7.6 million ($106.4m cume)
6. Brick Mansions (Relativity Media) – $3.5 million ($15.4m cume)
7. Divergent (Summit Entertainment) – $2.1 million ($142.6m cume)
8. The Quiet Ones (Lionsgate) – $2 million ($6.7m cume)
9. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Fox Searchlight Pictures) – $1.7 million ($51.5m cume)
10. God’s Not Dead (Freestyle) – $1.7 million ($55.5m cume)
