Weekend Wrap-Up: Mission Still Fantastic, Four Flops

August 11, 2015

Fantastic Four

Despite what conventional wisdom was predicting, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation remained in first place, as Fantastic Four missed even our low expectations. The Gift also did well, but the other two wide releases opened on the low end of expectations. Overall, the box office fell 8.3% from last weekend down to $132 million, so according to that number, it is safe to say summer is fading fast. Worse still, compared to last year, the box office was 29% lower, which is terrible and a clear sign that summer is already over. Granted, 2015 still has a solid lead over 2014, at $6.88 billion to $6.51 billion. A lead of 5.7% at this time of year is great and it would take an epic collapse for that to disappear anytime soon. I don't think 2015 will bounce back and start padding its lead any time soon, but I also don't think it will have 29% deficits week after week either.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation's weekend haul was a little lower than expectations, as the film earned $28.50 million over the weekend. However, thanks to much weaker than expected competition, the film remained in first place with a relatively solid lead. It also cracked $100 million early on Sunday and now has $107.76 million after just ten days of release and it became the 17th film released in 2015 to reach the century mark. There is already a new installment in the franchise in the works, which should surprise no one.

Fantastic Four failed to match even our low expectations earning second place with just $25.69 million. Combine this poor start with its even worse reviews and it is very likely the film will fall apart very quickly. It is safe call this a flop, especially since the film reportedly cost $120 million to make. At this point, it is only a matter of time before Marvel Studios officially has the movie rights. I can't imagine Fox wants to keep it and they have no real leverage over Disney. Fox still has X-Men and unless Apocalypse bombs, it will hold onto that franchise for as long as possible.

The Gift debuted in third place with an opening weekend of $11.85 million. This is already twice its reported production budget, but it still needs to recoup its P&A budget. It did earn strong reviews and that should translate into longer legs than average for its genre. This is great news for STX Entertainment, but I would say as a word of caution... Yari Film Group Releasing. Very early in their run, they released The Illusionist, which was a big hit. It looked like they were going to be the next mini-major, but they never matched that level of success again and went into bankruptcy just three years later. This is a great start for STX Entertainment, but until they can show they can do this consistently, it is too soon to celebrate.

Vacation fell to fourth place with $8.96 million over the weekend for a total of $37.14 million after 12 days of release. It is on pace to reach $50 million domestically, which is enough to call it a midlevel hit, barely.

Ant-Man rounded out the top five with $7.91 million over the weekend for a four-week total of $147.52 million. It will reach $150 million very soon and that should make the studio very happy.

Minions was next with $7.45 million over the weekend for a total of $302.80 million after a month of release. It became the fifth film released in 2015 to get to $300 million and the third such film released by Universal. It has been a record-breaking year for the studio and they have a couple of releases in the holiday season that should at least reach the century mark.

Ricki and the Flash was next with $6.61 million. It was only playing in 1,603 theaters, so it wasn't a truly wide release, so its per theater average isn't bad. It isn't great and I don't know if it will expand wide, as is its plan. The reviews certainly don't suggest it will have great legs.

The final wide release of the week was Shaun of the Sheep, which failed to reach the top ten with $4.04 million over the weekend for a five-day opening of $5.61 million. This poor result is despite its reviews, but fortunately the film has done a whole lot better internationally, so the film will still make a profit.

One last note, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection "F" didn't reach the top ten either with just $1.81 million, but its six-day opening was $5.76 million. This is amazing for an Anime film, and this suggests there will be more releases like this, but the front-loaded run shows the art form is still a niche market.


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Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Ant-Man, Minions, Fantastic Four, Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation, Ricki and the Flash, Vacation, Shaun the Sheep, The Gift, Doragon bôru Z: Fukkatsu no 'F', Mission: Impossible, X-Men