Fox’s X-Men: Apocalypse led the Memorial Day weekend box office with an estimated $65.0 million three-day start, although that represented a noticeable decline from its prequel’s opening two years ago. The superhero movie starring Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, and Oscar Isaac opened with $26.4 million Friday (including $8.2 million from Thursday night shows), decreased 23.3 percent to gross $20.25 million on Saturday, and declined a further 9.4 percent to make $18.35 million on Sunday. This places its 3-day weekend to Friday ratio at an estimated 2.46 to 1.
Apocalypse starts 28.4 percent behind the $90.82 million three-day opening weekend of 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past on the same Memorial Day weekend two years ago, though Apocalypse does start 17.9 percent higher than the $55.10 million start of 2011’s X-Men: First Class. Days featured one of the most hyped storylines of any film in the past few years, with time travel allowing interactions between the stars of the new trilogy and the original trilogy including Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry — an element that Apocalypse found difficult to measure up to. Its outlook may not look bright with its weak reviews including a 48 percent rating from Rotten Tomatoes, plus an opening slightly more front-loaded than the 2.55 and 2.57 opening-weekend-to-Friday ratios of Days and First Class respectively.
Disney’s Alice Through the Looking Glass was a similar tale of a sequel opening below its predecessor, as it started with an estimated $28.11 million three-day weekend. The family-friendly fantasy starring Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, and Mia Wasikowska opened with $9.72 million on Friday (including $1.5 million from Thursday night shows), declined 6.0 percent to gross $9.13 million on Saturday, and rose 1.2 percent to make $9.25 million on Sunday. This places its three-day weekend to Friday ratio at an estimated 2.89 to 1.
Alice Through the Looking Glass starts a stunning 75.7 percent behind the $116.10 million opening weekend of its prequel, 2010’s Alice in Wonderland. To add insult to injury, the original film opened in March, often (though not always) a time of lower opening weekends than to the summer season. It also begins far below other live-action fairy tale adaptations of the past few years, opening 72.7 percent behind the $103.26 million opening weekend of this year’s The Jungle Book, 58.5 percent below the $67.87 million start of 2015’s Cinderella, and 59.5 percent under the $69.43 million start of 2014’s Maleficent.
Looking Glass may have suffered from Johnny Depp’s sharply declining box office power after recent disappointments including Mortdecai, Transcendence, and The Lone Ranger, as well as Tim Burton not returning to direct this sequel. While audiences gave it a decent A- CinemaScore, perhaps not enough children were interested in seeing the family-friendly offering, with only 24 percent of the audience under the age of 16.
Sony’s The Angry Birds Movie went from first to third place in its second weekend, dropping 51.0 percent to gross an estimated $18.7 million. It has now earned $66.35 million to date. Disney’s Captain America: Civil War fell 51.4 percent to make an estimated $18.13 million for fourth place — but perhaps more importantly, at an estimated $372.61 million to date it overtook Deadpool to become the highest grossing film so far in 2016. (A position it may very well still hold when the year is all said and done.) Universal’s Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising tumbled a sharp 58.2 percent in its second weekend to earn $9.1 million, much larger than 48.9 percent second-weekend decline of the first Neighbors in 2014. Neighbors 2 has now earned an estimated $38.33 million through 10 days of release, or 57.6 percent behind the $90.59 million 10-day start of the first Neighbors.
Rounding out the top ten, Disney’s The Jungle Book had the mildest decline of any holdover in wide release, dropping 36.3 percent to make an estimated $6.96 million. The Nice Guys finish not last but seventh, as the action comedy drops 43.1 percent to an estimated $6.37 million. Roadside Attractions’ Love & Friendship, expanding from 47 to 493 theaters, made an estimated $2.49 million. Zootopia declined 50.7 percent to an estimated $831 thousand but holds on for 10th place, extending its amazing run of 13 weekends in the top 10, the most of any film since Frozen spent 16 weeks in 2013-14.
BoxOffice will post Monday totals including four-day weekend estimates on Monday, and four-day weekend actuals on Tuesday.
Overseas Update:
Alice Through the Looking Glass, though coming in second domestically, nevertheless earned the highest overseas gross this weekend with an estimated $65 million after opening in 43 territories. Key performances included $27.1 million in China, $5.0 million in Mexico, $4.6 million in Russia, $4.1 million in Brazil, $3.2 million in the United Kingdom, $2.5 million in Germany, $2.4 million in Australia, and $2.2 million in Italy.
X-Men: Apocalypse made an estimated $55.39 million overseas this weekend and has now earned $185.83 million overseas total. Key performances to date include $17.4 million in the United Kingdom, $14.4 million in Mexico, $13.4 million in Brazil, $12.0 million in Korea, $10.4 million in France, ,and $8.2 million in Australia.
Universal’s Warcraft made an estimated $31.6 million overseas in its first weekend overseas, ahead of its June 10 domestic release. The video game adaptation opened on top in 19 of 20 territories, including $10 million in Russia, $5.9 million in Germany, $4.5 million in France, and $1.2 million in Sweden.
Captain America: Civil War took in an estimated $12.5 million this weekend, continuing its massively total that has propelled it to the highest-grossing worldwide gross of the year. The film has now earned $730.7 million overseas and $1.107 billion globally. Notable performances to date include $186.4 million in China, $62.7 million in Korea, $51.9 million in the United Kingdom, $41.2 million in Mexico, $39.1 million in Brazil, $27.0 million in Japan, $24.4 million in Australia, $22.3 million in France, and $20.9 million in Germany.
Weekend Estimates for Friday, May 27 – Sunday, May 29, 2016:
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | X-Men: Apocalypse | $65,000,000 | — | 4,150 | — | $15,663 | $65,000,000 | 1 | Fox |
| 2 | Alice Through the Looking Glass | $28,112,000 | — | 3,763 | — | $7,471 | $28,112,000 | 1 | Disney |
| 3 | The Angry Birds Movie | $18,700,000 | -51% | 3,932 | 0 | $4,756 | $66,353,309 | 2 | Sony / Columbia |
| 4 | Captain America: Civil War | $15,134,000 | -54% | 3,395 | -831 | $4,458 | $372,609,948 | 4 | Disney |
| 5 | Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising | $9,100,000 | -58% | 3,416 | 32 | $2,664 | $38,336,580 | 2 | Universal |
| 6 | The Jungle Book (2016) | $6,967,000 | -36% | 2,523 | -937 | $2,761 | $338,478,909 | 7 | Disney |
| 7 | The Nice Guys | $6,370,000 | -43% | 2,865 | 0 | $2,223 | $21,733,672 | 2 | Warner Bros. |
| 8 | Money Monster | $4,250,000 | -39% | 2,315 | -789 | $1,836 | $33,902,226 | 3 | Sony / TriStar |
| 9 | The Darkness | $750,000 | -67% | 1,004 | -765 | $747 | $9,862,379 | 3 | High Top / BH Tilt |
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Love & Friendship | $2,496,000 | 346% | 493 | 446 | $5,063 | $3,489,548 | 3 | Roadside / Amazon |
| 2 | Zootopia | $831,000 | -51% | 572 | -805 | $1,453 | $335,874,645 | 13 | Disney |
| 3 | The Lobster | $725,092 | 86% | 116 | 92 | $6,251 | $1,943,026 | 10 | A24 |
| 4 | The Meddler | $541,515 | 592% | 420 | -44 | $1,289 | $541,515 | 6 | Sony Pictures Classics |
| 5 | The Man Who Knew Infinity | $440,352 | -11% | 288 | 18 | $1,529 | $440,352 | 5 | IFC Films |
| 6 | A Bigger Splash | $400,000 | 22% | 378 | 250 | $1,058 | $1,312,851 | 4 | Fox Searchlight |
| 7 | The Huntsman: Winter’s War | $322,000 | -73% | 374 | -872 | $861 | $47,452,745 | 6 | Universal |
| 8 | Mother’s Day (2016) | $227,558 | -80% | 335 | -1384 | $679 | $32,111,501 | 5 | Open Road |
| 9 | The Boss | $186,000 | -72% | 231 | -441 | $805 | $62,646,100 | 8 | Universal |
| 10 | Ratchet & Clank | $185,000 | -8% | 159 | -187 | $1,164 | $8,781,770 | 5 | Focus / Gramercy |
| 11 | Sing Street | $118,500 | -66% | 175 | -345 | $677 | $2,764,474 | 7 | Weinstein Company |
| 12 | The Divergent Series: Allegiant | $90,000 | -26% | 153 | -41 | $588 | $90,000 | 11 | Lionsgate / Summit |
| 13 | 10 Cloverfield Lane | $75,000 | -33% | 120 | -56 | $625 | $72,021,802 | 12 | Paramount |
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weiner | $164,970 | 96% | 27 | 22 | $6,110 | $164,970 | 2 | IFC Films / Sundance Selects |
| 2 | Maggie’s Plan | $105,387 | 66% | 19 | 14 | $5,547 | $105,387 | 2 | Sony Pictures Classics |
| 3 | Eye in the Sky | $69,032 | -61% | 81 | -117 | $852 | $18,365,614 | 12 | Bleecker Street |
| 4 | Hello, My Name Is Doris | $59,625 | -52% | 83 | -73 | $718 | $14,184,756 | 12 | Roadside Attractions |
| 5 | London Has Fallen | $49,000 | -49% | 96 | -43 | $510 | $62,489,816 | 13 | Focus / Gramercy |
| 6 | Dark Horse (2016) | $35,870 | 24% | 13 | -4 | $2,759 | $35,870 | 4 | Sony Pictures Classics |
| 7 | A Hologram for the King | $20,550 | -68% | 38 | -100 | $541 | $4,109,637 | 6 | Roadside Attractions |
| 8 | Ma ma | $16,000 | — | 11 | — | $1,455 | $26,194 | 2 | Oscilloscope |
| 9 | Meet the Blacks | $8,881 | -64% | 28 | -22 | $317 | $9,071,011 | 9 | Freestyle Releasing |
| 10 | Papa: Hemingway in Cuba | $1,572 | -94% | 12 | -33 | $131 | $1,108,467 | 5 | Yari Film Group |
| 11 | Almost Holy | $1,478 | -65% | 5 | 3 | $296 | $6,957 | 2 | |
| 12 | Louder Than Bombs | $525 | -60% | 3 | -7 | $175 | $163,059 | 8 | The Orchard |
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