Pain & Gain wins the posedown!
Mayhem maestro Michael Bay dialed things down (relatively speaking) with his latest effort PAIN & GAIN, which still powered its way to the top with $20 million.
The R-rated comedy caper, featuring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie as bodybuilding buffoons with crime on their miniscule minds, was based on a true story. Although the material was clearly a fair bit different than gigantic city-demolishing robots, critics and crowds accustomed to Bay’s overblown offerings still may have expected something bigger — with a 47% Rotten Tomatoes rating and a ‘C+’ CinemaScore, PAIN & GAIN‘s pump will probably fade quickly.
While PAIN & GAIN wasn’t intended as Bay’s customary summer spectacle, it still marks the lowest opening weekend for the filmmaker since 2005’s sci-fi stiff THE ISLAND ($12.4M). Then again, the mischievous meatheads only carried a production cost of $26M, which is probably just the explosion budget on a standard Bay movie.
In general it was a somewhat slow weekend at the box office. Were people otherwise occupied with enjoying the increasingly pleasant weather, or is everyone just waiting until next weekend for IRON MAN 3?
Speaking of that eminent armor-clad Avenger, the rest of the world got to see IRON MAN 3 a week before North America, and the movie walloped the international box office with $195 million since its Wednesday release. Not only did Tony Stark’s third solo adventure (this time with KISS KISS BANG BANG director Shane Black) vastly outperform the previous two IRON MAN movies, but also eclipsed THE AVENGERS’ $185M overseas opening.
Meanwhile back in the US, Tom Cruise’s futuristic action movie OBLIVION dropped to second place with $17.4 million, and a 10-day take of $64.7M as it drifts toward a $200M worldwide total. The Jackie Robinson biopic 42 stole third base with another $10.7 million, demonstrating that baseball was more interesting to audiences than star-studded matrimony, ditching the new romcom THE BIG WEDDING at the altar in fourth place with a $7.5 million debut.
THE CROODS are still lurching along in the middle of the chart, while the bottom half of the list fights over the cash scraps. G.I. JOE: RETALIATION has hit almost $350M globally, and although OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN hasn’t seen much international action, it’s managed to stick on the chart for six weeks as it comes up on a nine-figure total.
Outside the chart, the new Matthew McConaughey drama MUD just missed the Top 10 with $2.1 million, which it collected from only 363 screens. The Sam Raimi duo of OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL and the remake of his EVIL DEAD both departed the list this week, while thriller THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST and historical adventure KON-TIKI were the best performers among the limited releases.
Next weekend gets the summer movie season into high gear with Marvel’s weaponized superstar IRON MAN 3, plus the limited release of the hitman thriller THE ICEMAN with Michael Shannon and Chris Evans.
What May release are you most looking forward to seeing? VOTE HERE!
| # | MOVIE TITLE | WKND $ | TOTAL $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pain and Gain | $20 M | NEW |
| 2 | Oblivion | $17.4 M | $64.7 M |
| 3 | 42 | $10.7 M | $69 M |
| 4 | The Big Wedding | $7.5 M | NEW |
| 5 | The Croods | $6.6 M | $163 M |
| 6 | Scary Movie 5 | $3.4 M | $27.4 M |
| 7 | G.I. Joe: Retaliation | $3.6 M | $116.3 M |
| 8 | Olympus Has Fallen | $2.7 M | $93 M |
| 9 | The Place Beyond the Pines | $2.6 M | $16.2 M |
| 10 | Jurassic Park 3D | $2.3 M | $42 M |