Weekend Box Office Report: August 7-9, 2015

Mission: Impossible aims for #1 again!

The stunt-filled spy exploits of Tom Cruise kept MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – ROGUE NATION on top at the box office for a second weekend with an estimated $29.4 million!

Like its star, director Christopher McQuarrie's action-packed espionage entry had a pretty firm grasp and only slipped 47% from last week's opening. It passed the $100 million mark over the weekend for a ten-day domestic total of $108.6 million and $265 million worldwide.

The superlative title of FANTASTIC FOUR didn't quite match its performance as Fox's reboot manifested in second place with an opening of $26.2 million. The production came with a reported budget of $120 million, along with rumors of behind-the-scenes turbulence.

(As a point of super-comparison, Marvel's own GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY opened with $94.3 million on the first August weekend last summer.)

The latest version of Marvel's superpowered family took a less colorful and more "realistic" approach than the previous adaptations (which opened to $56 million and $58 million), but director Josh Trank's sci-fi take was savaged by critics with 9% on Rotten Tomatoes and received a 'C-' CinemaScore from moviegoers.

Opening in third place was the new R-rated thriller THE GIFT with $12 million. The feature directing debut of writer and co-star Joel Edgerton only cost a reported $5 million and received excellent critical response with 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In fourth was the current Griswold generation's VACATION with $9.1 million, down just 37% from its opening last week for a $37.3 million domestic total. Marvel's ANT-MAN was in fifth with $7.8 million as it passed the domestic total of THE INCREDIBLE HULK and grew higher than $300 million worldwide.

MINIONS were in sixth place with another $7.4 million as the incomprehensible cylindrical henchman have passed $300 million domestic and $900 million worldwide.

Meryl Streep's senior rocker RICKI AND THE FLASH opened in seventh with $7 million. The PG-13 comedy-drama from Oscar-winners Jonathan Demme and Diablo Cody didn't make catchy music for critics, who gave it an average 59% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Towards the bottom, Amy Schumer's TRAINWRECK is pulling close to $100 million, while Adam Sandler's PIXELS is quickly running out of quarters and Jake Gyllenhaal's SOUTHPAW is still swinging in tenth.

Outside the chart, the new Aardman stop-motion animated SHAUN THE SHEEP opened to only $4 million despite a 99% critical average (the clay creatures have already made $57 million overseas). Pixar's INSIDE OUT slid off the list along with PAPER TOWNS and the mega-blockbuster JURASSIC WORLD.

Next weekend brings director Guy Ritchie's retro spy action movie THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. and the N.W.A. biopic STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON.

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