X-Men marks the spot!
It's no great shock that rounding up all of Marvel's mutants (past, present and future) for a big-screen adventure would be good for business, as X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST stormed the box office with an estimated opening of $90.7 million!
Wolverine's time-tripping mission to save his colleagues may have the most characters out of all the chapters in the X-franchise, but its opening still comes up short of X-MEN: THE LAST STAND's $102.7 million 3-day total back in 2006. And it trails CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, GODZILLA and THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 as the fourth-biggest opening of 2014.
Still, the battle against mutant-hunting Sentinels will get an extra day to rake big bucks (probably another $15-$20 million) over Monday's Memorial Day holiday, and the superpowered extravaganza has already brought in an additional $171 million from international crowds.
The costly adaptation of the prominent Uncanny X-Men comics story was a hit with critics — 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest average of the entire mutant series. And the movie got an 'A' CinemaScore from audiences, which could be good for word-of-mouth business, especially since there won't be any more comic book characters on screen until Marvel's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY arrive on August 1.
Coming in second place was last week's conqueror GODZILLA with $31.4 million, a drop of 66% from its opening as the King of Monsters stomps toward $150 million domestic and $315 million total worldwide.
The creature feature stayed ahead of Adam Sandler's latest comedy BLENDED, which opened in third with a weak $14.2 million (putting its opening between Sandler's LITTLE NICKY and THAT'S MY BOY). The romcom only cost around $40 million (compared to the $70-$80 million of Sandler's last few movies) and Sandler's forgiving audiences graded it an 'A-' CinemaScore, but it was unsurprisingly savaged by critics (15% on Rotten Tomatoes).
The R-rated comedy NEIGHBORS was in fourth with $13.9 million, and shouldn't have any trouble hitting $200 million worldwide. It was followed by THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 with $7.8 million, adding to the wall-crawler's $674 million global total.
In sixth place was last weekend's new sports drama MILLION DOLLAR ARM with $7 million, and things take a dip after that with THE OTHER WOMAN, RIO 2 and HEAVEN IS FOR REAL grabbing the leftover scraps. Jon Favreau's food-truck comedy CHEF expanded onto 500 screens, and drove into the Top 10 with $2.2 million as it coasts on positive word-of-mouth.
Outside the chart, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER put away his shield until it's time to fight Ultron, and MOM'S NIGHT OUT and LEGENDS OF OZ: DOROTHY'S RETURN are also gone.
Next weekend offers Angelina Jolie as iconic Disney villain MALEFICENT, while Seth MacFarlane rounds up an all-star cast for the R-rated comedy A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST.
Who is your favorite character from the X-Men movies? VOTE HERE!
| # | MOVIE TITLE | WKND $ | TOTAL $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | X-Men: Days of Future Past | $90.7 M | NEW |
| 2 | Godzilla | $31.4 M | $148.7 M |
| 3 | Blended | $14.2 M | NEW |
| 4 | Neighbors | $13.9 M | $113.6 M |
| 5 | The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | $7.8 M | $184.9 M |
| 6 | The Other Woman | $3.6 M | $77.7 M |
| 7 | Million Dollar Arm | $7 M | $20.6 M |
| 8 | Rio 2 | $2.5 M | $121.5 M |
| 9 | Chef | $2.2 M | $3.5 M |
| 10 | Heaven Is for Real | $1.9 M | $85.7 M |