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‘Furious 7′ Races Past ‘Age of Adaline’
Nothing, it seems, and certainly not Blake Lively, can get “Furious 7″ to slam on the brakes.
The mega-grossing sequel took the top spot at the weekend box office with $18.2 million, becoming the first film to come in first for four consecutive weekends since “The Hunger Games” in March of 2012. “Furious 7″ is one of only 29 films to pull off the feat. Its winning streak will almost certainly draw to a close next weekend when “Avengers: Age of Ultron” enjoys what most analysts project will be an opening of more than $200 million. Domestically, “Furious 7″ has earned $320.5 million.
Although it could not elbow “Furious 7″ from its perch atop the box office chart, Lively’s fantasy romance “Age of Adaline” scored a respectable $13.4 million from 2,991 locations. The Lionsgate/Lakeshore release had been projected to pull in $12 million and cost $30 million to produce. The two partners split the costs and any profits evenly between themselves.
Reviews for “Age of Adaline” were mixed, but the picture still managed to secure a third-place finish primarily by appealing to females, who comprised 75% of the opening weekend crowd. Fifty eight percent of ticket buyers were over 25. The film co-stars Ellen Burstyn and Harrison Ford in the story of a woman who suffers an accident that keeps her perpetually 29 years old.
Richie Fay, Lionsgate’s distribution chief, said it was difficult to make comparisons with another film, but likened “Age of Adaline’s” holdover potential to “Letters to Juliet,” which opened to similar numbers in 2010 before banking $53 million.
“Our audience will remain loyal to the film,” said Fay. “The great news is that movies [that] play to female audiences, particularly older female audiences, hang around in the marketplace for a long time.”
Despite pot shots from Seth MacFarlane and critics, Sony’s “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2″ held up better than many analysts projected, finishing second in its sophomore weekend with around $15.5 million. The comedy has earned a solid $44 million though Sunday, topping its $30 million production budget.
“It’s such a sweet hold when you only drop 35% on a film in its second week,” said Rory Bruer, Sony’s distribution chief. “It shows the mettle of the picture. Families and young teens are really really embracing the movie.”
Animated hit “Home” scored fourth place with $8.4 million, pushing its haul to $153.8 million, while “Unfriended” rounded out the top five with a $6.2 million finish, driving its stateside total to $25.2 million.
“Ex Machina” solidified its place among the year’s biggest specialty hits, expanding from 39 to 1,255 screens and earning $5.4 million in the process. The A24 release has made $6.9 million in three weeks and the indie label plans to continue to add locations in the coming weeks. To market the science-fiction thriller, it has secured stories in tech publications and has aggressively advertised online. As a sign of its water cooler appeal, opinion writer Maureen Dowd weighed in on the film in Sunday’s New York Times.
“It’s permeated the culture in a way that’s impactful,” said Heath Shapiro, a distribution executive at A24.”It’s playing well in commercial theaters and it’s playing surprisingly well in smaller markets.”
Among new releases, Open Road’s “Little Boy” pulled in $2.8 million from 1,045 locations, while Russell Crowe’s directorial debut “The Water Diviner” bowed to $1.2 million from 320 theaters. Warner Bros. is distributing “The Water Diviner” and doesn’t plan to expand the theater count beyond its current number for the foreseeable future.
“This was always supposed to be a small niche film, so our plan is to just go slowly,” said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. distribution executive vice president.
Next weekend, all of these films will be overshadowed by the return of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, when “Avengers: Age of Ultron” debuts and kicks the summer box office off on a high note.
‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ Opens to Massive $201.2 Million at Foreign Box Office
“Avengers: Age of Ultron” debuted to a massive $201.2 million across 44 territories this weekend.
Disney and Marvel’s super team adventure was the highest-grossing film in everywhere it opened, and has now rolled out in 55% of the international marketplace, including such major locales as France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, Korea and Australia.
Going into the weekend, Disney was projecting a foreign debut of between $160 million to $175 million.
“The bar was high, but this is a sign of unbelievable momentum in the marketplace,” said Dave Hollis, Disney’s distribution chief. “It all goes back to the strength of the brand and the incredible work the Marvel team does in telling stories in such a consistent way and creating these worlds.”
The hotly anticipated superhero sequel opens next week in the U.S., where it is expected to earn north of $200 million and could top the first “Avengers'” record-breaking $207.4 million bow. Bringing Thor, Iron Man, Captain America and other costumed heroes together isn’t cheap, and “Avengers: Age of Ultron” carries a $250 million price tag.
The success of “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is a testament to the strength of the global market, which now accounts for 70% or more of a major film’s box office gross. Two decades ago, foreign ticket sales usually comprised less than half of a movie’s revenues.
“We are living in rarefied air with ‘Avengers’ to be even talking about these kind of numbers,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. “A weekend like this is why a lot of people think it could be even bigger than the first one.”
What’s particularly impressive is that “Avengers: Age of Ultron” put up such big numbers despite currency fluctuations. The strength of the dollar and economic troubles in Europe and Russia have dramatically altered the exchange rate picture in the three years since the first “Avengers. The Euro has fallen roughly 20% in the ensuing time, while the ruble has plunged 46%. Yet the second film is still exceeding the first installment by 44% in today’s dollars.
Enthusiasm for the film gave Imax the largest international opening in its history, not counting China, with $10.4 million of “Avengers: Age of Ultron’s” gross coming from the wide screen locations. In a sign of the Imax’s popularity when it comes to comic book titles, its newly opened Denmark theater, its first venue in Scandinavia, did a staggering $172,000 on one screen.
“This picture is right in our wheelhouse,” said Greg Foster, Imax Entertainment CEO. “It’s a fanboy title and those are the pillar titles that drive what we do.”
He likened Imax’s relationship to films in the Marvel universe to the one it enjoyed with the “Harry Potter” series.
“It’s building a similar relationship with audiences,” said Foster. “That became a tradition to lets go see Harry Potter in Imax.”
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