Weekend Box Office

We can bemoan til the end of the time that the summer movie seasons is nothing more than a cacophony of sequels and spectacles (not to mention the latest iterations of global terrorists on display for our popcorn enjoyment), and yet we bemoan as well when Hollywood has the nerve or gall to present a grandly expensive original property in the mix.  "Original" is a strange choice for words in the case of the last weekend big Disney blunder The Lone Ranger, a property that has existed for decades, as well as this weekend's offering, Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro's Transformers meets Godzilla, monsters vs. machines spectacular spectacular, but for all the franchise-in-wait question marks, both films couldn't excite audience interest more than the readily-disposable, already franchises.  Whatever the cause and whatever the effect, Despicable Me 2 again topped the box office charts this weekend, and Grown Ups 2, the latest in Adam Sandler's middle finger to cinema opened in a close runner-up showing, assuring that #3's are coming to a theater new a few summers from now.

1. Despicable Me 2 (-46%)- $44.7 million / $229 total
2. Grown Ups 2 (new)- $42 million- which is slightly ahead of the 2010's original, and a bright spot for distributor Sony after expensive flops After Earth and White House Down-- "bright spot" is a loose term.
3. Pacific Rim (new)- $38.3 million- Guillermo del Toro may not yet be ready for primetime, but this will be a curious one to watch, considering it's widely all-over-the-place reception.
4. The Heat (-43%)- $14 million / $112 million total
5. The Lone Ranger (-61%)- $11 million / $71 million total
6. Monsters University (-46%)- $10 million / $237 million total
7. World War Z (-48%)- $9.4 million / $177 million total
8. White House Down (-54%)- $6.1 million / $62 million total
9. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (-50%)- $5 million / $26 million total
10. Man of Steel (-57%)- $4 million / $280 million total

OUTSIDE THE TOP TEN

The Way, Way Back- The Fox Searchlight comedy expanded nicely in its second weekend of limited play grossing $1.1 million on 79 screens for a stellar per-screen average of $14,000.  It has now earned $1.8 million total.
Fruitvale Station- The Weinstein Company Sundance winner concerning the real life story of the murder of a young black Bay Area resident in 2009 opened as the Zimmerman trail was closing, providing a frightening, even-more-in-the-headlines sense of urgency to the from-the-headlines story.  While it's strikingly cynical, it's a story that even media shark Harvey Weinstein himself couldn't have concocted to be so eerily in-sync.  The awards hopeful had one of the years strongest per-screen averages of $53,000 on a mere seven screens, debuting to a stellar $377,000 first weekend gross, with the potential to be a counter-programming summer success story.
Crystal Fairy- Michael Cera's drug comedy, which debuted at Sundance this year, netted a $12,000 per-screen average on 2 screens.

Box Office Fireworks

The minions outlawed The Lone Ranger over the grandly profitable Fourth of July week/end extravaganza.  The story isn't so much that it was surprising that Despicable Me 2, the sequel to 3-D animated 2010 hit, led the box office with such robust numbers, it's that Disney's overly expensive $215+ Ranger utterly failed.  Badgered by bad buzz that stems from while the film was still in production, deadly reviews, Armie Hammer's lack of movie star charisma and Johnny Depp ennui, the Gore Verbinski directed western based on the radio and television classic that nobody under forty has the faintest clue of, has taken the summer movie season's preeminent punchline prize from past bombs After Earth and White House Down.  That sounds harsh, but there's a valuable comeuppance that needs to be bridged from time to time when studios shell out hundreds of millions of dollars on wannabe franchises that nobody wanted to begin with.

1. Despicable Me 2- $82.5 / $142.0 total (new)
2. The Lone Ranger- $29.4 / $48.9 total (new)
3. The Heat- $25.0 / $86.3 total
4. Monsters University- $19.5 / 216.7 total
5. World War Z- $18.2 / $158.7 total
6. White House Down- $13.5 / $50.4 total
7. Man of Steel- $11.4 / $271.2 total
8. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain- $10.1 / $174 total (new)
9. This Is the End- $5.8 / $85.5 total
10. Now You See Me- $2.7 / $110.4 total
11. Star Trek Into Darkness- $1.3 / $223.0 total
12. Fast & Furious 6- $1.0 / $235.4 total

LIMITED RELEASES

Fox Searchlight's Sundance success story led the limited engagements this holiday weekend with The Way, Way Back netting a $30,000 per screen average in its first weekend of play.  The dramedy stars Steve Carell (whose had a pretty stellar week), Toni Collette, Sam Rockwell and newcomer Liam James and was written and directed by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon, Oscar-winning screenwriters of The Descendants.  In other news, 20 Feet From Stardom, a documentary centered on back-up singers, expanded nicely in its second week and will be one of the highest grossing docs of the year, surely, and a potential Oscar candidate thanks to its glowing reviews, while Before Midnight officially became the top-grossing film in the series, topping the $5.8 million that Before Sunset earned in 2004.

The Way, Way Back- $0.5 (new)
Before Midnight- $0.5 / $6.6 total
20 Feet From Stardom- $0.5 / $1.1 total
Much Ado About Nothing- $0.4 / $2.9 total
The Bling Ring- $0.3 / $5.0 total
Mud- $0.1 / $20.7 total
I'm So Excited- $0.1 / $0.3 total
Frances Ha- $0.1 / $3.6 total
The Kings of Summer- $0.09 / $1.0 total
Stories We Tell- $0.04 / $1.4 total