“Captain America: Civil War” Overpowers All Newcomers

By Kip Mooney • On • In News, Weekend Box Office Report News, Weekend Box Office Report 0

BOX OFFICE REPORT

May 13-15, 2016

(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 5

Captain America: Civil War  $72.5 million
The Jungle Book $17.7 million
Money Monster $15.0 million
The Darkness $5.1 million
Mother's Day $3.2 million

 

Not even the combined star power of Julia Roberts and George Clooney could come close to unseating Captain America: Civil War. The latest Marvel entry dropped nearly 60 percent, but that was still more than everything else in the top 10 combined once again. It's just shy of $300 million, but will become the second-biggest movie of the year in the U.S. by next weekend. Internationally, it's on the verge of $1 billion and the biggest movie of the year.

The Jungle Book stayed at No. 2, where it became the fourth movie to pass $300 million in the U.S. in 2016. Even in its fifth weekend, that was enough to beat Money Monster. The thriller – which is actually a dark comedy in disguise – debuted with a decent $15 million. Obviously, that's not a world-beater by any stretch of the imagination. But for the increasingly rare movie made for adults, that's a solid opening.

The Darkness, starring Kevin Bacon as the dad of a kid being haunted by some sort of spirit, is another in a long line of cheaply produced horror flicks. Its weak opening is another sign of the quick nature with which some of these spook-fests get passed through the pipeline. More cleverly crafted movies like The Conjuring will get more accolades and tickets sold. Mother's Day, which actually went up last weekend, fell a dreadful 70 percent for its third weekend.

Outside the top 5:

  • This Weekend's Indie Champ: The Lobster, Yorgos Lanthimos' English-langugage debut, is about a group of people sent to live in a hotel so they can find a romantic partner before being turned into an animal. It averaged $47,024 on only four screens.
  • Love & Friendship, director Whit Stillman's adaptation of the Jane Austen story, also did well in limited release. It averaged $33,188 on four screens. As part of its distribution deal, the film will premiere on Amazon Prime later this year.
  • Talking about fulfilling your title. The delayed bachelor-party-gone-awry comedy Search Party couldn't even find an audience. It opened on 10 screens but only made $4,000.

Next week:

Some real competition this summer, finally, as three movies battle for box office supremacy. Neighbors 2 will take on The Nice Guys for the R-rated comedy belt, while – sigh – The Angry Birds Movie will try to get the kiddos and their parents to stop looking at their phones for a minute and watch a movie based on a game on their phones. I'm gonna guess it's a close one, but Neighbors 2 takes the top spot with $45 million.

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

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