BOX OFFICE REPORT "” June 28-30, 2013(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)
TOP 5
1. Monsters University ($46.1 million)2. The Heat ($40.0 million)3. World War Z ($29.8 million)4. White House Down ($25.7 million)5. Man of Steel ($20.8 million)
Despite pressure from the foul-mouthed cops of The Heat and Channing Tatum's abs saving the President, Monsters University held its own for the top spot on one of the biggest overall weekends in years. This is the only time since Memorial Day Weekend 2004 that the top 5 movies each took in more than $20 million.
The Pixar prequel is already well on its way to out-grossing Cars 2 ($191.4 million) and, depending on how much competition it faces from Despicable Me 2 and Turbo in July, could even pass last year's Brave ($237.2 million).
The Heat took second with $40 million. That makes for the biggest opening of both Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock's careers. Its success brings us to the annual discussion where we wonder why Hollywood doesn't produce more movies made for and by women. After the success of Bridesmaids, of which Melissa McCarthy was a huge part, there were a flood of thinkpieces about this issue. And there will be plenty more of them in the next week. Sadly, there will be even more next year when another female-centric film hits theaters and performs well. It's sad because Hollywood won't listen.
White House Down finished behind World War Z with $25.7 million. That's lower than the year's similarly themed Olympus Has Fallen. It's still a big opening but not the kind that puts a studio back in the black after forking over $150 million. Still, it got good remarks from audiences, so the studio is banking on a 4x holiday multiple over the coming weeks.
Outside the top 5: -This weekend's Indie Champ: Pedro Almodovar's I'm So Excited, his first full-on comedy in years, won the arthouse box office with a $20,600 average on each of its five screens.
- Now You See Me and Epic have both crossed the $100 million threshold, which wasn't exactly expected from either film. Congrats is in order.
- Man of Steel has nearly made $250 million domestically. That's far more than Superman Returns and has already made half a billion worldwide, making it the biggest Superman film to date.
Next week: The July 4th weekend gets started early as Despicable Me 2 faces Johnny Depp in The Lone Ranger on Wednesday. I still think the latter will be one of the biggest bombs of the summer, but I've been wrong before. I think it will take second place with $30 million while Gru's return rules the box office with $70 million. Also be on the lookout for Kevin Hart's stand-up documentary Let Me Explain to shock the world with a huge per-theater average. I think he could pull down $5 to $10 million on just 800 screens.
