“The Angry Birds Movie” Slingshots Its Way Past “Civil War”

BOX OFFICE REPORT

May 20-22, 2016

(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 5

The Angry Birds Movie  $39.0 million
Captain America: Civil War  $33.1 million
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising  $21.7 million
The Nice Guys $11.2 million
The Jungle Book $11.0 million

 

Don't underestimate the power of kids who have seized control of their parents' smartphones. The Angry Birds Movie took the top spot from Captain America: Civil War with an estimated $39 million. That's the second-best opening for a video game movie, right behind Angelina Jolie's turn as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider back in 2001. Though its the only animated movie until Finding Dory in three weeks, it's unlikely to have much staying power with Alice Through the Looking Glass and the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sequel on the horizon. A debut of this size puts it behind such underperformers as The Good Dinosaur and Kung Fu Panda 3.

Civil War dropped to second place after ruling for two weeks. It's now the second-biggest movie of the year domestically – and should pass Deadpool after next weekend – and the biggest movie of the year worldwide, becoming the first film in 2016 to earn more than $1 billion. Whether it remains there is a question I think only Rogue One will be able to answer in December.

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising didn't do so hot in its second year in college. In 2014, the original debuted at No. 1 with $49 million. This sequel, while still getting high marks from critics, took in less than half the money from audiences. There's still the possibility of $100 million, but it's not looking great. But that was still better than The Nice Guys, which had tremendous reviews, but almost got beaten by The Jungle Book in its sixth weekend.

Outside the top 5:

  • This Weekend's Indie Champ: Weiner, the fascinating documentary on Anthony Weiner's 2013 campaign for mayor of New York. The film, which I raved about at DIFF, took in an average of $17,105 on its five screens.
  • Maggie's Plan, a romantic comedy starring the always luminous Greta Gerwig, also did well in limited release. It took in an average $13,342 on its five screens.
  • I know it was only a quasi-limited release, but it's time to declare A Hologram for the King as Tom Hanks' biggest flop ever. Hanks was once the biggest movie star in the world, and this dramedy still made less than The Man with One Red Shoe. That's gotta sting.

Next week:

Alice Through the Looking Glass takes on X-Men: Apocalypse. It's hard to know which one will win since the response to both has been pretty muted thus far. Alice in Wonderland made a killing in 2010, but asking about it now will get shudders or outright anger from a lot of people. Days of Future Past also made a lot of money just two summers ago, but enthusiasm isn't exactly sky-high, even for the chance to see one of the X-Men's most fearsome villains on-screen for the first time. So I'm going to flip a coin and say $80 million for Alice and $75 million for Apocalypse, but it could be much lower than that for both.

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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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