In a weekend that featured four new movies hitting theaters, last weekend's winner Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation took the top spot for the second weekend in a row with $29.4 million, beating newcomer Fantastic Four, which earned $26.2 million. Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation dropped just 47% in its second weekend in theaters, with a $7,372 per-screen average in 3,988 theaters. Fantastic Four opened much lower than expected, possibly due to a spate of negative reviews.
Many box office analysts had Fantastic Four earning between $30 million and $40 million in its opening weekend, but it didn't come close to hitting that mark. The 20th Century Fox superhero movie wasn't received well by the nation's critics, with a paltry 9% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with just 13 positive reviews out of 151. It isn't known how much Fantastic Four cost to produce, but the opening weekend numbers are far below the initial projections.
The Gift opened in third place this weekend with just over $12 million, with a $7,286 per-screen average from 1,648 theaters. This thriller marks the directorial debut of actor Joel Edgerton, who co-starred alongside Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall. Holdovers Vacation ($9.1 million, $37.3 million domestic) and Ant-Man ($7.8 million, $147.4 million) rounded out the top five this weekend.
The top 10 was rounded out by Minions ($7.4 million, $302.7 million), newcomer Ricki and the Flash ($7 million), Trainwreck ($6.3 million, $91.1 million), Pixels ($5.4 million, $57.6 million) and Southpaw ($4.7 million, $40.7 million domestic). Another new release, Shaun the Sheep, failed to crack the top 10, coming in 11th place with $4 million. It earned a dreadful $1,724 per-screen average from 2,320 theaters in its opening weekend. Debuting in limited release this weekend was The Diary of a Teenage Girl with $55,000, earning a respectable $13,750 per-screen average from 4 theaters and Cop Car with $27,000, taking in $9,00 per screen from 3 theaters.
Next weekend brings Universal's Straight Outta Compton, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Weinstein Company's Underdogs in wide release. Debuting in limited release are Mistress America and We Come as Friends. Be sure to check back this Friday for our box office projections, and again on Sunday for the box office estimates. Until then, check out this weekend's top 10.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: