Avengers: Age of Ultron Beats Hot Pursuit

Disney Entertainment’s Avengers: Age of Ultron remained in first place last weekend with $77.75 million. Without adjusting for ticket price inflation, that represented the second largest second weekend gross of all-time behind only the $103.05 million second weekend take of 2012’s Marvel’s The Avengers. However, Avengers: Age of Ultron was down 59 percent from its opening weekend. That represented a significantly sharper decline than the 50 percent The Avengers fell in its second weekend and was much more in line with the 58 percent second weekend decline of 2013’s Iron Man 3.

Marvel’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron (L to R) Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). (Photo: Marvel)

Last weekend’s hold isn’t the most encouraging sign going forward for Avengers: Age of Ultron, especially given that last Saturday’s performance was deflated by that day’s much talked about sports events and that the film will be facing much tougher competition throughout the rest of May than The Avengers did back in 2012. With that said, Avengers: Age of Ultron has already grossed $313.40 million in 10 days, which stands as the third largest 10-day start ever behind only The Avengers and 2008’s The Dark Knight. Avengers: Age of Ultron is currently running 16 percent behind the $373.07 million 10-day take of The Avengers and 10 percent ahead of the $284.95 million 10-day gross of Iron Man 3.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ Hot Pursuit debuted in a distant second place with $13.94 million. The comedy from MGM and New Line starring Reese Witherspoon and Sofía Vergara opened below expectations. The film had hoped to receive an added boost from opening on Mother’s Day weekend, but the film’s potential was clearly limited by poor reviews and by opening only one week before Universal’s highly anticipated Pitch Perfect 2 arrives in theatres.

It was a fairly close three-way race for third place last weekend between Lionsgate Entertainment’s The Age of Adaline, Universal Pictures’ Furious 7 and Sony Pictures’ Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2. The Age of Adaline ultimately had the edge for third between the three thanks in part to its Mother’s Day performance.

The Age of Adaline took in $5.82 million last weekend. That represented a decline of just 6 percent from the previous weekend, as holdovers in general were helped out by Saturday’s deflated grosses, Mother’s Day and the limited amount of new competition. The romantic drama starring Blake Lively has grossed $31.75 million in 17 days.

Furious 7 placed in fourth with $5.41 million. The sixth installment of the blockbuster action franchise was down 19 percent from the previous weekend. Furious 7 has grossed $338.56 million through 38 days of release. That places the film 45 percent ahead of the $233.35 million 38-day take of 2013’s Fast & Furious 6.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 followed closely behind in fifth with $5.31 million. The Kevin James led comedy sequel was down 10 percent from the previous weekend. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 has grossed $58.19 million in 24 days.

A24’s Ex Machina held up very nicely upon expanding into wider release last weekend. The critically acclaimed Alex Garland directed sci-fi film placed in sixth with $3.51 million. Thanks in part to strong word of mouth and expanding into an additional 725 locations, Ex Machina was up an impressive 54 percent. Ex Machina has grossed $15.76 million in 31 days.