Rogue Nation Tops Fantastic Four

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation was able to hold off Fantastic Four last weekend (Aug. 7-9) to remain in first place at the box office. Paramount Pictures’ Rogue Nation led the way with $28.50 million, which represented a 49 percent decline from its previous weekend’s debut. In the process, the fifth installment of the Tom Cruise led action franchise surpassed the $100 million domestic mark last weekend. Rogue Nation has grossed $107.76 million in 10 days as the film continues to perform in line with pre-release expectations. The film is currently running 27 percent ahead of the $85.10 million 10-day take of 2006’s Mission: Impossible III, which fell 48 percent in its second weekend to gross $25.01 million. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is likely to hold up well throughout the rest of August, thanks in part to strong word of mouth and in part to the limited amount of new competition it will be facing throughout the second half of the month.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation finished on top at the weekend box office for the second week, beating out Fantastic Four.
(Photo: Bo Bridges/Paramount Pictures)

Fantastic Four was off to a very weak second place start with $25.69 million. Twentieth Century Fox’s relaunch attempt of the Marvel superhero franchise didn’t come close to expectations, which had tended to range from $40 million-$50 million heading into the weekend. Poor critical reviews and bad early word of mouth that spread over the weekend clearly took a major toll on the film. In addition to its poor reception, the decision to aim Fantastic Four heavily towards the young adult audience appears to have backfired as well. Fantastic Four opened a disappointing 56 percent below the $58.05 million debut of 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Given the poor reaction to the film, a short theatrical life span for Fantastic Four appears to be set in stone.

The news was far more promising for STX Entertainment’s The Gift, as the new distributor’s first release was off to a respectable third place start of $11.85 million. The Joel Edgerton directed thriller starring Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and Edgerton outpaced modest expectations. The Gift was helped by strong critical reviews and likely received a bit of a bump from serving as an alternative choice for moviegoers who ultimately passed on Fantastic Four. Making last weekend’s start even more impressive is that the reported production budget for The Gift was only $5 million.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ Vacation took fourth place with $8.96 million. The comedy franchise re-launch starring Ed Helms and Christina Applegate was down 39 percent from the previous weekend. Despite this weekend’s hold, Vacation is still running significantly below expectations with a 12-day start of $37.14 million.

Ant-Man rounded out the weekend’s top five with $7.91 million. The Paul Rudd led 3D superhero film from Disney and Marvel was down 38 percent, as it also benefited from serving as an alternative choice to Fantastic Four.Thanks in part to solid holding power thus far, Ant-Man has grossed $147.52 million in 24 days. Ant-Man is now running just 6 percent behind the $156.97 million 24-day gross of 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger.

In other box office news, Universal Pictures’ Minions surpassed the $300 million domestic milestone last weekend after finishing in sixth place with $7.45 million. The blockbuster 3D computer animated prequel from Illumination Entertainment stabilized a bit, as it was down 40 percent from the previous weekend. Minions has grossed an impressive $302.80 million in 31 days.

Sony Pictures’ Ricki and the Flash debuted in seventh with $6.61 million. The comedy drama starring Meryl Streep opened slightly below already modest expectations and was off to a lackluster start by Streep’s box office standards. However, the film’s opening weekend performance was deflated a bit by the decision to launch the film in only 1,603 locations. In an attempt to help the film’s holding power going forward, Ricki and the Flash will receive a significant expansion this coming weekend. Streep’s films also have a history of displaying strong holding power.

The weekend’s other new wide release, Shaun the Sheep Movie, opened softly with an 11th place take of $4.04 million. Despite strong reviews, the stop-motion animated film from Lionsgate and Aardman Animations was unable to draw in family audiences last weekend. Since its debut on Wednesday Shaun the Sheep Movie has grossed $5.61 million in five days. Shaun the Sheep Movie will hope to receive a boost going forward from its strong reviews and from the lack of new family fare entering the marketplace in the near future.

Mark Heckathorn

Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.