Paramount Pictures’ Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation delivered last weekend (July 31-Aug. 2) with a first place debut of $55.52 million. The fifth installment of the Tom Cruise led action franchise opened toward the higher end of expectations. Without adjusting for inflation, Rogue Nation claimed the second largest opening weekend take of the Mission: Impossible franchise; behind only the $57.85 million opening weekend of 2000’s Mission: Impossible II. Rogue Nation opened 16 percent ahead of the $47.74 million debut of 2006’s Mission: Impossible III, though it should be noted that the opening weekend of Mission: Impossible III adjusts to $61.15 million when taking into account inflation. Pre-release tracking had been soft for Rogue Nation, but the film was ultimately able to get off to a good start thanks in part to its very strong reviews and to the rest of the marketplace being fairly empty for this time of year. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is likely to hold up relatively well going forward, although the film will face significant competition over the next two weeks from 20th Century Fox’s Fantastic Four, Universal Pictures’ Straight Outta Compton and Warner Bros. Studios’ The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Rebecca Ferguson and Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. (Photo: Chiabella James/Paramount Pictures)

Warner Bros.’ Vacation debuted a distant second place with $14.68 million. The comedy franchise re-launch starring Ed Helms and Christina Applegate grossed $21.00 million in five days since opening on Wednesday. That is below scaled back expectations for the film. Poor reviews didn’t help and the film’s R rating appears to have limited some of its potential with younger moviegoers as 64 percent of the film’s audience was 25 years and older. Vacation may be aided by the relative lack of new comedies arriving in the marketplace throughout the rest of August.

It was a close race for third place between Ant-Man and Minions. Disney’s Ant-Man finished on top with $12.80 million. The Paul Rudd led 3D superhero film from Marvel was down 49 percent from the previous weekend, as it took a direct hit from the arrival of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Ant-Man has grossed $132.33 million through 17 days.

Minions placed in fourth with $12.39 million. The 3D computer animated prequel from Universal and Illumination Entertainment trailed Ant-Man by just $415,269 for the weekend. Minions was down a significant 46 percent from the previous weekend, as the film continues to feel the effect of mixed word of mouth, especially among adults. Minions has grossed $287.58 million in 24 days. That places the film 3 percent behind the $295.26 million 24-day take of 2013’s Despicable Me 2.

Sony Pictures’ Pixels rounded out the weekend’s top five with $10.50 million. The Adam Sandler led 3D action comedy fell a sharp 56 percent from the previous weekend. The film’s percentage hold was lackluster, especially on the heels of it’s much softer than expected debut. Pixels has grossed $ $45.71 million in 10 days.

Trainwreck followed in sixth with $9.61 million. The critically acclaimed Amy Schumer led comedy from director Judd Apatow was down 44 percent. Trainwreck is displaying more front-loading than is usual for a film from Apatow; likely because Schumer’s fanbase rushed out to see the film. Trainwreck has grossed $79.61 million in 17 days.

The Weinstein Company’s Southpaw landed in seventh place with $7.62 million. The Jake Gyllenhaal led sports drama was down 54 percent, which does take a bit of the luster off of the previous weekend’s stronger than expected debut. Even with last weekend’s decline, Southpaw is still off to a solid 10-day start of $31.68 million.

Disney’s Ant-Man took in $24.91 million last weekend (July 24-26), which was good enough to lead the weekend box office for a second consecutive week. The Paul Rudd led superhero film from Marvel was down 56.5 percent from the previous weekend, but was able to remain in first place thanks in part to the disappointing debut of Pixels and the soft third weekend hold of Minions. Ant-Man surpassed the $100 million mark last weekend and has grossed a solid $106.22 million in 10 days. The film continues to perform in line with the lower end of pre-release expectations. Ant-Man is currently running 9 percent ahead of the $97.06 million 10-day take of 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, which fell 57 percent in its second weekend to gross $22.14 million, and 9.5 percent behind the $117.42 million 10-day gross of 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, which dropped 61 percent to gross $25.55 million.

Marvel’s Ant-Man..L to R: Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas)..Photo Credit: Zade Rosenthal..© Marvel 2014

Sony Pictures’ Pixels debuted in a very close second place with $24.01 million. The Adam Sandler led 3D action comedy was off to a disappointing start and even with scaled back expectations had been expected to lead the box office heading into the weekend. Ultimately the film’s high-profile retro video game concept and the high levels of buzz generated by its initial trailer weren’t enough to overcome poor reviews and Sandler’s declining popularity, but audiences are responding to the film better than critics have. On the brighter side of things, the production budget for Pixels was fairly modest by high-profile summer release standards and the film was off to a relatively stronger start overseas last weekend.

Minions wasn’t far behind with a third place take of $22.93 million. The blockbuster 3D computer animated spin-off from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment was down 53.5 percent from the previous weekend. After a terrific opening weekend performance, Minions has displayed lackluster holding power due in part to mixed word of mouth, especially among adults, and to the massive initial rush out of the film’s fanbase during the film’s first week of release. With that said, Minions has grossed $262.45 million in 17 days. That places the film just ahead of the $258.57 million 17-day take of 2013’s Despicable Me 2, although it should be pointed out that Minions has an advantage in the comparison as a result of Despicable Me 2 opening on a Wednesday.

Fellow Universal release Trainwreck followed in fourth with $17.28 million. The critically acclaimed Amy Schumer led comedy from director Judd Apatow was down 43 percent from the previous weekend. The film’s hold last weekend does indicate that the rush out of Schumer’s fanbase has led to relatively more initial front-loading than usual for a film from Apatow; but the film is still likely to hold up much better going forward thanks to its strong word of mouth and reviews. Trainwreck has grossed a very promisig $61.53 million in 10 days.

The Weinstein Co. ‘s Southpaw rounded out the weekend’s top five with a $16.70 million debut. The Antoine Fuqua directed sports drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal opened slightly ahead of expectations and surprisingly ahead of Paper Towns in last weekend’s rankings. Despite mixed reviews, Southpaw was off to a nice start thanks in part to an effective marketing campaign that was aided by the film’s soundtrack and by focusing on Gyllenhaal’s buzzed about performance.

Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox’s Paper Towns was off to a disappointing sixth place start with $12.65 million. The young adult adaptation starring Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne opened well below expectations. The goodwill from the success of last year’s The Fault in Our Stars, which like Paper Towns, was also adapted from a John Green novel, helped generate high levels of online buzz for Paper Towns in the weeks leading up to its release, but that buzz ultimately failed to transfer over to the box office. On top of the soft opening, Paper Towns was extremely front-loaded.

In other box office news, Universal’s Jurassic World moved into third place on the all-time unadjusted domestic list after a $7.18 million eighth place take last weekend. Jurassic World has grossed a massive $624.08 million in 45 days, which places it just ahead of the $623.36 million final domestic gross of 2012’s Marvel’s The Avengers. 1997’s Titanic, with aid from its 2012 re-issue, claims second place on the all-time domestic list with a lifetime unadjusted gross of $658.67 million.

Marvel and 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past debuted in first place last weekend with a $110.58 million take over the four-day holiday weekend (May 23-26). That was towards the lower end of the massive pre-release expectations for the highly anticipated 3D comic book sequel. Without adjusting for ticket price inflation, Days of Future Past delivered the fifth largest four-day Memorial Day weekend take of all-time behind only 2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and last year’s Fast & Furious 6. X-Men: Days of Future Past took in $90.82 million over the three-day period. That represented the fourth largest three-day debut of 2014 thus far.

Hugh Jackman stars as Wolverine, who must go back in time to save the mutants in X-Men: Days of Future Past. (Photo: 20th Century Fox)

Compared to previous X-Men films, Days of Future Past is running 83 percent stronger than the $60.55 million four-day start of 2011’s X-Men: First Class and 10 percent below the $122.86 million four-day debut of X-Men: The Last Stand, although it should be noted that neither of those films had the advantage of higher priced 3D admissions. X-Men: Days of Future Past will hope to hold up better than previous X-Men films going forward thanks in part to the early positive audience reaction and its very strong critical reviews.

After exceeding expectations its debut weekend, Warner Bros. Pictures’ Godzilla came back down to earth last weekend with a second place four-day take of $38.44 million. The 3D sci-fi action remake was down 59 percent from the previous weekend’s three-day frame. Mixed word of mouth, natural fan-driven front-loading and the new competition from Days of Future Past all took a toll on Godzilla last weekend. With that said, Godzilla has still grossed a strong $155.79 million through 11 days of release. Godzilla took in $30.95 million over the three-day weekend.