Movies
Box Office Recap: ‘Maleficent’ Bewitches With $170.6M Debut
Walt Disney Studios’ Maleficent dominated the box office with a strong $70 million debut domestically and $100.6 million internationally.
The Disney film, featuring Angelina Jolie as the infamous wicked fairy, was expected to top all films over the weekend, including Seth MacFarlane’s A Million Ways To Die In The West, which flopped in comparison. The R-rated comedy opened with a mere $17.1 million from 3,158 locations domestically.
“To be able to take something like Sleeping Beauty and come at it from a different angle is intriguing. Then when you can lay on the Disney brand and a star like Angelina Jolie, and you have all the ingredients,” said Disney’s distribution chief Dave Hollis.
The re-imagined Sleeping Beauty fairy tale is the biggest debut ever for Jolie. Her previous films grossed lesser numbers, with 2008’s Kung Fu Panda earning $60.2 million, 2008’s Wanted launching with $50.9 million, and 2005’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith making the least with $50.3 million.
Maleficent didn’t match the $79 million debut of 2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful, or the $116 million opening of 2010’s Alice, both which opened in the month of March.
Audience members on Rotten Tomatoes were more enchanted by Maleficent than critics, who gave the film a 52 percent “rotten” ranking.
With women making up half of the population and half of moviegoers, the female lead – featuring Jolie as the dark sorceress – was sure to attract many. Maleficent audience members were primarily 60 percent female and 45 percent families.
“It’s a unique thing,” said Hollis on Angelina Jolie. “Her star power transcends borders and genre.”
Last weeks box office winner, X-Men: Days of Future Past, fell 64 percent in its second weekend to $32.6 million for a domestic total of $162.1 million.
See what films made the top 10 list at the box office this weekend by clicking “Next”!
10. The Other Woman – $1.4 million
Film Synopsis:
After discovering her boyfriend is married, a woman (Cameron Diaz) tries to get her ruined life back on track. But when she accidentally meets the wife he’s been cheating on (Leslie Mann), she realizes they have much in common, and her sworn enemy becomes her greatest friend. When yet another affair is discovered (Kate Upton), all three women team up to plot mutual revenge on their cheating, lying, three-timing SOB.
9. Chef – $2.0 Million
Film Synopsis:
Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) suddenly quits his job at a prominent Los Angeles restaurant after refusing to compromise his creative integrity for its controlling owner (Dustin Hoffman), he is left to figure out what’s next. Finding himself in Miami, he teams up with his ex-wife (Sofia Vergara), his friend (John Leguizamo) and his son to launch a food truck. Taking to the road, Chef Carl goes back to his roots to reignite his passion for the kitchen — and zest for life and love.
8. Million Dollar Arm – $3.7 million
Film Synopsis:
Based on a true story, Disney’s “Million Dollar Arm” follows JB Bernstein, a once-successful sports agent who now finds himself edged out by bigger, slicker competitors. He and his partner Aash (Aasif Mandvi) will have to close their business down for good if JB doesn’t come up with something fast. Late one night, while watching cricket being played in India on TV, JB comes up with an idea so radical it just might work. Why not go to there and find the next baseball pitching sensation? Setting off for Mumbai with nothing but a gifted but cantankerous scout (Alan Arkin) in tow, JB stages a televised, nationwide competition called “Million Dollar Arm” where 40,000 hopefuls compete before two 18-year-old finalists, Rinku and Dinesh (Suraj Sharma, Madhur Mittal), emerge as winners. JB brings them back to the United States to train with legendary pitching coach Tom House (Bill Paxton). The goal: get the boys signed to a major league team. Not only is the game itself difficult to master, but life in the U.S. with a committed bachelor makes things even more complicated-for all of them. While Rinku and Dinesh learn the finer points of baseball and American culture, they in turn teach JB the true meaning of teamwork and commitment. Ultimately, what began as a purely commercial venture becomes something more and leads JB to find the one thing he was never looking for at all-a family.
7. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – $3.8 million
Film Synopsis:
We’ve always known that Spider-Man’s most important battle has been within himself: the struggle between the ordinary obligations of Peter Parker and the extraordinary responsibilities of Spider-Man. But in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker finds that a greater conflict lies ahead. It’s great to be Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield). For Peter Parker, there’s no feeling quite like swinging between skyscrapers, embracing being the hero, and spending time with Gwen (Emma Stone). But being Spider-Man comes at a price: only Spider-Man can protect his fellow New Yorkers from the formidable villains that threaten the city. With the emergence of Electro (Jamie Foxx), Peter must confront a foe far more powerful than he. And as his old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, Peter comes to realize that all of his enemies have one thing in common: OsCorp.
6. Neighbors – $7.7 million
Film Synopsis:
Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and Rose Byrne lead the cast of Neighbors, a comedy about a young couple suffering from arrested development who are forced to live next to a fraternity house after the birth of their newborn baby. Neighbors is directed by Nick Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek).
5. Blended – $8.4 million
Film Synopsis:
After a disastrous blind date, single parents Lauren and Jim agree on only one thing: they never want to see each other again. But when they each sign up separately for a fabulous family vacation with their kids, they are all stuck sharing a suite at a luxurious African safari resort for a week in “Blended,” the third comedy collaboration between stars Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.
4. Godzilla – $12.2 million
Film Synopsis:
In Summer 2014, the world’s most revered monster is reborn as Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures unleash the epic action adventure “Godzilla.” From visionary new director Gareth Edwards (“Monsters”) comes a powerful story of human courage and reconciliation in the face of titanic forces of nature, when the awe-inspiring Godzilla rises to restore balance as humanity stands defenseless.
3. A Million Ways to Die in the West – $17.1 million
Film Synopsis:
Seth MacFarlane directs, produces, co-writes and plays the role of the cowardly sheep farmer Albert in A Million Ways to Die in the West. After Albert backs out of a gunfight, his fickle girlfriend leaves him for another man. When a mysterious and beautiful woman rides into town, she helps him find his courage and they begin to fall in love. But when her husband, a notorious outlaw, arrives seeking revenge, the farmer must put his newfound courage to the test. Starring alongside MacFarlane are Oscar (R) winner Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman and Neil Patrick Harris. MacFarlane reunites many of the filmmakers behind Universal and MRC’s hit film Ted including Scott Stuber (Bluegrass Films) and Jason Clark who produce, and Wellesley Wild and Alec Sulkin who co-wrote the script.
2. X-Men: Days of Future Past – $32.6 million
Film Synopsis:
The ultimate X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods in X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. The beloved characters from the original “X-Men” film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from the past, “X-Men: First Class,” in order to change a major historical event and fight in an epic battle that could save our future.
1. Maleficent – $70 million
Film Synopsis:
“Maleficent” explores the untold story of Disney’s most iconic villain from the classic “Sleeping Beauty” and the elements of her betrayal that ultimately turn her pure heart to stone. Driven by revenge and a fierce desire to protect the moors over which she presides, Maleficent cruelly places an irrevocable curse upon the human king’s newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Aurora is caught in the middle of the seething conflict between the forest kingdom she has grown to love and the human kingdom that holds her legacy. Maleficent realizes that Aurora may hold the key to peace in the land and is forced to take drastic actions that will change both worlds forever.