Both newcomers Pitch Perfect 2 and Mad Max: Fury Road were prosperous at the box office this weekend!
Universal’s musical comedy, Pitch Perfect 2, raked in a massive $70.3 million in over 3,473 theaters, all thanks to a predominately female audience.
“It’s a validation of the fact that if you make movies by women for women starring women they’re going to do well,” said Phil Contrino, vice president and chief analyst at BoxOffice.com.
The $29 million-produced sequel stars Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow and Skylar Astin reprising their roles, as well as newcomer Hailee Steinfeld. Audience members, who were 75 percent female and 62 percent under the age of 25, gave the film an A minus CinemaScore. Critics were also fond of the film, giving it good reviews and a decent 69 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Young females are clearly some of the most enthusiastic moviegoers around the world,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. “They cannot be marginalized ever because they can drive your box office to record heights.”
Pitch Perfect 2 is the second-biggest debut for a film from a female director, behind this year’s Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Fifty Shades of Grey.
The weekend’s other new release was George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, debuting in second place with a respectable $44.4 million and additional $65 million overseas. Costing $150 million to produce, the R-rated action film is the first movie in the franchise in 30 years, and stars Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron.
Unlike Pitch Perfect, which skewed predominately to females, Mad Max appealed greatly towards males, with 70 percent present in the audience. Moviegoers gave the action sequel a B plus CinemaScore, while critics gave it a stellar 98 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Following in third place for the weekend was Disney’s Avengers: Age of Ultron with $38.8 million, bringing its domestic tally to $372 million and officially crossing $1 billion worldwide. In fourth place and fifth place at the box office is Warner Bros.’ Hot Pursuit and Universal’s Furious 7, taking in an additional $5.8 million and $3.6 million, respectively.
Top 10 Films at Weekend Box Office: May 8-10
- Pitch Perfect 2 — $70.4 million
- Mad Max: Fury Road — $44.4 million
- Avengers: Age of Ultron — $38.8 million
- Hot Pursuit – $5.8 million
- Furious 7 — $3.6 million
- Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 — $3.6 million
- Age of Adaline — $3.2 million
- Home — $2.7 million
- Ex Machina — $2.1 million
- Far From The Madding Crowd — $1.3 million
