Movies
Box Office Recap: ‘Pixels’ And ‘Paper Towns’ Underwhelm, ‘Southpaw’ Surprises
Winning the box office this weekend is Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, surpassing newcomers with an additional $24.8 million from 3,868 theaters, for a domestic grand total of $106.1 million and global haul of $226.5 million.
Adam Sandler’s new alien invasion comedy, Pixels, directed by Chris Columbus and released by Sony, underwhelmed with a less-than-expected $24 million from 3,723 theaters for a second place finish. Costing $88 million to produce, a number that is typically moderate for summer blockbusters, the film appealed greatly to males (55 percent) and those under the age of 25 (62 percent).
“I’m really somewhat mystified,” said Chris Aronson, domestic distribution chief at Fox. “It’s something we’re going to have to look at and review on a post-mortem basis and find out why we didn’t get more people in.”
‘PIXELS’ Was All Fun On Set Thanks To Director Chris Columbus
In Pixels, Sandler, Josh Gad, Kevin James and Peter Dinklage play a group of friends who must save the world from intergalactic aliens who are using the 1980s video games as the models for their attacks – including PAC-MAN, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Galaga, Frogger Q*bert and Space Invaders.
Audience members gave the family-friendly feature a mediocre B CinemaScore, while critics gave it an 18 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The weekend’s other new wide release was Josh Green’s YA film adaptation Paper Towns, which equally underperformed. Costing a modest $12 million to produce, the flick came in sixth place with $12.5 million from 3,031 theaters, much less than the $20 million-expected haul.
“Our challenge is to find out why our fan base was not energized in greater numbers, and to motivate them to show up in the coming weeks,” Chris Aronson, head of domestic distribution for Fox.
Last summer, Green’s popular teen blockbuster The Fault in Our Stars, starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, debuted to a strong $48 million. Paper Towns stars Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne, and earned a B plus CinemaScore from moviegoers, and a 57 percent “fresh” rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Another new release for the weekend was Antoine Fuqua’s adult-skewing boxing drama, Southpaw, featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, exceeding Paper Towns on the charts. Nabbing an A CinemaScore and 58 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the film earned $16.5 million from 2,772 theaters for a fifth place finish.
“Antoine Fuqua is a great, great filmmaker and Jake is nothing short of amazing in this movie,” said Weinstein distribution chief Erik Lomis.
Southpaw stars Gyllenhaal as a boxer who finds success with the gloves on, but is having major issues in his personal life. Rachel McAdams, Rita Ora, Forest Whitaker, Naomie Harris and 50 Cent co-star.
In third place at the box office is Universal and Illumination Entertainment’s family film Minions with $22.1 million for a domestic total of $261.6 million, while Universal’s R-rated comedy Trainwreck falls in fourth place with $17.3 million for a grand total of $61.5 million.
Top 10 Films at Weekend Box Office: July 24-26
- Ant-Man — $24.8 million
- Pixels — $24.0 million
- Minions — $22.1 million
- Trainwreck — $17.3 million
- Southpaw — $16.5 million
- Paper Towns — $12.5 million
- Inside Out — $7.4 million
- Jurassic World — $6.9 million
- Holmes — $2.9 million
- Terminator Genisys — $2.4 million