Kevin Hart’s comedy film Think Like A Man Too earned $30 million in the North American box office over its debut weekend, beating Sony’s other comedy sequel 22 Jump Street for the top spot.
Director Tim Story’s wedding comedy, costing $24 million to produce, beat the cop bromance blockbuster, featuring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, which earned $29 million in its second week of release. After making $38.2 million overseas, a large amount for a comedy, Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony, stated that 22 Jump Street would become one of the biggest R-rated comedies ever worldwide.
22 Jump Street passed the $100 million mark domestically, finishing Sunday with a domestic total of $111.5 million.
In third place at the box office is DreamWorks Animation and Fox’s How To Train Your Dragon 2 with $25.3 million, falling 49 percent in its second week, for a domestic total of $95.2 million.
Think Like A Man Too’s debut earned more than double the $13.5 million opening of Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys. The film, about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, came in number four at the box office. It drew an overwhelmingly older crowd, with 71 percent of moviegoers ranked over the age of 50. Warner Bros hopes the film will reach out to more audience members over the next few weeks, as adults typically don’t rush out on opening weekends.
Both Think Like A Man Too and Jersey Boys received an A minus CinemaScore from audiences, which is more than what critics gave them on Rotten Tomatoes (22 percent for Man and 55 percent for Boys).
Inspired by Steve Harvey’s best-selling book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, the sequel didn’t beat Story’s original Think Like A Man, which opened with $33.6 million in its late April 2012 release.
“Even though the opening is a hair less than the last, I think summer weekdays are going to absolutely make up for that,” said Rory Bruer. “Certainly the picture is already a success. Kevin Hart is a force to be reckoned with.”
Maleficent‘s total through Sunday is $521.6 million, coming in behind Jersey Boys. It has surpassed the $500 million mark over the weekend, beating Mr. & Mrs. Smith’s $478 million earnings and becoming Angelina Jolie’s top live-action film of all time.
Paramount’s fourth film in the Transformers franchise, Transformers: Age of Extinction, opens next weekend.
See what films made the top 10 list at the box office this weekend by clicking “Next”!
