Weekend Box Office: Melissa McCarthy over C-Tates?! Oh hell naw!

We all know that Sir Channing of the House Tatum is a box office titan, the hardest twerkin’ man in show business, but after this weekend he may have to call a Pop and Locksmith because White House Down got trounced by The Heat. Turns out Americans were much more interested in Sandra Bullock’s spanx than in terrorists not getting their hands on Jamie Foxx’s Jordans, by a margin of $40 million to $25.7. Reached for comment, C-Tates said “Ayo, who you callin’ a ‘House Tatum,’ fa real doe.”

Playing at 3,181 locations, The Heat took second place with an estimated $40 million. That’s star Sandra Bullock’s highest opening ever ahead of The Blind Side ($34.1 million) and The Proposal ($33.6 million). It’s also ahead of Melissa McCarthy’s Identity Thief ($34.6 million) and director Paul Feig’s Bridesmaids ($26.2 million).

Women wound up representing 65 percent of the opening weekend audience, which also skewed older (67 percent over the age of 25). They awarded the movie a solid “A-” CinemaScore; while it won’t be a Bridesmaids level word-of-mouth success, it faces very little competition over the next few weeks and could ultimately earn over $150 million.

I guess America was more interested in buddy cops – WITH CHICKS! than they were in buddy cops – WITH A BLACK PRESIDENT! Did you hear that? That was the sound of a million screenwriters rushing to add Melissa McCarthy to more stock premises. Ten bucks says she toplines a Christmas movie in the next year, just watch.

At 3,222 theaters, White House Down got off to a slow $25.7 million start. In comparison, similar movie Olympus Has Fallen opened to $30.4 million with less star power and cheaper effects. It’s also way off from star Channing Tatum’s 2012 trifecta (The Vow/Magic Mike/21 Jump Street), all of which opened to at least $36 million. [BoxOfficeMojo]

Clearly, this is all Roland Emmerich’s fault and his inept decraptitude is wastin’ C-Tates’ flava. WHD also cost a reported $150 million to make, meaning all of us in the Fantasy Summer Box Office game whiffed on an absolute BEAST of a bomb pick. But can you blame us? If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that you never bet against Tatum. I like to think that America was just upset when White House Down wasn’t as good as Burnsy’s version.

Your other strange-but-true box office factoid? Now You See Me, the movie about bank-robbing magicians, is on pace to earn $120 million.

Not since Claudia Schiffer married David Copperfield has magic displayed such inexplicable power.

1. Monsters University (Buena Vista) – $46,180,000 ($171,006,000)

2. The Heat (Fox) – $40,000,000

3. World War Z (Paramount) – $29,800,000 ($123,722,000)

4. White House Down (Sony) – $25,700,000

5. Man Of Steel (Warner Bros.) – $20,820,000 ($248,660,000)

6. This Is The End (Sony) – $8,700,000 ($74,681,000)

7. Now You See Me (Lionsgate) – $5,500,000 ($104,681,000)

8. Fast & Furious 6 (Universal) – $2,410,000 ($233,313,000)

9. Star Trek Into Darkness (Paramount) – $2,040,000 ($220,501,000)

10. The Internship (Fox) – $1,425,000 ($41,705,000) [Indiewire]

Fantasy Summer Box Office Standings

Laremy (First overall pick)

1. Iron Man 3 – $175.3

2. Man of Steel $113 million / $225 million budget = 44%, 100 minus 44 = 56.

3. Epic: 33.5

4. Lone Ranger

Total: 265

Vince (2nd pick):

1. 6 Fast 6 Furious: 97.4

2. Pacific Rim

3. The Wolverine

4. We are the Millers (Bomb)

Total: 97.4

Bret (3rd pick)

1. Star Trek 2: 71

2. Despicable Me 2

3. Lone Ranger (Bomb)

4. After Earth: 27

Total: 98

Brendan (4th pick)

1. Man of Steel: 113

2. Hangover 3: 41.7

3. The Internship: 18.1

4. The Great Gatsby (Bomb): $51 million on a $105 million budget, which equals 49 percent of budget, subtracted from 100 is 51.

Total: 224

Ben (5th):

1. Monsters University: 82

2. Planes

3. World War Z: 66

4. World War Z (Bomb): $66 million on a $190 million budget, equals 34.7 percent of budget, 100 minus 35 equals 65.

Total: 213

Basically, Pacific Rim and The Wolverine are going to have to CRUSH for Laremy not to run away with this thing. Though I’m not sure we should’ve let him just pick a new movie when 300: Rise of An Empire got pushed back a year instead of making him taking GI Joe, his pick from last year that got pushed back a year. Frickin’ Laremy.

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