Most of the reviews seem to suggest Monsters University wasn’t one of Pixar’s best, but in terms of DOLLA DOLLA BILLZ$™, its $82 million take was good enough to be Pixar’s second best of all time, behind Toy Story 3‘s $110 million opening in 2010. Monsters out-earned World War Z and Man of Steel to become Pixar’s 14th first place debut in a row. Its hard to say whether Pixar is still Pixar as we once knew it or just a name Disney puts on stuff now, but the marketing for Monsters U has been pretty spectacular. So even if the movie was terrible, they’d still deserve some credit for pulling a reverse John Carter. Monsters U looked cute and we all knew what it was about. Meanwhile, I still have no idea what the hell Epic is about, and I had to look it up to find out that it opened a month ago.
Elsewhere, the production of World War Z had been rumored to be a disaster for a long time, with Brad Pitt and director Marc Forster reportedly not on speaking terms. But just like a steak that’s been dropped on the floor can still end up tasting pretty good, the crap that goes on behind the scenes doesn’t always make it to the screen, and World War Z pulled in a respectable $66 million and mildly positive reviews, which was actually enough to become the biggest opening of Brad Pitt’s career (not adjusting for inflation). This along with a kinda sorta okay I guess B+ Cinemascore. So now is as good a time as any to say, HUZZAH, MEDIOCRITY WINS THE DAY AGAIN! (*chugs oatmeal, fires up Coldplay record*)
Overall, box office is up 43 percent from last year, so I guess we can put off buying His/Her food bowls for the cats and dogs for a little while longer.
The Top 10, based on early estimates of domestic box office:
1. Monsters University (Buena Vista) – $82,000,000
2. World War Z (Paramount) – $66,000,000
3. Man Of Steel (Warner Bros.) – $41,215,000 ($210,006,000)
4. This Is The End (Sony) – $13,000,000 ($57,792,000)
5. Now You See Me (Lionsgate) – $7,870,000 ($94,451,000)
6. Fast & Furious 6 (Universal) – $4,725,000 ($228,413,000)
7. The Internship (Fox) – $3,425,000 ($38,365,000)
8. The Purge (Universal) – $3,412,000 ($59,428,000)
9. Star Trek Into Darkness (Paramount) – $3,000,000 ($216,611,000)
10. Iron Man 3 (Buena Vista) – $2,175,000 ($403,120,000) [Indiewire]
Fantasy Summer Box Office
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. 300: Rise of an Empire (release pushed back an entire year, just like when Laremy picked GI Joe: Retaliation last year. Man is the kiss of death)
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
Ben needs Planes to make $52 million. It opens August 9th against Elysium, Percy Jackson, and We’re the Millers. $52 million sounds like a stretch to me, but I’m not sure I’d want to bet against Pixar either. Whoops. As pointed out by commenter Greed, Planes isn’t a Pixar production. That can’t help, but it does have Dane Cook voicing the main character, so who knows.