Two major sequels that earned rave reviews and featured Jonah Hill opened at the box office this weekend. Which movie came out on top is somewhat surprising.
“22 Jump Street” came in at no. 1 with an estimated $60 million over the three day handily beating “21 Jump Street's” $36 million debut a little over two years ago. The opening is the largest live action opening of both Hill and co-star Channing Tatum's careers and with an A- Cinemascore rating “22 Jump” should easily surpass the original's $138.4 million gross. Also, don't be surprised if it ends up as the highest grossing comedy of the summer. Right now, its biggest competition is Melissa McCarthy's “Tammy” opening July 2.
Debuting in second was one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, “How To Train Your Dragon 2.” The sequel to the beloved 2010 Oscar nominated animated feature took in just $50 million on over 4,200 screens. Many expected that after Saturday matinees “HTTYD2” would overtake “22 Jump” for the weekend crown, but, instead, “Dragon 2” shockingly fell 7.2% from its Friday debut. Finding a major animated release that experienced a Friday to Saturday drop on its opening weekend of any kind is extremely rare. Even DreamWorks Animation's last release, the disappointing “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” jumped 79.3%. It appears that more tweens and families actually went to see “22 Jump” on Saturday than anyone would have expected. In an interview with HitFix last month, DreamWorks CEO discussed his concern over opening animated blockbusters against major four quadrant releases such as “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” or “Thor: The Dark World.” “22 Jump” performed much the same way as those Marvel releases taking a good chunk of “Dragon's” family audience. The good news for “Dragon” fans is that the film earned an A Cinemascore and has little traditional family competition until Disney's “Planes: Fire and Rescue” hits theaters on July 18. Whether it can match the original's $217 million domestic gross remains to be seen.
“Maleficent” cast a spell in the third slot taking in another $19 million. The Disney release has earned $163.5 million in less than three weeks and will absolutely pass “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” to become Angelina Jolie's biggest U.S. hit by the end of the month.
Warner Bros. “Edge of Tomorrow” took fifth with another $16.1 million and $56.6 million overall. Despite strong reviews, “Tomorrow” looks as though it will barely surpass Tom Cruise's last release, “Oblivion,” which earned just $89 million domestic last year.
Falling all the way to no. 5 was “The Fault in Our Stars” with another $15.7 million and $81.7 million in its first 10 days. The Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort drama should cross the $100 million mark by July 4 but after a 67.2% drop it isn't the massive crossover smash 20th Century Fox thought they had. Still, with a budget of just $12 million its a hugely profitable hit for the studio.
New releases on Friday include Clint Eastwood's “Jersey Boys” and Kevin Hart's “Think Like A Man Too.”
Final box office actuals are released on Monday.