The four-day Memorial Day weekend is looking like it will break the all-time record, but the three-day totals through Sunday weren’t anything to sneeze at.
As expected, “Fast and Furious 6” dominated the frame grossing a massive $98.5 million. That easily surpasses the three-day opening for “Fast Five” which made $86.1 million two years ago. The last Justin Lin-directed installment of the popular franchise is on track to make $122 million by end of day on Monday. For comparison’s sake, “2 Fast 2 Furious” found just $127 million overall 10 years ago.
Debuting in the second slot was Warner Bros.’ “The Hangover, Pt. III.” The final chapter in Todd Phillips’ comedy trilogy grossed $42.4 million for the weekend and has found $54.2 million since opening on Thursday. That’s far behind the $85 million “Pt. II” opened to over the same weekend two years ago, but WB realized things were going to be tough going up against “Fast 6” months ago. They’ll take it and hope for bigger returns overseas.
“Star Trek Into Darkness” dropped to third with $38 million and $146.8 million in just 11 days. Paramount is no doubt breathing easier that “Into Darkness” will likely cross the $200 million mark domestically.
Opening in fourth was 20th Century Fox’s “Epic.” The CG animated adventure earned $34.2 million over the weekend and hopes to cash in on the increasing number of kids out of school over the next few weeks. The debut is markedly lower than “The Croods” earlier this year which Fox distributed for DreamWorks Animation. Fox hoped that “Epic” would be good counter programming for families over the weekend, but debuting on a less crowded weekend might have been a better strategy.
“Iron Man 3” landed in fifth with another $19.4 million and $367.5 million in the U.S. Globally, “IM3” surpassed “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” for the no. 5 highest grossing film worldwide after hitting $1.142 billion. It has a good shot to pass “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2” at no. 3 which would find it right behind “The Avengers.”
In limited release, Sony Pictures Classics had a fantastic debut for Richard Linklater’s “Before Midnight.” The third film in the “Before” trilogy debuted to $274,000 or $54,800 in five theaters in New York, Austin and Los Angeles. If the film had skipped Linklater’s hometown this weekend the average would have been even higher. “Midnight” will expand across the nation this month.
Look for final Memorial Day weekend totals tomorrow on HitFix.