It was not a good weekend for anyone associated with the “Fantastic Four.” From director Josh Trank's now legendary deleted tweet to accusations of studio meddling and Trank's meltdowns being detailed in the press it's simply three days 20th Century Fox would rather forget ever happened. Oh, and we haven't even gotten to the box office results.
Not only did “Fantastic Four” grossly underperform, but it lost the battle for the weekend crown to the previous champ, “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.” The Christopher McQuarrie directed thriller took in another $29.4 million over the three-day for an impressive $108.6 million tally in just 10 days. The Paramount Pictures and Skydance financed “Mission” has also earned a hefty $156.7 million internationally for a $265.3 million global cume. It won't be easy, but the fifth installment in the “Mission” franchise now has at least has a real shot of matching “Ghost Protocol's” $694.7 million worldwide cume.
Debuting in second was the not-so “Fantastic Four.” The reboot of Marvel's first family earned just $26.2 million and another $34.1 million overseas. With a reported $125 million production budget that's not good. “Fantastic” actually dropped 24.6% Friday to Saturday as its C- Cinemascore proved word of mouth was going to be a serious issue. This is nothing but a disaster for Fox who rebooted the series in order to keep the big screen rights away from reverting back to Marvel Studios. At one point, pre-release polling indicated a $50 million plus weekend, but that was before some of the worst reviews of the year began to trickle in. “Four” earned just a 27 out of 100 grade on Metacritic and rated a not-so fresh 9% on Rotten Tomatoes. What happens next with the property is anyone's guess.
Arriving stronger than expected in third was Joel Edgerton's directorial debut, “The Gift.” The first official release from STX Entertainment took in a superb $12.5 million which included an unexpected and an almost 10% jump Friday to Saturday. Considering the critically acclaimed thriller reportedly cost just $5 million, that's quite a win for STX who contributed just $2.5 million to the budget.
“Vacation” took the fourth spot with another $9.1 million and $37.3 million to date. It's not the summer surprise Warner Bros. was hoping for, but could eventually break even thanks to just a $31 million production budget.
“Ant-Man” rounded out the top five knocking out $7.8 million for a very good $147.4 million so far. A $170 million domestic tally is still within reach for the Peyton Reed directed flick.
Among other new releases, Jonathan Demme's “Ricki and the Flash” with Meryl Streep made $7 million in just 1,603 theaters. Sony Pictures plans on expanding onto more screens this upcoming weekend as “The Flash's” older audience slowly begins make their way to the local multiplex to catch it.
Shockingly, “Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F” has taken in $5.58 million since Wednesday. A three-day estimate wasn't given which would include Sunday, but that already makes it one of the top 10 highest Anime releases of all-time in the U.S. Distributor FUNimation had originally planned to just run the Japanese animated flick in theaters for a week, but will now add more screens to see just how far it can go.
Lionsgate released Aardman's “Shaun the Sheep” in the U.S. to stellar notices, but just $4 million at the box office since Wednesday. Happily, the stop-motion animated flick has already earned $65.2 million globally to date.
Box office actuals are released on Monday.
For more box office and movie buzz follow @TheGregoryE