Everyone anticipated that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War would be huge hits this year. While the Memorial Day weekend was expected to be a huge battle ground with two competing blockbuster sequels in X-Men: Apocalypse and Alice Through the Looking Glass, going head-to-head. It turns out that there was less competition than was hoped for, however it seems that both Fox and Disney will both walk away from the holiday licking their wounds.
X-Men: Apocalypse had a melancholy opening with an estimated $65 million dollar debut over the three-day period, while it is looking to have a $80 million dollar pull if you include the monday holiday. X-Men: Days of Future Past opened over the same holiday weekend in 2014, making $90 million dollars over the three-day period and over $110 million dollars during the four day holiday. So it’s clear that the franchise is not headed in the correct direction, which should be unnerving to Fox executives. Add to the fact that Deadpool, which was modestly budgeted at $58 million dollars, had a $132 million dollar opening in February that could end up being higher than X-Men: Apocalypse’s entire U.S. run. The movie has an announced budget of $178 million dollars, so it will be crucial for the international market to carry the film as well.
Alice Through the Looking Glass is shaping up to be one of the biggest flops of 2016. It’s the sequel to 2010’s smash hit, Alice in Wonderland, that was directed by Tim Burton into a billion dollar worldwide blockbuster. Despite the recent success of Disney’s live-action fairy tales, the sequel felt unnecessary with critics destroying the movie and audiences seemingly sensing the stench of a cinematic turd. It made an estimated $26.9 million dollars, against an announced budget of $170 million dollars. However, Disney is in a unique position to absorb the loss. The studio has already made over $4 billion dollars in 2016, with three movies that have already gone over the $1 billion mark, including Captain America: Civil War, Zootopia, and The Jungle Book. What is most concerning is that director James Bobin will be helming the 21 Jump Street and Men in Black mashup that is looking like more of a trainwreck with each passing day.
The Angry Birds Movie had a huge second weekend by losing only about 51% of its first week’s audience. It made an estimated $18.7 million dollars over the three day weekend and pushed its total over $66 million dollars. The movie has certainly held up its side of the bargain in bringing credibility to the video game movie genre. Assassin’s Creed…you are up next…
In its fourth week of release, Captain America: Civil War, dropped down to fourth place with an estimated $15.3 million dollars during the Friday to Monday period. The movie crossed the billion dollar mark at the worldwide box-office becoming the third Disney film to achieve the feat this year and proving the continued vitality of the Marvel brand.
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising was the only movie whose release was widened this past weekend, however it failed to make much of a mark. Seth Rogen’s comedy sequel made an additional $9.2 million dollars and pushed its domestic total over $38 million dollars. Unfortunately, the original made more in its first three days than the sequel has to date, despite getting positive reviews. Surely Universal Studios is questioning their strategy to open the movie in such a crowded window…or at least they should be…
Here is the complete box-office breakdown for the weekend of May 27th-29th, 2016.
| TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count / Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
| 1 | N | X-Men: Apocalypse | Fox | $65,000,000 | – | 4,150 | – | $15,663 | $65,300,000 | $178 | 1 |
| 2 | N | Alice Through the Looking Glass | BV | $26,997,000 | – | 3,763 | – | $7,174 | $26,997,000 | $170 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | The Angry Birds Movie | Sony | $18,750,000 | -50.9% | 3,932 | – | $4,769 | $66,403,309 | $73 | 2 |
| 4 | 2 | Captain America: Civil War | BV | $15,379,000 | -53.3% | 3,395 | -831 | $4,530 | $372,855,948 | $250 | 4 |
| 5 | 3 | Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising | Uni. | $9,274,440 | -57.4% | 3,416 | +32 | $2,715 | $38,511,020 | – | 2 |
| 6 | 5 | The Jungle Book (2016) | BV | $7,111,000 | -35.0% | 2,523 | -937 | $2,818 | $338,622,909 | $175 | 7 |
| 7 | 4 | The Nice Guys | WB | $6,515,000 | -41.8% | 2,865 | – | $2,274 | $21,878,672 | – | 2 |
| 8 | 6 | Money Monster | TriS | $4,350,000 | -38.0% | 2,315 | -789 | $1,879 | $34,002,226 | $27 | 3 |
| 9 | 14 | Love & Friendship | RAtt. | $2,496,000 | +345.9% | 493 | +446 | $5,063 | $3,408,770 | – | 3 |
| 10 | 8 | Zootopia | BV | $821,000 | -51.2% | 572 | -805 | $1,435 | $335,865,645 | – | 13 |
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Source: Box Office Mojo