Box Office: Females Fuel 'Other Woman' to First-Place $24.7 Million Debut
Fox's comedy The Other Woman dominated the final weekend before the official start of the summer box office, laughing its way to a strong $24.7 million debut from 3,205 theaters after a long dry spell for femme-fueled fare.
Other Woman -- teaming Cameron Diaz opposite Leslie Mann and Kate Upton -- unseated Captain America: The Winter Soldier from the top spot at the North American box office after it dominated the chart for three consecutive weekends.
Overseas, the comedy took in $12.8 million from 31 markets for an early total of $20.6 million and global cume of $45.3 million. Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was the big winner internationally, where it is opening ahead of its May 2 North American launch, amassing $67.2 million over the weekend for an early total of $132 million (Other Woman did narrowly beat the superhero movie in Australia, however, grossing $4.1 million).
Directed by Nick Cassavetes, Other Woman is a win for Diaz and could bode well for Sony's July comedy Sex Tape, in which she stars opposite Jason Segel.
Other Woman stars Diaz, Mann and Upton as three jilted women determined to expose a philandering husband. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Nicki Minaj and Taylor Kinney also star in the $40 million movie, which earned a B+ CinemaScore. Females made up a whopping 75 percent of the audience, while 65 percent of ticket buyers were over the age of 25. Roughly 44 percent were between the ages of 18 to 24, a healthy showing.
"The combination of the three actresses and a fun movie really struck a chord," said Fox senior vice president of domestic distribution Spencer Klein.
Captain America 2 placed No. 2 in its fourth weekend, grossing $16 million from 3,620 locations for a domestic total of $224.9 million, becoming the top-grossing April release of all time in North America. Globally, the Disney and Marvel superhero tentpole eclipsed Iron Man 2 ($624 million) over the weekend, finishing Sunday with a worldwide total of $645.2 million.
Disney also celebrated Frozen becoming the top-grossing Western animated film of all time in Japan, where it finished the weekend with a cume of $118 million. Globally, Frozen has hit $1.143 billion. And Disney and DreamWorks' Need for Speed has crossed the $200 million mark globally.
TriStar's Christian film Heaven Is For Real crossed the $50 million mark in its second outing in North America, coming in No. 3 with $13.8 million for a domestic total of $51.9 million. The faith-based title is playing in 2,705 locations.
Fox's second film in the top five, 3D animated family film Rio 2, took in $13.7 million from 3,703 theaters for a domestic total of $96.2 million. Internationally, the movie hit the $250 million mark, pushing its global total to $346.2 million.
Brick Mansions, the late Paul Walker's second-to-last film before Fast & Furious 7, placed No. 5 in its opening, taking in $9.6 million from 2,647 theaters.
From Luc Besson's EuropaCorp and Transfilm International, Brick Mansions cost $28 million to make. Relativity, which is releasing the action movie in the U.S., worked closely with Walker's team and family during the marketing process. The film, written by Besson, was a passion project for Walker, who died in November 2013 in a fiery crash while on break from shooting Fast & Furious 7.
Brick Mansions, set in a dystopian Detroit and earning a B+ CinemaScore, is an English-language remake of the French film Banlieue 13 and stars Walker as an undercover cop who teams with an ex-convict to save their city from destruction. David Belle reprises his role as the ex-convict.
In honor of Walker's memory, Relativity and EuropaCorp have made a donation to his charity, Reach Out WorldWide.
Johnny Depp's ill-fated Transcendence fell a steep 62 percent in its second weekend, earning $4.1 million from 3,455 theaters for a troubled domestic total of $18.5 million. The sci-fi epic, coming in No. 6, cost $100 million to make. Transcendence is doing slightly better overseas, earning $10.8 million for the weekend from 37 markets for an international total of $33.1 million, but the filmmakers were hoping for a much better showing. Globally, the movie has taken in $51.6 million.
New horror title The Quiet Ones opened to an underwhelming $4 million to place No. 7 after earning a C+ CinemaScore.
From Lionsgate and Exclusive Media, Quiet Ones was directed by John Pogue and stars Jared Harris, Sam Claflin and Olivia Cooke. The movie, set in an estate outside London, revolves around a university president and a team of students who conduct an experiment on a young girl with unspeakable secrets.
A24 Films' British thriller Locke scored the top location average of the weekend, grossing $89,210 from four theaters in New York and Los Angeles for an average of $22,302. Steven Knight directed the film, which stars Tom Hardy.
Here are the top 10 estimates for the weekend of April 25-27 at the domestic box office:
Title, Weeks in Release/Theater Count, Studio, Weekend Total, Percentage Drop, Cume
1. The Other Woman, 1/3,205, Fox, $24.7 million.
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, 4/3,620, Disney/Marvel, $16 million, -37%, $224.9 million.
3. Heaven Is for Real, 2/2,705 Sony/TriStar, $13.8 million, -39%, $51.9 million.
4. Rio 2, 3/3,703, Fox/Blue Sky, $13.7 million, -38%, $96.2 million.
5. Brick Mansions, 1/2,647, Relativity/EuropaCorp, $9.6 million.
6. Transcendence, 2/3,455, Warner Bros./Alcon, $4.1 million, -62%, $18.5 million.
7. The Quiet Ones, 1/2,027, Lionsgate/Exclusive, $4 million.
8. Divergent, 6/2,066, Lionsgate/Summit, $3.6 million, -25%, $139.5 million.
9. Bears, 2/1,720, Disney, $3.6 million, -36%, $11.2 million.
10. A Haunted House 2, 2/2,310, Open Road/IM Global, $3.3 million, -63%, $14.2 million.
