The Fault In Our Stars Shines At The US Box Office

It was a battle of romance vs. sci-fi this weekend at the American box office, and love really did conquer all, as The Fault In Our Stars soundly trounced Edge Of Tomorrow in the quest for the top of the charts.

With Fault novel writer John Green’s impressive social media following and the presence of rising star Shailene Woodley in the lead driving interest, The Fault In Our Stars drew fans of the book and the actress in droves, front-loading attendance for a result of $48.2 million this first weekend alone. That means the movie has already taken in four times the amount it cost to make, and shows no sign of slowing down despite a drop between Friday and Saturday, with audiences giving it a healthy thumbs up, which indicates it’ll have positive word of mouth appeal. It’s also yet more clear proof that films driven by women in front of the camera and in the audience can be hugely successful, especially when you consider that Fault deposed Angelina Jolie and Maleficent from the top spot. The re-imagined Sleeping Beauty tale slipped one place to second, earning $33.5 million to ease past $127 million in the US.

Tom Cruise won’t be quite so pleased, though. Despite Edge Of Tomorrow scoring some great reviews, audiences have thus far been surprisingly sluggish to respond to the sci-fi pic. Following the trend in the UK and elsewhere upon its international release, the film struggled domestically, earning just $29.1 million for the weekend in the US and $89.4 million worldwide so far. Not a great number when your budget was $178 million and you also have to earn back advertising costs. It remains to be seen whether Edge has legs. X-Men: Days Of Future Past continues to show just such strength, adding $14.7 million this weekend in fourth for a US running total of $189.1 million and over $600m worldwide.

A Million Ways To Die In The West, however, continues to do slow business, with $7.1 million this weekend and $30 million so far – bad news when you consider that Seth MacFarlane’s last comedy pic, Ted, earned $54 million in its first weekend alone.

Godzilla sank to sixth place, earning $5.9 million, while Seth Rogen/Zac Efron comedy Neighbors was seventh with $5.2 million. The pic has earned $135 million in the US to date and already has producer Rogen thinking sequel.

Towards the bottom of the top 10, we find Blended in eighth place and $4 million, Chef continuing to tempt cinemagoers, holding onto ninth for the third week in a row thanks to adding 674 screens and $2.6 million for a $10.3 million total, and baseball drama Million Dollar Arm falling to 10th and $1.8 million.