Box Office News and Updates: On Friday, 'X-Men' Stands No. 1 with $26.4M while 'Alice 2' Falls Down the Rabbit Hole
On Friday, 'X-Men' topped the Box Office with $26.4 million 4,150 theaters for a projected $80 million domestic debut over the long Memorial Day weekend.
Bryan Singer's X-Men: Apocalypse easily topped but the earnings were somewhat behind expectations.
But, Disney's Alice Through the Looking Glass roughly earned $9.7 million from 3,763 locations for a $40 million-$41 million debut - 65 percent behind director Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, which opened to a stunning $116 million in spring 2010.
The film cost $170 million to produce, and has been ravaged by critics, although it nabbed an A- CinemaScore from moviegoers.
Alice 2 had an expectation of $55 million-$65 million at launch. But, box-observers believed Apocalypse could near $100 million. Fox, however, was more conservative, saying $80 million-plus.
The studio knew Apocalypse wasn't likely to match the $110.6 million debut of Singer's Days of Future Past over Memorial Day weekend in 2014 considering it has a 48 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to 92 percent for Days of Future Past. Audiences liked Apocalypsebetter than critics did, giving it an A- CinemaScore.
Fox domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson said he was "exceptionally pleased" with the results, and predicted that the film's A-minus CinemaScore would set it up for repeat business.
"It's a challenging marketplace, to be sure, but the domestic opening coupled with the international rollout puts us in terrific shape," he said.
Overseas, "X-Men: Apocalypse" has made $185.8 million, which will bring its global haul to more than $260 million after the weekend.
Things were much bleaker for "Alice Through the Looking Glass." The follow-up to 2010's "Alice in Wonderland," which racked up more than $1 billion during its run, stumbled out of the gate, bombing with $28.1 million and a projected $35 million over the four-day period. That's a disastrous start for a film with an $170 million production budget.
"It's disappointing and it's head scratching to a certain degree," said Dave Hollis, Disney's distribution chief.
He noted that the studio just passed $4 billion in record time, in part because it has decided to make fewer, but bigger-budgeted films. In the case of "Zootopia" or "Captain America: Civil War" that paid off with two of the highest-grossing hits of the year.
"We're always striving for higher-quality, branded films," said Hollis. "We make these big bets and sometimes they really pay off. We took one here, but it did not do the kind of business we were hoping. You have to take everything in stride."
