“X-Men: Days of Future Past” powered to a $36 million first day at the box office Friday, setting the pace for a Memorial Day weekend haul that could hit $110 million over the four days.
The three-day take for Fox’s Marvel mutant mashup looks like it will be between $90 million and $95 million — in the same range as “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” ($95 million), “Godzilla” ($93 million) and “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” ($91 million). We’re still waiting for the summer’s first $100 million opening; the last movie to pull off the feat was “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” back in November.
“Godzilla” took in $8.8 million Friday, down roughly 77 percent from its $38.4 million opening day last week, which remains the year’s best. That puts the monster movie remake from Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. on pace for a $31 million three-day total and around $40 million for the four. It’s up to $125 million domestically and more than $230 million worldwide in just over a week.
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The weekend’s other wide opener, the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore comedy “Blended,” got off to a slow start. It was running third with a soft $4.3 million Friday, which projects to a $14 million three-day take and around $17 million for the four.
That would be well under the $30 million Warner Bros. had hoped to see, but it’s the only fresh PG-13 family offering in the market, so it could see an uptick and hit $20 million. First-night audiences liked it more than the critics — it’s at a dismal 11 percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes — and gave it an “A-” CinemaScore.
“X-Men: Days of Future Past,” on the other hand, has been very well-reviewed and moviegoers agreed, awarding it an “A” CinemaScore.
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Fox focused its marketing of the Bryan Singer-directed comic book tale on the time-travel plot and all-star cast, and it’s connecting. Hugh Jackman and Jennifer Lawrence top an ensemble that combines the cast of the original “X-Men” trilogy with the 2011 reboot “X-Men: First Class” and includes James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Nicholas Hoult, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and Peter Dinklage. Simon Kinberg, Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn are the writers.
It appears that “X-Men: The Last Stand” will remain the biggest opener in the series. It totaled $102 million over three days in its debut on Memorial Day weekend in 2006, and $122.8 million over the four days. It’s the highest-grossing film in the series with $459 million worldwide.
Universal’s R-rated comedy “Neighbors” was a close fourth with $4.2 million Friday. That projects to $13.8 million for the three days for the Seth Rogen-Zac Efron frat vs. family romp. It crossed the $100 million mark on Friday and should be at $117 million domestically by Monday.
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“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” and Disney’s “Million Dollar Arm” were fifth and sixth on Friday. Sony’s Marvel superhero sequel is looking at around $10 million for the four days, which would raise its domestic total to more than $185 million and its global total past $650 million after four weeks . The Jon Hamm baseball movie should come in at around $8 million for the four days, which would put it at $21 million domestically after two weeks.
“The Other Woman” and the animated musical “Rio 2,” both from Fox were next, followed by Open Road’s “Chef.” The Jon Favreau food truck comedy broke into the top ten in its expansion into 498 theaters and is looking at $2.8 million for the four days.
Overall, the holiday weekend is tracking behind last year’s, when “Fast and Furious 6” brought in $117 million over the four days to beat out “The Hangover Part III,” which took in $50 million.
