Audiences largely avoided the movies this weekend, perhaps showing signs of blockbuster fatigue as the summer winds to a close. But those who turned out mostly saw 2 Guns, although its $27M debut is one of the season's weakest. The film shares the same director and star as last year's Contraband, Baltasar Kormakur and Mark Wahlberg, which opened at $24M. The presence of Denzel Washington is likely the reason why it performed slightly better, but this is still a fairly mediocre number. The problem may be that 2 Guns is largely indistinguishable from the recent run of films by both stars, and the marketing made no attempt to show why this was any different.
2. The Wolverine- $21.725M
Curious why 20th Century Fox seems to have turned all of its attention towards next year's X-men: Days of Future Past? It may have something to do with the average response to The Wolverine, which slips 59% and falls out of #1 in its second weekend. While it's closing in on $100M, and may approach $140M domestic when all is said and done, Wolverine isn't the best at what he does this time, as that total would be the lowest of ALL X-men films to date. Fortunately, it's shredding up the competition overseas, earning $159M for a worldwide haul of $254M.
3. The Smurfs 2- $18.2M/$27.6M
Oh hey, ouch! That must really smurfin' hurt for Sony to watch its favorite blue franchise fall so hard. Two years ago, The Smurfs opened at $36M, on the way to $142M domestic and a mind-blowing $560M (!!!) worldwide. Those numbers had the studio looking forward to The Smurfs 3, which is already slated for the summer of 2015, but now you can bet Sony's bean counters are considering other options. The Smurfs 2 may have struggled over the five-day weekend (it opened on Wednesday), but it did hold on to a good chunk of the international market with $52.5M, giving it $80.2M overall.
4. The Conjuring- $13.6M/$108.6M
5. Despicable Me 2- $10.4M/$326.6M
6. Grown Ups 2- $8.1M/$116.4M
7. Turbo- $6.4M/$69.48M
8. Red 2- $5.65M/$45.15M
9. The Heat- $4.7M/$149.5M
10. Pacific Rim- $4.57M/$93M
Opening in just four theaters, the Miles Teller/Shailene Woodley teen drama The Spectacular Now scored an impressive $200K for a $50K per site average. The film will expand slowly over the coming weeks, and considering the strong buzz (including our review here) it could turn out to be a summer sleeper.
In its second week, Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine continues to look like it may match the success of Midnight in Paris. Expanding to 50 theaters, the film earned $2.02M for a $40K average per location.
