Remember when the idea of Jonah Hill remaking 21 Jump Street seemed like the worst idea ever? That film went on to over $200M, becoming one of the highest-grossing R-rated comedies, and and now 22 Jump Street is poised to do even better. The sequel opened to a whopping $60M, the fifth best weekend for a comedy ever and far better than 21 Jump Street's $36M debut. That film had remarkably long legs bolstered by strong word-of-mouth, and considering the reviews for the sequel have been just as good, we could be looking at a similarly lengthy run. Obviously this is a huge feather in the cap of Hill, Channing Tatum, and cIce Cube, but probably the biggest beneficiary of these numbers is co-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. The duo already have one 2014 hit under their belts with The Lego Movie, and if 22 Jump Street's numbers hold they will be the first directors ever to have two $60M debuting films in the same calendar year. Sony is probably already on the phone with everybody and ordering up a trip (next door, as it were) to 23 Jump Street.
2. How to Train Your Dragon 2- $50M
Dreamworks was probably expecting How to Train Your Dragon 2 to soar to greater heights, but the $50M opening weekend does surpass the first film's $43M premiere. It's just that we tend to see bigger bumps on animated sequels, although to be fair most of them don't face a buzzsaw the likes of 22 Jump Street, or strong holdovers in Maleficent, Edge of Tomorrow, X-men: Days of Future Past, and The Fault In Our Stars.There aren't a ton of family-friendly options until deep into July so the film will do well here and overseas. No matter what we're going to get How to Train Your Dragon 3 which is already set to open in 2016.
3. Maleficent- $19M/$163.5M
4. Edge of Tomorrow- $16.1M/$56.6M
Tom Cruise's Edge of Tomorrow slipped 44% from last week which is actually pretty good and suggests the positive reviews are having an effect. While these numbers are still disappointing,Cruise's global appeal has earned it an additional $111M on the foreign market.
5. The Fault In Our Stars- $15.7M/$81.7M
Good news and bad news for Shailene Woodley's acclaimed cancer drama, The Fault In Our Stars. The bad news is it tumbled hard, losing 67% after opening at #1. I guess every drop of tears was spilled last week and nobody had it in them to spill any more. The good news is the film has already banked $98M if you count international totals, more than making up the $12M budget.
6. X-men: Days of Future Past- $9.5M/$205.9M
Bryan Singer's all-star mutant jam X-men: Days of Future Past has now overtaken The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as the highest-grossing film of the summer, and currently sits at $633M worldwide.
7. Godzilla- $3.1M/$191.3M
8. A Million Ways to Die in the West- $3M/$38.9M
9. Neighbors- $2.4M/$143.1M
10. Chef- $2.2M/$14M
