Female moviegoers flexed their box-office might again last weekend, helping Melissa McCarthy's comedy Spy take the No. 1 spot with about $29 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters.
The espionage film, released by 20th Century Fox, follows Susan Cooper (McCarthy), a secret agent on her first field assignment: stopping an arms dealer from selling a nuclear weapon. Jude Law, Jason Statham and Rose Byrne co-star. The film was produced by Chernin Entertainment for about $65 million.
Spy marks the third time director Paul Feig has partnered with McCarthy, following the 2013 comedy The Heat and the 2011 hit Bridesmaids, which also starred Byrne.
Critics and audiences have been buzzing about Spy since its debut at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March. The film racked up a 95 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Like Bridesmaids, Spy earned a B-plus rating from audience polling company CinemaScore. An estimated 60 percent of moviegoers were female and 65 percent were older than 25.
"Paul Feig does a good job of balancing sophistication along with hilarious slapstick comedy," said Chris Aronson, Fox's head of distribution. "It's a potent combination."
Overseas, the film made $25.6 million in 54 markets, bringing the comedy's worldwide total to $86.5 million.
San Andreas, the previous weekend's top film, fell 52 percent in ticket sales and finished second. It added about $26 million to its domestic haul, bringing its total to just under $100 million.
The earthquake film, co-produced by Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures at a cost of $110 million, stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a helicopter pilot who is searching for his daughter after a massive temblor.
Positive word of mouth, reflected in an A-minus from CinemaScore, helped it to retain its audience.
Insidious: Chapter 3, the latest from Blumhouse Productions, opened in third place with about $23 million. The film, which is being released by Gramercy Pictures, Focus Features' genre label, cost a modest $10 million to make.
Leigh Whannell, co-creator of the Insidious and Saw films, directs, writes and acts in this third installment in the horror franchise.
Franchise co-creator James Wan, who recently directed Furious 7, serves as producer along with Jason Blum and Paranormal Activity creator Oren Peli. In 2013, the second installment collected more than $40 million in its opening weekend -- three times more than what the original Insidious took in in its first weekend in 2011.
"Audiences really continue to embrace this franchise and we're thrilled," said Jim Orr, president of distribution at Focus Features.
The marketing campaign for the third Insidious installment was geared toward the core franchise fan base, which skews younger than 25. It worked. An estimated 69 percent of the audience fell in that age group. An estimated 54 percent of moviegoers were women. Audiences gave the film a B-plus rating on CinemaScore, and critics were mostly positive.
Entourage, which cost less than $30 million to make, ended in fourth for the weekend with a three-day total of $10.3 million. The film, which got off to a strong start with a midweek opening, has collected about $18 million domestically in total.
Dan Fellman, Warner Bros.' head of domestic distribution, said he was pleasantly surprised by the uptick in sales on Saturday, especially on the West Coast. Four of the five top-grossing theaters for Saturday night showings were in Los Angeles.
"That to me was the first time we had that burst from the West Coast, which is encouraging and hopefully an indication that we are going to hold nicely," Fellman said.
Written and directed by TV series creator Doug Ellin, Entourage picks up shortly after the 2011 HBO finale with the boys -- Hollywood star Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), E (Kevin Connolly), Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and Drama (Kevin Dillon) -- back to their usual shenanigans.
Celebrity cameos also propel the film, including appearances by Pharrell Williams, Jessica Alba, Liam Neeson, Warren Buffett, Tom Brady and Mark Wahlberg, producer and the series' inspiration.
By comparison, two movies based on the HBO series Sex and the City opened to bigger numbers. Pals Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte signed off the TV series in 2004, and the first film, released in 2008, opened at No. 1 with a $57 million take despite lukewarm reviews. It went on to rack up $152.6 million in North America and $415.3 million worldwide.
"We loved working with HBO," Fellman said. "I really think there's a tremendous opportunity with some of the incredible product that they have to put on the big screen."
Although Entourage has a loyal following, especially among male audiences, some critics have bashed the show for glorifying a story line about shallow dudes who objectify women. The film has received similarly poor reviews, but audiences gave it an A-minus grade from CinemaScore. An estimated 64 percent of the audience was male.
Mad Max: Fury Road rounded out the top five, collecting about $8 million in its fourth weekend of release. On Saturday, Warner Bros. announced the action film roared past the $300-million mark internationally. Domestically, the film has made about $130.7 million.
The latest George Miller franchise film, with consistently positive reviews and a B-plus grade from audiences, stars Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy in the title role made famous by Mel Gibson.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Monday (except Entourage, which opened June 3), followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Tuesday by Rentrak:
- Spy, 20th Century Fox, $29,085,719, 3,711 locations, $7,838 average, $29,085,719, one week.
- San Andreas, Warner Bros., $25,839,225, 3,812 locations, $6,778 average, $98,465,426, two weeks.
- Insidious: Chapter 3, Focus Features, $22,692,741, 3,002 locations, $7,559 average, $22,692,741, one week.
- Entourage, Warner Bros., $10,283,250, 3,108 locations, $3,309 average, $17,668,088, one week.
- Mad Max: Fury Road, Warner Bros., $7,831,453, 2,720 locations, $2,879 average, $130,665,718, four weeks.
- Pitch Perfect 2, Universal, $7,573,350, 3,403 locations, $2,225 average, $160,854,945, four weeks.
- Tomorrowland, Disney, $7,200,103, 3,012 locations, $2,390 average, $76,414,081, three weeks.
- Avengers: Age of Ultron, Disney, $6,339,663, 2,471 locations, $2,566 average, $438,153,559, six weeks.
- Aloha, Columbia, $3,240,312, 2,815 locations, $1,151 average, $16,282,116, two weeks.
- Poltergeist, 20th Century Fox, $2,705,009, 2,229 locations, $1,214 average, $44,306,937, three weeks.
- Love & Mercy, Roadside Attractions, $2,122,177, 483 locations, $4,394 average, $2,122,177, one week.
- Dil Dhadakne Do, Eros Entertainment, $1,326,267, 238 locations, $5,573 average, $1,326,267, one week.
- Home, 20th Century Fox, $828,905, 715 locations, $1,159 average, $171,919,512, 11 weeks.
- Far From The Madding Crowd, Fox Searchlight, $701,535, 610 locations, $1,150 average, $9,890,206, six weeks.
- I'll See You in My Dreams, Bleecker Street, $552,778, 165 locations, $3,350 average, $1,851,148, four weeks.
- Furious 7, Universal, $436,315, 471 locations, $926 average, $350,034,110, 10 weeks.
- Hot Pursuit, Warner Bros., $418,372, 537 locations, $779 average, $33,352,726, five weeks.
- Ex Machina, A24 Films, $358,509, 302 locations, $1,187 average, $24,299,872, nine weeks.
- Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, Columbia, $333,179, 368 locations, $905 average, $68,379,504, eight weeks.
- Cinderella, Disney, $303,470, 302 locations, $1,005 average, $198,782,354, 13 weeks.
MovieStyle on 06/12/2015