LOS ANGELES -- It was a cold weekend for the comedy Hot Pursuit as the superhero sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron maintained its mighty grip on the box office, adding an estimated $78 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters for one of the highest second-weekend grosses of all time.
Although the Marvel tent-pole film fell 60 percent from its opening, it still surpassed the second-weekend grosses for all films, including Fox's Avatar ($75.6 million), with just one exception: its 2012 predecessor, The Avengers ($103.1 million).
Age of Ultron, which now has made about $313 million domestically, is far outpacing the other blockbuster of 2015, Furious 7. That franchise film had collected $152.5 million after its second weekend.
Ultron continued its dominance overseas as well. It added $68.3 million in its third weekend, raising its international total in 90 territories to $562.4 million -- and the film has yet to open in key markets.
Directed by Joss Whedon, Age of Ultron follows superheroes Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) as they battle technological villain Ultron (James Spader). Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson play twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff.
The film, which cost $250 million to make, has been propelled by that star power as well as strong audience and critical response. It received a solid A rating from audience polling firm CinemaScore and has an 85 percent positive rating on critic site Rotten Tomatoes.
By contrast, MGM and New Line's comedy Hot Pursuit, which was released by Warner Bros., fell short of tracking expectations of $15 million to $20 million. It collected about $14 million in the United States and Canada.
The comedy, which cost $35 million to make, follows an uptight cop (Reese Witherspoon) who has to help protect a drug lord's wife (Sofia Vergara). Both actresses served as producers for the film, which was directed by Anne Fletcher (27 Dresses), and the stars tried to use their social media followings to promote the comedy -- heavily.
The film marks Witherspoon's return to the big screen following her Oscar-nominated portrayal of Cheryl Strayed in Wild. Vergara, the Colombian-born actress with a large fan base, is best known for her role as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on ABC's Modern Family.
An estimated 62 percent of moviegoers were female. About 82 percent of the audience was older than 25.
Reviews and word of mouth were not in the film's favor. It garnered a paltry 6 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a C-plus grade on CinemaScore. Audience members younger than 18, however, gave the film an A; those from 18 to 24 gave it an A-minus.
Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. distribution executive vice president, said the film gathered strong interest in the Southeast, the South and the Southwest, where turnout was particularly high among Hispanic moviegoers.
"Areas in the east, which tend to be review-driven, were lighter than what we wanted," Goldstein said. "But our audience was older -- and older female audiences don't rush out the first weekend to see a film."
Coming in third was Lionsgate's Age of Adaline, which fell just 10 percent from the previous weekend. It added about $5.8 million and raised its cumulative total to about $32 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters since its April 24 opening.
In its sixth weekend of release, Universal Pictures' Furious 7 came in at No. 4. It added about $5.4 million, bringing its domestic total to about $339 million. It has pulled in $1.46 billion worldwide.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 rounded out the top five, adding $5.3 million. The Columbia comedy has made $58.2 million domestically.
The Jack Black-starring comedy The D Train debuted in 1,009 theaters with about $448,000, for a per-screen average of just $444. The film, which IFC Films picked up at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, follows a middle-aged man (Black) who becomes obsessed with getting the most popular guy in his high school class (James Marsden) to attend their reunion.
Meanwhile, Fox Searchlight's remake of Far From the Madding Crowd surged 361 percent in its second weekend after expanding to 99 theaters. The film, which stars Carey Mulligan and is based on the Thomas Hardy novel of the same name, made about $776,000, for a per-screen average of $7,684. The film, at No. 15, has collected more than $1 million to date.
The studio said the film is playing best to art and specialty house audiences; however, it also is doing well in upscale multiplexes. It has strong reviews and word-of-mouth, reflected in an A-minus CinemaScore.
The well-reviewed artificial intelligence tale Ex Machina, from A24, was up 52 percent after it expanded to about 2,000 theaters. The film, which came in sixth, collected $3.5 million over the weekend, raising its total haul to about $15.8 million.
Also in limited release, Sony Pictures Classics' bio-pic Saint Laurent made $36,136 in four theaters for a per screen average of $9,034.
The box office is up 5.8 percent year-to-date. Analysts have said this summer will likely see record attendance with a robust lineup that includes action films such as Jurassic World as well as female-driven flicks such as Pitch Perfect 2.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak:
Avengers: Age of Ultron, Disney, $77,746,929, 4,276 locations, $18,182 average, $313,402,397, two weeks.
Hot Pursuit, Warner Bros., $13,942,258, 3,003 locations, $4,643 average, $13,942,258, one week.
The Age of Adaline, Lionsgate, $5,821,894, 3,070 locations, $1,896 average, $31,750,987, three weeks.
Furious 7, Universal, $5,407,200, 3,004 locations, $1,800 average, $338,555,135, six weeks.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, Columbia, $5,306,041, 3,201 locations, $1,658 average, $58,190,912, four weeks.
Ex Machina, A24 Films, $3,510,224, 2,004 locations, $1,752 average, $15,762,012, five weeks.
Home, 20th Century Fox, $3,070,015, 2,495 locations, $1,230 average, $162,185,957, seven weeks.
Woman in Gold, The Weinstein Co., $1,740,066, 1,080 locations, $1,611 average, $27,065,702, six weeks.
Cinderella, Disney, $1,681,560, 1,034 locations, $1,626 average, $196,273,979, nine weeks.
Unfriended, Universal, $1,454,355, 1,701 locations, $855 average, $30,985,315, four weeks.
The Longest Ride, 20th Century Fox, $1,356,687, 1,464 locations, $927 average, $35,266,785, five weeks.
Monkey Kingdom, Disney, $1,252,800, 1,431 locations, $875 average, $14,363,633, four weeks.
Get Hard, Warner Bros., $1,057,382, 955 locations, $1,107 average, $87,831,115, seven weeks.
Piku, Yash Raj Films, $938,938, 117 locations, $8,025 average, $938,938, one week.
Far From the Madding Crowd, Fox Searchlight, $776,368, 99 locations, $7,842 average, $1,016,528, two weeks.
The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Lionsgate, $775,197, 843 locations, $920 average, $127,623,244, eight weeks.
Little Boy, Open Road, $691,483, 775 locations, $892 average, $5,330,380, three weeks.
The Water Diviner, Warner Bros., $551,306, 385 locations, $1,432 average, $3,225,906, three weeks.
The D Train, IFC Films, $447,524, 1,009 locations, $444 average, $447,524, one week.
While We're Young, A24 Films, $299,556, 258 locations, $1,161 average, $6,909,277, seven weeks.
MovieStyle on 05/15/2015