Pitch hits high note; Max No. 2

Nathan Jones stars as Rictus Erectus in Mad Max: Fury Road. It made more than $45 million at last weekend’s box office but came in second behind Pitch Perfect.
Nathan Jones stars as Rictus Erectus in Mad Max: Fury Road. It made more than $45 million at last weekend’s box office but came in second behind Pitch Perfect.

LOS ANGELES -- It was a weekend for girls who run the world -- or at least the box office.

Universal Pictures' Pitch Perfect 2, a musical comedy about an all-female a cappella group, far surpassed industry expectations to gross an estimated $69.2 million in the United States and Canada over the three-day period, zooming past Warner Bros.' action reboot Mad Max: Fury Road, which came in second with a solid $45.4 million.

"This is the most you can expect from an audience base," Nick Carpou, Universal's president of domestic distribution, said of the young female moviegoers who propelled Pitch Perfect 2 ticket sales.

About 72 percent of the audience for the film was female, and 57 percent was younger than 25. Demographically, that group complemented the audience for Mad Max: Fury Road, which was 60 percent male and 64 percent older than 25.

"There's something to be said for counterprogramming," Carpou said, adding that the two movies played almost like a perfect fit.

The opening weekend for Pitch Perfect 2 surpassed the entire $65 million domestic theatrical run of the original film, which Universal released in 2012. In the sequel, Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson and Brittany Snow reprise their roles as members of the misfit college singing group the Bellas.

Actress Elizabeth Banks, who makes her feature directorial debut and returns to play an acerbic a cappella commentator, now holds the record for highest opening weekend for a first-time director. Banks' outsize success comes at a time when female directors are a hot-button issue in Hollywood. Last week the American Civil Liberties Union asked government agencies to investigate the lack of hiring of women behind the camera.

Critics were fairly positive about the song-driven sequel, which cost $29 million to make. It has a 68 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Fans gave it an even warmer reception, with opening-night audiences grading the film an A-minus, according to CinemaScore, which tracks moviegoers' reactions.

Unlike the original Pitch Perfect, a sleeper hit that really saw its audience bloom when it hit home entertainment channels, the sequel was marketed as an event film, with ads during the Super Bowl and NBA playoffs.

Mad Max: Fury Road was more of a critical darling, with the update of the apocalyptic George Miller franchise earning a stunning 98 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a B-plus audience grade from CinemaScore.

"It's very rare for a pure action movie to get that kind of response from the press," said Dan Fellman, Warner Bros.' president of domestic distribution. "The reviews are going to continue to expand our demographics."

The film stars Tom Hardy (Locke, Inception), in the title role made famous by Mel Gibson, and Charlize Theron as a fierce new character named Furiosa. It is the largest opening in Miller's career.

Overseas, Mad Max: Fury Road was the No. 1 new movie with a global take of $109.4 million. The movie opened atop the box office in the franchise's home country of Australia, as well as in France, Russia, Spain and more than 30 other markets.

The two new movies helped knock Avengers: Age of Ultron from the No. 1 spot that the Disney/Marvel movie has held since opening May 1. The comic book sequel, which collected about $39 million last weekend for the No. 3 spot, has grossed $372 million domestically and more than $770 million overseas.

Rounding out the top five at the box office were Warner Bros.' Hot Pursuit, which added about $5.7 million in its second week in release to reach $23.4 million domestically; and Universal's Furious 7, which added $3.6 million in its seventh week to reach about $343.8 million domestically.

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:

  1. Pitch Perfect 2, Universal, $69,216,890, 3,473 locations, $19,930 average, $69,216,890, one week.

  2. Mad Max: Fury Road, Warner Bros., $45,428,128, 3,702 locations, $12,271 average, $45,428,128, one week.

  3. Avengers: Age of Ultron, Disney, $38,859,900, 4,276 locations, $9,088 average, $372,030,708, three weeks.

  4. Hot Pursuit, Warner Bros., $5,722,488, 3,037 locations, $1,884 average, $23,446,781, two weeks.

  5. Furious 7, Universal, $3,648,980, 2,238 locations, $1,630 average, $343,782,475, seven weeks.

  6. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, Columbia, $3,543,850, 2,632 locations, $1,346 average, $62,872,860, five weeks.

  7. The Age of Adaline, Lionsgate, $3,129,455, 2,623 locations, $1,193 average, $37,001,624, four weeks.

  8. Home, 20th Century Fox, $2,554,959, 2,006 locations, $1,274 average, $165,501,901, eight weeks.

  9. Ex Machina, A24 Films, $2,093,669, 1,718 locations, $1,219 average, $19,556,131, six weeks.

  10. Far From the Madding Crowd, Fox Searchlight, $1,251,923, 289 locations, $4,332 average, $2,582,570, three weeks.

  11. Woman in Gold, The Weinstein Co., $1,195,831, 876 locations, $1,365 average, $28,957,529, seven weeks.

  12. Cinderella, Disney, $631,608, 641 locations, $985 average, $197,231,159, 10 weeks.

  13. Get Hard, Warner Bros., $602,153, 505 locations, $1,192 average, $88,823,814, eight weeks.

  14. Piku, Yash Raj Films, $595,308, 124 locations, $4,801 average, $1,801,807, two weeks.

  15. The Longest Ride, 20th Century Fox, $548,954, 803 locations, $684 average, $36,282,735, six weeks.

  16. Unfriended, Universal, $515,745, 657 locations, $785 average, $32,053,065, five weeks.

  17. Monkey Kingdom, Disney, $480,177, 675 locations, $711 average, $15,340,346, five weeks.

  18. Where Hope Grows, Roadside Attractions, $457,287, 276 locations, $1,657 average, $457,287, one week.

  19. The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Lionsgate, $381,959, 503 locations, $759 average, $128,270,018, nine weeks.

  20. Little Boy, Open Road, $323,656, 490 locations, $661 average, $5,912,451, four weeks.

MovieStyle on 05/22/2015

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