The mutants of past and future are commanding the Memorial Day weekend box office as X-Men: Days of Future Past puts up an opening day worthy of 2014’s other big comic book movie releases. The other newcomer, counter-programmed Blended, got put through the blender by critics and emerged as another dud for former box office stud Adam Sandler.
Fox can only be thrilled with the estimated $36 million that X-Men: Days of Future Past from director Bryan Singer scored on Friday, including $8.1 million from late midnight showings. The mutant-fueled opening day starring the likes of Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen is playing right alongside this year’s other big comic movies, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which earned $35.2 million and $36.9 million, respectively, on their opening days with the added benefit of 3D IMAX screenings that X-Men does not have.
As with Godzilla last weekend, strong word of mouth could carry the seventh X-Men well beyond estimates. Those estimates were around $100 million for the four-day holiday weekend entering Friday. With Friday’s big numbers, now the estimates are aiming more toward $110 million. With an “A” CinemaScore and over 90% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, X-Men: Days of Future Past could rocket to $115 million or more.
Pre-Order X-Men: Days of Future Past on Blu-ray 3D combo at Amazon.com.
Pre-Order X-Men: Days of Future Past on Blu-ray combo at Amazon.com.
Speaking of Godzilla, the big guy’s roar was suffocated by the X-Men as it dropped a steep 77 percent in its second Friday of release with only $8.8 million. Godzilla’s domestic tally now stands at $126 million and won’t go much higher if it continues to decline at this enormous rate, especially with Disney’s Maleficent arriving next weekend. Worldwide the reimagining of the unlikely hero has tallied $229.8 million thus far.
Blended reunited Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore and couldn’t have landed with a bigger thud. With $4.4 million on Friday, Blended is currently shaping up to be the biggest flop of Sandler’s career. That’s saying a lot considering That’s My Boy and Jack and Jill were each massive flops in their own right.
Rounding out the top five on Friday were Neighbors with $4.2 million and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with $2 million.
Stop back Sunday for the three-day studio box office estimates, and again on Monday for the four-day estimates to see how high X-Men: The Last Stand was able to climb.
