Box Office: San Andreas Scores Seismic Debut While Aloha Bombs
Who doesn’t love a good disaster movie — especially when it stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson?
New Line and Warner Bros.’ San Andreas rocked the North American box office this weekend with a better-than-expected $53.2 million after earning an A- CinemaScore from audiences happy to be jolted again and again. (In real life, a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake hundreds of miles off the coast of Japan Saturday evening was felt in much of the country.)
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The movie, which harkens back to the old Irwin Allen disaster flicks of the '70s, easily claimed the top spot — as well as delivering Johnson his top domestic opening outside of the Fast and Furious franchise, and his highest ever for a title in which he is the solo lead. In San Andreas, Johnson plays a helicopter pilot called upon to execute multiple nick-of-time rescues. Warners and Village Roadshow co-financed and co-produced the $110 million production, from Warners’ New Line unit.
The disaster film teams Johnson with director Brad Peyton, who also guided the actor through 2012’s Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, and producer Beau Flynn, who produced both Journey 2 and Johnson’s 2014 Hercules. Lost’s Carlton Cuse penned the screenplay from a story by Andre Fabrizio and Jerry Passmore. Also appearing in the film are Carla Gugino and Paul Giamatti.
San Andreas skewed slightly female (51 percent), while 70 percent of ticket buyers were over the age of 25. Revenue from 3D locations made up 33 percent of the overall haul.
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Cameron Crowe’s romantic dramedy Aloha, the weekend’s other new offering, wasn’t so lucky despite its star-studded cast (Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams). The Sony film opened in the $9 million-$10 million range, the lowest opening of summer to date for a major studio release and only enough for a sixth-place finish.
Aloha is the first of Crowe’s films to be released in summer, when the pressure is much more intense to open to big numbers. Sony’s financial exposure on the film is minimized by having several partners, including New Regency, LStar Capital and RatPac Entertainment. Fox is handling the film internationally but doesn’t have a financial stake.
The Hawaii-set movie stars Cooper as a military contractor who falls for an Air Force pilot played by Stone, only to encounter a past lover in the form of McAdams. The film is drawing dismal reviews from critics, which will hurt word of mouth. However, Sony remains hopeful that Aloha will hang on and serve as counter-programming for adults looking for an original storyline.
Aloha received a problematic B- CinemaScore, including a C+ among adults over the age 50, who made up 31 percent of the audience. Those between the ages of 25 and 34 liked it the best, giving it a B+.
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Produced by Crowe and Scott Rudin, Aloha — which at one point was penciled in for a December 2014 release but was then moved into 2015 — cost at least $37 million after rebates. It has already had to withstand critical comments from former Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal, which were exposed in emails made public as part of the Sony hack.
Elsewhere, Universal’s Pitch Perfect 2 finished its third weekend with $14.8 million for a domestic total of $147.5 million.
Brad Bird’s troubled Tomorrowland may fall as much as 58 percent to an estimated $14 million, putting its 10-day North American cume at $63 million through Sunday. The $180 million Disney tentpole came in No. 3.
Mad Max: Fury Road placed No. 4 in its third outing with $13.6 million for a domestic total of $115.9 million.
Rounding out the top five in its fifth weekend was blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron.
