Scarlett Johansson and 'Lucy' Pull the Football Away from The Rock and 'Hercules'
Welcome to the Box Office Report, where ScarJo comes out on top and The Rock sits pretty.
1. Lucy (Universal): $44 million in 3,173 theaters.
We were fond of Scarlett Johansson in Luc Besson's fantasy thriller Lucy and were a bit bemused by the mixed reviews and criticism. Nevertheless, America rewarded Lucy and its moderate-big release with the box office title this week. This should be ScarJo's first flick that grosses $100 million domestic, at least, outside of the Marvel realm. That, in and of itself, is big news.
2. Hercules (Paramount): $29 million in 3,595 theaters.
We've honored Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Hollywood's "most indestructible star" for his ability to be forgiven for crap after crap after crap project. As David Sims pointed out, Hercules is the latest in that string (critics weren't granted advanced screenings). The news is still good for DJ. This movie is standalone The Rock, not part of a franchise, spin-off, or ensemble and it did relatively well. With an even split between domestic and international sales, this will make back its $100 budget in a few weeks.
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3. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Fox): $16.4 million in 3,668 theaters.
In its third week, Dawn took a bit of a tumble. After conquering the box office for the past two weekends, the second installment of the surprise hit isn't measuring up to its predecessor. No bother, it just surpassed its production budget ($170 million) in domestic sales alone ($172).
4. The Purge: Anarchy (Universal): $9.9 million in 2,856 theaters.
After a surprisingly strong performance last week, audiences purged themselves of this movie quickly. (Get it?) Seriously though, a drop from $28 million to just under $10 million would be troubling if this movie didn't cost $9 million to make. Good news for Eric Bana, who should be able to renew his timeshare for 2015.
5. Planes: Fire and Rescue (Buena Vista): $9.3 million in 3,839 theaters.
A spinoff of an eight-year-old movie that the original studio didn't want anything to do with? Woof. Parents still seem to hate this movie and given all the international hoopla over planes, it's surprising anybody went to this flick at all.
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This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2014/07/scarlett-johansson-and-lucy-pull-the-football-away-from-the-rock-and-hercules/375122/
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