Weekend Box Office Report: August 7-9, 2015

Mission: Impossible aims for #1 again!

The stunt-filled spy exploits of Tom Cruise kept MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – ROGUE NATION on top at the box office for a second weekend with an estimated $29.4 million!

Like its star, director Christopher McQuarrie's action-packed espionage entry had a pretty firm grasp and only slipped 47% from last week's opening. It passed the $100 million mark over the weekend for a ten-day domestic total of $108.6 million and $265 million worldwide.

The superlative title of FANTASTIC FOUR didn't quite match its performance as Fox's reboot manifested in second place with an opening of $26.2 million. The production came with a reported budget of $120 million, along with rumors of behind-the-scenes turbulence.

(As a point of super-comparison, Marvel's own GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY opened with $94.3 million on the first August weekend last summer.)

The latest version of Marvel's superpowered family took a less colorful and more "realistic" approach than the previous adaptations (which opened to $56 million and $58 million), but director Josh Trank's sci-fi take was savaged by critics with 9% on Rotten Tomatoes and received a 'C-' CinemaScore from moviegoers.

Opening in third place was the new R-rated thriller THE GIFT with $12 million. The feature directing debut of writer and co-star Joel Edgerton only cost a reported $5 million and received excellent critical response with 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In fourth was the current Griswold generation's VACATION with $9.1 million, down just 37% from its opening last week for a $37.3 million domestic total. Marvel's ANT-MAN was in fifth with $7.8 million as it passed the domestic total of THE INCREDIBLE HULK and grew higher than $300 million worldwide.

MINIONS were in sixth place with another $7.4 million as the incomprehensible cylindrical henchman have passed $300 million domestic and $900 million worldwide.

Meryl Streep's senior rocker RICKI AND THE FLASH opened in seventh with $7 million. The PG-13 comedy-drama from Oscar-winners Jonathan Demme and Diablo Cody didn't make catchy music for critics, who gave it an average 59% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Towards the bottom, Amy Schumer's TRAINWRECK is pulling close to $100 million, while Adam Sandler's PIXELS is quickly running out of quarters and Jake Gyllenhaal's SOUTHPAW is still swinging in tenth.

Outside the chart, the new Aardman stop-motion animated SHAUN THE SHEEP opened to only $4 million despite a 99% critical average (the clay creatures have already made $57 million overseas). Pixar's INSIDE OUT slid off the list along with PAPER TOWNS and the mega-blockbuster JURASSIC WORLD.

Next weekend brings director Guy Ritchie's retro spy action movie THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. and the N.W.A. biopic STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON.

What is your favorite MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movie? VOTE HERE!

# MOVIE TITLE WKND $ TOTAL $
1 Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation $29.4 M $108.6 M
2 Fantastic Four $26.2 M NEW
3 The Gift $12 M NEW
4 Vacation $9.1 M $37.3 M
5 Ant-Man $7.8 M $147.4 M
6 Ricki and the Flash $7 M NEW
7 Minions $7.4 M $302.7 M
8 Trainwreck $6.3 M $91.1 M
9 Pixels $5.4 M $57.6 M
10 Southpaw $4.7 M $40.7 M
Source: Box Office Mojo

About the Author

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Favorite Movies: Aliens, Jaws, Inglourious Basterds, the Mad Max movies except the kid read more parts of Thunderdome, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Starship Troopers, the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, They Live, Pandorum, The Warriors, Darkman, The Thing, The Untouchables, a good percentage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, B-movies, Westerns

Likes: Mass Effect, ginger, the 1960s Batman TV show, diversity, Fallout, non-iron read more shirts, Angela Bassett, comics, funk, making and/or consuming satisfying meals, xenomorphs, the Elric saga, weird art, volume, She-Hulk, freeze-frame credits, my goofy cats, green things, transdimensional travel, vindication

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