Melissa McCarthy’s espionage comedy film, Spy, won the North American box office with $30 million across 3,711 locations, sneaking past last weekend’s victor San Andreas.
While many predicted the $65 million-produced film, Spy, would end the weekend with roughly $35 million, it is still a big win for McCarthy. This is her third biggest debut in a lead role, after Identity Thief and The Heat.
The 20th Century Fox feature, directed by Paul Feig, features an ensemble cast that includes McCarthy opposite Jason Statham, Rose Byrne and Jude Law. Audience members, who were 60 percent females, gave the film a B plus CinemaScore, while critics gave it a stunning 95 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Laughter does cure all, and there isn’t another comedy in the marketplace for three weeks,” said Fox domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson.
Landing in second place at the box office with $26.4 million is holdover San Andreas, the earthquake disaster film starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The Warner Bros. and New Line film has a domestic total of $99.1 million and a spectacular global haul of $287.1 million.
The weekend’s other new release was Blumhouse Productions’ Insidious: Chapter 3 with $23 million. The horror film, which cost $10 million to produce, marks the directorial debut of Insidious screenwriter Leigh Whannell and stars Dermot Mulroney, Stefanie Scott, Angus Sampson, Whannell and Lin Shaye.
Moviegoers, who were 54 percent female and 69 percent under the age of 25, gave the film a B plus CinemaScore, while critics gave it a 61 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
“It’s a very solid start,” said Jim Orr, president of distribution for Focus Features, which maintains the Gramercy genre label. “Blumhouse just owns this space and they’ve crafted another incredibly scary movie.”
Coming in fourth place is Warner Bros.’ Entourage, earning $10.4 million for the weekend, putting its five-day launch at $17.8 million. The studio and HBO Films both hoped for at least a $20 million debut and that the movie version would attract a new generation of consumers, rather than just appeal to the die-hard fans of the show.
Although the film was ravaged by critics, getting a 30 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes, it managed to nab an A- CinemaScore from moviegoers, who were 64 percent male and 90 percent under the age of 50.
Entourage reunites creator Doug Ellin with Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Jeremy Piven, Jerry Ferrara and Kevin Dillon, and picks up the story just a few months after the events at the end of the HBO show.
Rounding out the top five is George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, which nabbed an additional $7.97 million over the weekend, bringing its domestic haul to $130.8 million. The film celebrated a milestone of crossing $300 million at the worldwide box office.
While the North American box office revenue was down for the third weekend in a row, Jurassic World is projected to open to north of $100 million and should boost the charts next weekend.
“I’m still holding out for a record summer, but it’s getting harder and harder to see happening,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. “We need summer to start rocking again soon.”
Top 10 Films at Weekend Box Office: June 5-7
- Spy — $30.0 million
- San Andreas — $26.4 million
- Insidious: Chapter 3 — $23.0 million
- Entourage — $10.4 million
- Mad Max: Fury Road — $7.97 million
- Pitch Perfect 2 — $7.7 million
- Tomorrowland — $7.02 million
- Avengers: Age of Ultron — $6.2 million
- Aloha — $3.3 million
- Poltergeist — $2.8 million
