Melissa McCarthy is the Boss at the Box Office

While some expected Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice to win its third #1 weekend at the box office, Melissa McCarthy’s latest R-rated comedy The Boss (Universal Pictures) seemingly has managed to dethrone it and take the top spot… by less than 100,000 (according to estimates).

Opening in 3,482 theaters, The Boss, co-written by McCarthy with her director husband Ben Falcone and co-starring Kristen Bell and Peter Dinklage, took in $8 million on Friday (including just under a million from Thursday previews) and ended up with an estimated $23.5 in its first weekend. With terrible reviews (18% on Rotten Tomatoes), The Boss also didn’t score well with audiences who ranked it with a C+ CinemaScore, which doesn’t bode well for it holding well against some of the big movies opening over the next two weekends.

Warner Bros. Pictures‘ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice took another substantial 53% plunge in its third weekend to bring in an estimated $23.4 million, falling just short of the $300 million mark with $297 million grossed domestically. Of course, those numbers are so close that when actual box office is reported on Monday, their positions might be reversed, but Warner Bros. has now overestimated BvS two weeks in a row.

Internationally, the superhero slugfest added another $34 million this weekend in 67 markets bringing its overseas total to $487 million and about $784 million globally in three weeks.

Third place went to Walt Disney Animation Studios’ hit Zootopia, which scooped up $14.3 million in its sixth weekend, as it also closed its gap with the $300 million benchmark with $296 million (The race against Batman v Superman to $300 million is officially on!). Zootopia is doing even better internationally with $556 million grossed overseas and $852 million globally.

Walt Disney Pictures also gave their upcoming adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, directed by Iron Man‘s Jon Favreau, a headstart internationally with openings in places like India, Russia, Australia and more. It grossed $7.6 million in India (more than the entire run of Cinderella in the country) and $6.2 million in Russia, which contributed to its $28.9 million international opening. It will open in North America this coming Friday.

Universal Pictures’ sequel My Big Fat Greek Wedding was fourth with $6.4 million and $46.8 million grossed so far.

Russian filmmaker Ilya Naishuller teamed with producer Timur Bekmambetov for the cutting edge action flick Hardcore Henry, starring Sharlto Copley, but it failed to find the audience that STX Entertainment (who picked the movie up at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival) had hoped with just $5.1 million in 3,015 theaters, just $1,692 per theater, for fifth place. It also received a C+ Cinemascore.

Sixth and seventh place went to the faith-based dramas Miracles from Heaven (Sony) and God’s Not Dead 2 (Pure Flix), with the former taking in $4.8 million and having a gross of $53.8 million after four weeks, and the latter falling short with $4 million (down 49%) and $13.8 million so far.

Lionsgate’s The Divergent Series: Allegiant ended its fourth weekend with $61.8 million with $3.6 million grossed this weekend to take eighth place. That’s less than half of what the previous installment Insurgent grossed domestically.

Opening in 854 theaters on Friday, Jake Gyllenhaal’s drama Demolition (Fox Searchlight), co-starring Naomi Watts, tanked with just $1.1 million grossed over the weekend, or $1,317 per theater. It ended up just below Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special (Warner Bros.), which expanded into 493 theaters in its fourth weekend and has grossed $2.3 million to date.

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