Box Office: Madagascar 3 Leads a Weekend of Stinkers

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.

The last time Adam Sandler and Tom Cruise faced off in a box office battle, it was the weekend of June 25, 2010 when the former’s ensemble comedy Grown Ups took on the latter’s action-comedy Knight and Day. Neither was able to top the animated family film Toy Story 3, settling for second and third place with $40.5 million and $20.1 million respectively.

Sandler won that battle and lots of eyes were on the two normally reliable box office stars to see how their latest movies might fare in a rather erratic summer box office… but what happened? Both Rock of Ages and That’s My Boy flopped in ways we haven’t seen from either one of the stars in quite some time, leaving many studio insiders scratching their heads.

The failure of both new movies to make any sort of mark allowed another animated family film, DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (Paramount), to top the box office for a second week in a row with an estimated $35.5 million, down just 41% from its opening weekend, to bring its gross to $120.4 million in ten days. “Europe’s Most Wanted” also topped the international box office for the second straight week with $53 million from 43 markets. The movie has now collected $157 million overseas.

Neither of the two new movies managed to take second place either. That went to Ridley Scott’s sci-fi prequel Prometheus (20th Century Fox) in its second weekend, taking second place with $20.2 million, a massive drop of 60% but bringing its domestic gross to $88.8 million. Internationally, the film has reached $130 million.

Directed by Hairspray helmer Adam Shankman, the movie musical Rock of Ages (New Line/WB), starring Cruise, Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Catherine Zeta-Jones and more, opened in third place with just $15.1 million in 3,470 theaters, almost half of what some were predicting.

The Kristen Stewart-Charlize Theron-Chris Hemsworth fantasy-adventure Snow White and the Huntsman (Universal) took fourth place with $13.8 million, down 40% and bringing its North American gross to $122.6 million. “Huntsman” added $31.2 million overseas for a total of $124.6 million and worldwide total of $247.2 million. Universal have already started development on a sequel.

That left fifth place for Adam Sandler’s new R-rated comedy That’s My Boy (Sony), which teamed him with former “SNL” regular Andy Samberg, but whom didn’t help the movie from bombing with just $13 million in over 3,000 theaters. That marks the lowest opening for an Adam Sandler-headlined comedy since 2000’s Little Nicky, which opened with $16 million, although we expect that number to be higher come Monday since the movie should get a decent Father’s Day bump.

The sci-fi comedy-action threequel Men in Black 3 (Sony) dropped to sixth place with $10 million and a total of $152.7 million. Internationally, it brought in $19.7 million this weekend to bring its global total to $544.3 million.

Marvel’s The Avengers (Disney) took seventh place with $8.8 million, having stacked up $586.7 million domestically since opening in early May. The film has reached $833 million internationally for a global total of $1.420 billion.

The British ensemble comedy The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Fox Searchlight) dropped to eighth place with $2.2 million and $35.1 million total.

Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom (Focus Features) added another 82 theaters which helped it get a bump to ninth place with $2.2 million and $6.8 million to date without being in more than 200 theaters.

The Top 10 grossed an estimated $118.6 million, down 18% from last year when Green Lantern topped the box office with $53.2 million.

In limited release, Your Sister’s Sister (IFC Films), Lynn Shelton’s follow-up to Humpday, starring Emily Blunt, Mark Duplass and Rosemarie Dewitt, opened in 13 theaters where it grossed $117 thousand.

Click here for the full box office results of the top 12 films.

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