The weekend box office numbers proved that star power doesn’t automatically add up to solid ticket sales. Adam’s Sandler’s “That’s My Boy” and the Tom Cruise musical “Rock of Ages” stumbled out of the gate on Friday, giving Paramount’s “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” and Sony’s “Prometheus” an opportunity to claim the top two spots, respectively. Although analysts feel that the Sandler comedy might see a slight bump thanks to Fathers Day, it’s probably not enough to prevent the film from becoming the comedian’s worst-performing endeavor thus far. The flick opened in fifth place with a paltry $13 million.
Although Sandler’s R-rated effort failed to leave a dent in this weekend’s box office totals, the big surprise was “Hairyspray” director Adam Shankman’s “Rock of Ages”, a star-studded “jukebox musical” which featured tons of iconic songs from the 80’s. Unfortunately, the allure of watching Tom Cruise struct around the stage as a shirtless, long-haired rock God wasn’t enough to convince cash-strapped movie-goers to take in a showing. The film opened in third place with $15 million, which is fairly low for a Tom Cruise movie.
“Madagascar 3” and “Prometheus”, on the other hand, continued to lure audiences to theaters. “Europe’s Most Wanted”, one of the few family films currently in theaters, managed to snag the top spot with $35.5 million in ticket sales, while director Ridley Scott’s sci-fi epic scored another $20 million, bringing its worldwide total to $130 million.
Rounding out the top ten this weekend were “Snow White and the Huntsman” ($13.8 million), “Men in Black 3” ($10 million), “The Avengers” ($8.8 million), the British sleeper hit “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” ($2.2 million), Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” ($2.1 million), and “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” ($1.3 million).
Next weekend should prove interesting, as director Timur Bekmambetov’s the highly-anticipated “historical” action flick “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” and “Brave”, the latest offering from Pixar, are poised to lock horns for box-office supremacy.
Box office totals provided by Box Office Mojo