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Box office Report: “Captain America” faces off against “Money Monster”

Posted in: Box Office Report  |  By: John Hanlon  |  May 16th, 2016
Box office Captain America Money Monster

In its second weekend in theaters, here Captain America: Civil War faced off against newcomers Money Monster and The Darkness. No one thought that the Marvel film– which received rave reviews and great buzz– would fall into second place in its second weekend but the film did fall nearly 60% in its second weekend letting new movies Money Monster and The Darkness come out relatively strong.

The most buzzed-about new release was Money Monster, the new drama  directed by Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster and starring two of Hollywood’s biggest stars: Julia Roberts and George Clooney. The film was targeted directly towards adults and did well amongst that crowd, earning approximately 15 million.

The other new release was the low-budgeted The Darkness, which opened with a little more than 5 million dollars.

Here are the estimated weekend grosses of the top five films (according to BoxOfficeMojo.com):

1. Captain America: Civil War— $72.6 million
2. The Jungle Book — $17.8 million
3. Money Monster — $15.0 million
4. The Darkness— $5.1 million
5. Mother’s Day — $3.3 million

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the big winners at the box office and a few of the big losers.

Loser: Mother’s Day

Julia Roberts might star in two of the five biggest movies of the weekend but by any measure, Mother’s Day is not living up to expectations. According to BoxOfficeMojo, the film fell more than 70% in its third weekend. It surely didn’t help that the film’s decent opening weekend was followed by Mother’s Day weekend itself, meaning that many– if not most– viewers who were interested in  the picture have already seen it.

Winner: Money Monster

Compared to Captain America‘s 72 million dollar second weekend, 15 million might not seem like a lot but Money Monster was always aiming for a more adult audience that is sometimes hesitant about going to the theaters. Despite that, the film scored more than half of its 27.2 million dollar budget in its opening weekend and it became director Jodie Foster’s biggest opening weekend by far.

The film also is Julia Roberts’ biggest opening weekend since 2012.

Loser: Criminal

Approximately one month ago, a new thriller starring Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Ryan Reynolds and Tommy Lee Jones opened. That film was Criminal, a wannabe blockbuster that completely misfired at the box office.

After five weekends in theaters, the film has grossed a measly 14.6 million dollars and came in at the 23rd spot at the domestic box office over the weekend  The film will certainly be out of theaters in a few weeks and will likely be forgotten until late in the year when it could be featured on some worst of the year lists. Ouch.

Winner: The Darkness

According to EW.com, The Darkness was “released under the new BH Tilt label as part of the production company’s ongoing experimental model involving an inexpensive, digital-heavy marketing campaign aimed squarely at attracting die-hard genre fans to select titles.”

The film tanked with critics (it currently has a 0% positive rating on RottenTomatoes.com) but moviegoers are still seeking it out, meaning that this horror film starring Kevin Bacon managed to eke out a win even as it faced off against some tight competition.

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