After just two weeks reigning as the box-office champ — with one week where it faced virtually no major competition — Warner Bros. will now watch their costly "Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice" start sliding down the box-office chart as the summer movie season heats up. And the first picture to kick it down a peg is from a comic actress who has a hit streak that shows no sign of stopping.
Melissa McCarthy leads the box office this week with "The Boss." The comedy was poorly received by critics, but it speaks to her brand power that the picture took in $23.48 million, marking her sixth straight wide release to open over $20 million. And with a $29 million budget, this one will turn around a nice bit of change for Universal, though the C+ grade CinemaScore suggests that like "Tammy," also directed by McCarthy’s husband Ben Falcone, this one probably won’t be crossing $100 million domestic. But it seems McCarthy and co. have found the right budget-to-box-office ratio to keep making these, so don’t expect to see her disappear from the multiplex anytime soon.
READ MORE: Review: ‘The Boss’ Starring Melissa McCarthy And Kristen Bell
"Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice" came just shy of the top spot with $24.43 million. That marks a 54.3% drop for the picture, which still stands as the third highest-grossing Batman movie ever with $783.5 million worldwide, and the 13th highest-grossing superhero movie domestically with $296.6 million, in easy reach of "Iron Man 2" ($312) and "Iron Man" ($318). But essentially, $1 billion worldwide is probably well off the table at this point, with ‘Dawn Of Justice’ aiming to finish somewhere in the mid-$800s by the end of its run.
Flopping in wide release was STX Entertainment‘s gimmicky action flick "Hardcore Henry." Pulling in a mere $5 million across three thousand screens, it means that there was an average of 15 tickets sold per show. Ouch. One does wonder how much longer the studio can get by on modest successes — they have yet to score a number one hit in wide release. STX has already quietly shifted Jonás Cuarón‘s "Desierto" from this spring to a yet-to-be-determined date, and their summer slate includes Matthew McConaughey‘s Civil War drama "Free State Of Jones," horror flick "The Bye Bye Man," and comedy "Bad Moms." Here’s hoping there’s an undeniable winner in that pack of films.
READ MORE: Review: POV Action Flick ‘Hardcore Henry’
In limited release, Jake Gyllenhaal‘s "Demolition" earned a tepid $1.1 million across 854 screens for a meager PSA of $1,317. On the other hand, Karyn Kusama‘s "The Invitation" went strong on 10 screens with $67,739 for a PSA of $6,774. Meanwhile: "Mr. Right" scored $25,000 on 35 screens; "Louder Than Bombs" earned $24,341 on 4 screens, and "Neon Bull" took $7,133 on a single screen.
Internationally, "The Huntsman: Winter’s War" and "The Jungle Book" are off to a strong start with $20 million and $28.9 million, respectively.
1. “The Boss” — $23.48 million
2. “Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice” — $23.45 million ($296.6 mil.)
3. “Zootopia” — $14.3 million ($296 mil.)
4. “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” — $6.4 million ($46.7 mil.)
5. “Hardcore Henry” — $5 million
6. “Miracles From Heaven” — $4.8 million ($53.8 mil.)
7. “God Not’s Dead 2” — $4.3 million ($14.1 mil.)
8. “The Divergent Series: Allegiant” — $3.6 million ($61.8mil.)
9. “10 Cloverfield Lane” — $3 million ($67.9 mil.)
10. “Eye In The Sky” — $2.8 million ($10.4 mil.)