Age of Ultron earned $191.2 million at the box office in its first three days – up from the studio estimate of $187.7 million that we reported last weekend. The adjustment didn't mean much in terms of besting its predecessor’s all-time opening record of $207.4 million, but every little bit counts. Through its first full week of domestic release, Age of Ultron earned $235.6 million. That stands as the third best seven-day start in box office history, behind only Marvel’s The Avengers ($270) and The Dark Knight ($238.6). Ultron earned an estimated $21.3 million on its second Friday, for a drop of 75% over its $84.4 million opening day. That’s a bigger Friday-to-Friday decline than any previous Marvel Cinematic Universe release.
In 2012, The Avengers was off by 63.8% while Iron Man 3 dropped 71.4% on its second Friday. Among Marvel titles, the best second-Friday hold belongs to the original Iron Man with -57.8%. Then again, The Dark Knight Rises dropped 76.6% on its second Friday and wound up with a higher domestic total than any Marvel feature – outside of The Avengers, of course. For its sophomore frame, Age of Ultron is expected to earn another $77 million – approximately six times more than its closest competitor: Hot Pursuit. To be clear, Hot Pursuit is competition for Age of Ultron in the same way that Megan Fox is competition for Meryl Streep. The PG-13 comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and Sophia Vergara has been savaged by critics, scoring 6% on Rotten Tomatoes just like Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 before it.
Hot Pursuit earned an estimated $4.2 million on Friday from 3,003 locations. That puts the comedy on track for close to $13 million through Sunday. Considering that this is a summer release starring two likable stars (think 2013’s The Heat), that’s pretty dismal. Hot Pursuit was originally expected to open between $20 and $25 million, though that was before the reviews started rolling in. Even the notoriously forgiving CinemaScore audiences haven’t warmed to Hot Pursuit, giving the film a C+ rating.
Here’s Friday’s top five chart. We’ll have full details on the weekend box office tomorrow.
Title |
Friday |
Total |
|
1. |
Avengers: Age of Ultron |
$21,340,000 |
$256.9 |
2. |
Hot Pursuit |
$4,200,000 |
$4.2 |
3. |
The Age of Adaline |
$1,530,000 |
$27.4 |
4. |
Furious 7 |
$1,400,000 |
$334.5 |
5. |
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 |
$1,225,000 |
$54.1 |