The Memorial Day weekend box office is off to a strong start, and the mutants are dominating. The superhero sequel X-Men: Apocalypse scored $26.4 million on Friday, tracking for a four-day weekend total of around $80 million. While that’s about $20 million under what X-Men: Days of Future Past scored on the same holiday weekend two years ago, that movie had the benefit of blending two iconic casts together, so $80 million’s not too shabby for a proper sequel.

Director Bryan Singer’s 80s-set film drew some scathing reviews, but audiences appear to be more kind to the picture as it earned an A- CinemaScore from opening night moviegoers. It certainly delivers on what you’re expecting out of an X-Men film, even if it starts to become tedious halfway through. No matter, the X-Men franchise is alive and well, and if Apocalypse’s box office performance is any indication, 20th Century Fox isn’t gonna be done with these superheroes anytime soon.


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Image via 20th Century Fox

While the box office for Apocalypse is performing in line with expectations, it is curious that Deadpool—an R-rated standalone with only one movie star—opened to over $50 million above what Apocalypse is expected to do, and in three days no less. The performance of Apocalypse is far from a disappointment, and it’s performing spectacularly overseas with an international total of $130 million so far, but it’s kind of funny that the X-Men movie Fox resisted for so long ended up as one of the studio’s highest grossing films in the franchise.

But X-Men isn’t the only new release in theaters this holiday weekend. Disney’s Alice Through the Looking Glass was unleashed upon audiences whether they asked for it or not, and judging by the numbers, the majority of moviegoers appear to fall into the latter category. The James Bobin-directed follow-up finished Friday under $10 million and is headed for a four-day total of around $40 million, which is far below what the film was tracking to take in.

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Image via Disney

Given Johnny Depp’s PR troubles the timing certainly isn’t ideal, but even so, enthusiasm for Through the Looking Glass seemed hard to come by. Tim Burton’s original was a massive hit worldwide in 2010, raking in over $1 billion worldwide, but much of that was due to the renewed interest in 3D—Burton’s film was one of the first new releases that was offered in the 3D format and benefitted from riding the wave of the Avatar phenomenon. As a movie, it was wholly forgettable, and indeed it appears audiences aren’t feeling eager to revisit the Alice universe for a second helping.

Elsewhere, Captain America: Civil War is now within spitting distance of the 2016 throne and should surpass Deadpool this weekend to become the highest grossing film domestically and worldwide this year.


Check out Friday’s full Top 10 below, and check back tomorrow for weekend estimates. And if you haven't seen The Nice Guys yet, do yourself a favor and make time for it this weekend. It's great!

 

Rank

Movie

Friday

Total

1.

X-Men: Apocalypse

$26,400,000

$26,400,000

2.

Alice Through the Looking Glass

$9,723,000

$9,723,000

3.

The Angry Birds Movie

$5,035,000

$52,688,309

4.

Captain America: Civil War

$4,028,000

$361,503,948

5.

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

$2,800,000

$32,036,580

6.

The Jungle Book

$1,819,000

$333,330,909

7.

The Nice Guys

$1,760,000

$17,123,672

8.

Money Monster

$1,100,000

$30,752,226

9.

Love & Friendship

$667,000

$1,660,548

10.

The Darkness

$217,000

$9,329,379

 

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Image via 20th Century Fox