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Sunday, June 22, 2014

Box Office Update: Kevin Hart Is Still The "Man", "Jersey" Off Key

The comedy sequel Think Like A Man Too starring box office golden boy Kevin Hart hangs on to beat holdover 22 Jump Street

Clint Eastwood's film version of the Award-winning Broadway musical "Jersey Boys" disappoints...

A24 Films's future post-apocalyptic Australian thriller "The Rover" goes wide and in search of an audience.



Pamela McClintock of THR:

Kevin Hart's ensemble comedy Think Like a Man Too debuted to a solid $30 million at the North American box office, delivering Sony its second straight win after 22 Jump Street, which almost stayed at No. 1 in its second weekend with $29 million.

Think Like a Man Too's debut was more than double the $13.5 million opening of Clint Eastwood's Jersey Boys. The film adaptation of the hit Broadway, coming in No. 4, skewed notably older, with 71 percent of the audience over the age of 50 and 84 percent over the age of 35. Warner Bros. believes the movie will have strong legs since adults don't rush out on opening weekend, but the movie's start is nonetheless disappointing.

Without an all-audience event pic to drive crowds to the multiplex, box office revenue tumbled more than 30 percent from the same weekend last year when Monsters University opened to $82.4 million and World War Z debuted to $66.4 million.

Think Like a Man Too, costing $24 million to produce, couldn't match the $33.6 million debut of the first Think Like a Man, which debuted in April 2012. The sequel reteams Hart with director Tim Story and producer Will Packer, the same trio behind the first Think Like a Man and Ride Along.

Inspired by Steve Harvey's best-selling book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, the comedy sees the various couples travel to Las Vegas for a wedding. But plans for a romantic weekend quickly go awry. Hart stars opposite Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara, Meagan Good, Regina Hall and Gabrielle Union.

Both Think Like a Man Too and Jersey Boys earned an A- CinemaScore from audiences.

Jersey Boys' opening was certainly in the wheelhouse for an Eastwood movie, although his films don't usually open in summer, when expectations are much higher (Blood Work, released in 2002, was his last summer title).

Eastwood's Jersey Boys doesn't sport any A-list actors and is receiving mixed reviews. Still, both the director and the material are well-known brands. Jersey Boys, opening on Broadway in 2005, won four 2006 Tony Awards, including best musical. It has been restaged all over the world, including in London, and has had two North American national tours, the most recent in 2011.

At the same time, musical adaptations have a decidedly mixed track record at the box office. Hits include Mamma Mia!, which debuted to $27.8 million in summer 2008, and Hairspray, which launched to $27.5 million in summer 2007. On the other end of the spectrum, Rock of Ages only pulled in $14.4 million in summer 2012.

Jersey Boys' cast is led by John Lloyd Young, Erich Bergen, Michael Lomenda, Vincent Piazza and Christopher Walken.

Among holdovers, 22 Jump Street crossed the $100 million mark domestically.

Placing No. 3 at the North American box office after Think Like a Man Too and 22 Jump Street was DreamWorks Animation and Fox's How to Train Your Dragon 2. The animated family film fell 48 percent to $25.3 million in its second weekend for a domestic total of $95.2 million.

David Michod's Australian drama The Rover, starring Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson, struggled as it expanded nationwide, placing No. 15 with $500,000 from 599 theaters for a cume of $590,453. A24 Films opened the well-reviewed movie in New York and Los Angeles last weekend after The Rover made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.


Next Up: Michael Bay's sequel Transformers: Age Of Extinction arrives...that means you can expect high contrast, saturation, explosions, good looking females running, an epic scale and some really cool visual effects shots.

The Earth has been left scarred after the events of the first three movies, with humanity picking up the pieces after the Transformers disappeared. The new film follows a high school student, and daughter (Nicola Peltz) of Mark Wahlberg's Cade Yeager--an inventor who discovers a buried Transformer, which sets the stage for their return. Jack Reynor plays her race car driver boyfriend.

The post-apocalyptic thriller "SnowPiercer" begins its limited run. The film is an adaptation of a French comic "Le Transperceneige and is set in a future when an Ice Age has killed off all life on the planet except for the inhabitants of the Snow Piercer, a train that travels around the globe and is powered by a sacred perpetual-motion engine. A class system evolves on the train but a revolution bubbles up.

Chris Evans, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton Jamie Bell Kenny Doughty Oscar winner Octavia Spencer Ewen Bremner and Kang Ho star for "The Host" director Joon-ho Bong

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