Box Office Report: Godzilla Is A Monster At #1

Eroding even further as the summer box office turns competitive was The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which dropped 53 percent to take third place, with $16.8 million. At $172.2 million, the superhero tentpole is currently tracking slightly ahead of Thor: The Dark World. Even with a holiday weekend coming up though, do not expect Spider-Man to crawl up much further beyond the $200 million mark.

Opening to mild results in fourth place was Disney’s baseball drama, Million Dollar Arm, which made $10.5 million. The Jon Hamm-starrer was not expected to break out, as box office prognosticators expected an opening in the low- to mid-teens. Still, it sold fewer than half of the tickets that The Rookie did in its first three days from March 2002. That film opened to $16 million when ticket prices were much lower. However, Million Dollar Arm could benefit from good word-of-mouth (an A- CinemaScore rating) and catering to family audiences, who are underserved right now.

In fifth place was the leggy comedy hit The Other Woman, which brought in $6.3 million, a mild 34 percent drop from Mother’s Day Weekend. With $71.7 million, the PG-13 flick should finish with around $85 million. Including international grosses, The Other Woman has made more than $150 million (from a $40 million budget). Fox is probably very happy with that, as films opening at the end of April usually tumble quickly at the box office.

As for milestones this weekend, Captain America: The Winter Soldier surpassed the $250 million mark, and it is a week or so away from becoming the highest-grossing film of the year in North America. Meanwhile, Noah finally crawled past the $100 million mark. After a big opening at the end of March, mixed audience reception caused it to drop off pretty quickly. However, it has made $343.3 million worldwide, so it is hardly a box office disappointment.

On the independent film front this weekend, period drama The Immigrant could not capitalize on great reviews and a big-name cast, including Joaquin Phoenix and Marion Cotillard. James Gray’s drama only made $45,400 from 3 theatres, which is decent but far from the heights The Weinstein Company probably hoped for.

Elsewhere, results were respectable for two early summer expansions with short titles: Belle and Chef. Fox Searchlight’s drama almost quadrupled its theater count and made $960,000 from 173 locations (for an alright $5,549 per location). Jon Favreau’s foodie comedy, which boasts a big-name all-star cast, made $734,000 from 72 theatres (for a good $10,194 per cinema).

Here are the box office estimates for the Top 10 films at the North American box office, the weekend of May 16 through May 18, 2014:

1. Godzilla – $93.2 million (NEW)
2. Neighbors – $26 million ($91.5 million total)
3. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – $16.8 million (172.2 million total)
4. Million Dollar Arm – $10.5 million (NEW)
5. The Other Woman – $6.3 million ($71.7 million total)
6. Heaven is for Real – $4.4 million ($82.2 million total)
7. Rio 2 – $3.8 million ($118.1 million total)
8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – $3.8 million ($250.6 million total)
9. Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return – $2 million ($6.6 million total)
10. Mom’s Night Out – $1.9 million ($7.3 million total)

NOTE: These numbers are weekend estimates based on Friday and Saturday’s estimated takes. Actual numbers are reported on Monday afternoon.