Box Office: ‘Captain America’ Soars to $73 Million, ‘Money Monster’ Opens With $15 Million

Disney-Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” remains dominant at U.S. theaters with $72.6 million at 4,426 U.S. locations — the eighth-largest second weekend of all time.

George Clooney-Julia Roberts thriller “Money Monster” opened respectably with $15 million. BH Tilt’s low-budget horror-thriller “The Darkness,” starring Kevin Bacon and Radha Mitchell, scared up $5.2 million at 1,754 sites in a Friday the 13th launch aimed at horror fans.

“Civil War” showed impressive staying power after it launched with $179.1 million last weekend, the fifth-highest of all time. The 59% decrease is in the same range as two other Marvel-Disney tentpoles: last year’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and 2013’s “Iron Man 3.”

“Civil War” has taken in $295.9 million at the domestic box office in its first ten days. Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with ComScore, said “Civil War” is keeping the box office momentum going for a strong summer season.

“‘Captain America: Civil War’ continues to benefit from good old-fashioned word-of-mouth, an irresistible concept and its delivery of a flat-out perfect summer popcorn movie experience and that has powered the film to close to $300 million after just ten days in North American theaters,” he added. “The newcomers did as expected considering the overwhelming strength of the latest Marvel extravaganza and both ‘Money Monster’ and ‘The Darkness’ performed perfectly in line with expectations and offered something new and different for audiences.”

“Captain America: Civil War” will become the 11th title to have exceeded $70 million in its second weekend. That list is headed by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” with $149 million, “Jurassic World” with $106.6 million, “Marvel’s The Avengers” with $103.1 million, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” with $77.7 million, “Avatar” with $75.6 million, “The Dark Knight” with $75.2 million and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” at $74.2 million.

Sony’s “Money Monster” was able to provide viable counter-programming aimed at adults, finishing well above recent forecasts. Directed by Jodie Foster, “Monster” generated solid buzz from its world premiere on Thursday night at the Cannes Film Festival and saw a 22% gain in business from Friday to Saturday.

Rory Bruer, Sony’s worldwide head of distribution, said that the launch number was particularly strong in light of the dominance of “Civil War.” “It bodes very well for us in the coming weeks,” he added.

Disney’s fifth weekend of “The Jungle Book” continued to show remarkable staying power with $17.8 million at 3,970 locations for a second place finish. The comedy-adventure declined a mere 27% from the previous frame and will wind up the weekend with more than $311 million domestically.

Blumhouse’s “The Darkness” finished in fourth place and represented an attempt to exploit the horror niche with a modest spend via the High Top Releasing banner. Blumhouse’s BH Tilt indicated that an opening in the $4 million range would make it a successful venture. It used the same strategy last year on “The Green Inferno,” which wound up grossing $7 million.

Open Road’s third weekend comedy “Mother’s Day” finished fifth as it slid 71% to $3.3 million following the Mother’s Day weekend, lifting the U.S. total to $28.8 million. Disney’s 11th weekend of its sturdy animated comedy “Zootopia” followed in sixth with $2.8 million, declining only 12%, to pull the domestic total to $331.8 million.

Universal’s fourth weekend of “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” finished seventh as the fantasy actioner decreased by 35% to $2.6 million at 2,518 locations, pushing its U.S. total past $44 million. New Line’s third weekend of “Keanu” followed in eighth with $1.9 million at 2,120 locations for a domestic cume of $18.6 million.

A24’s quirky comedy “The Lobster,” starring Colin Farrell, opened impressively with $188,195 on four screens in Los Angeles and New York for a per-theater average of $47,049, which was the highest of the year. “The Lobster,” which was originally acquired by Alchemy, won the Jury Prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Amazon Studios and Roadside Attractions also generated a strong launch for Whit Stillman’s “Love & Friendship,” a Jane Austen adaptation starring Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny, with $132,750 at four sites. Fox Searchlight’s second weekend of “A Bigger Splash” expanded from five to 26 sites and generated a decent $185,000, lifting the total to $367,429.

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