Box Office Weekend: Ant-Man Takes on Adam Sandler and Wins

Adam Sandler, regardless of the quality of his movies, is almost always a sure bet at the box office. However, his latest, Pixels, opened not only to poor reviews, but to a poor opening estimate of $24 million and below Ant-Man and its second week estimated take of $24.7 million. Also, in a stunning turn of events, nearly every movie in the top ten revealed its budget numbers, and as it turns out, signs are good for nearly all of them.

Minions, with an estimated $22.1 million, was going to be a surefire success even without revealing its numbers, but at $74 million, it was budgeted even lower than Despicable Me 2, though chances of it making the $970.8 worldwide take of that film will be quite the challenge. The critically acclaimed Trainwreck, on the other hand, is still short a few million, but an estimated $17.3 million has certainly helped, and it will likely be a box office success before too long.

Two newcomers to the list are a mixed bag, in both reception and earnings. Southpaw, with Jake Gyllenhaal playing a down-on-his-luck boxer brought in an estimated $16.5 million, but it is still well below the mark for its $30 million costs. On the other hand, Paper Towns is off to a good start thanks to a much lower budget, with an estimated $12.5 million so far against $12 million in costs. While not as well received as The Fault in Our Stars, it is still likely to make bank before too long.

Inside Out continues to do well, and its estimated $7.4 million weekend is simply icing on the cake, with $320.3 million against $175 million, it has a little ways to go to be a hit locally, but globally it is doing very well indeed with $550.1 million in total. Not to be outdone, Jurassic World may look worse with a weekend estimate of only $6.9 million, but the dinosaur megahit has done what seemed to be impossible and toppled The Avengers for the third highest earning movie of all-time, domestic and worldwide.

Mr. Holmes, as enigmatic as its subject matter, remains the only film in the top ten not to reveal budget information, and for possibly good reason. In its second week of release, an estimated $2.8 million is all it could manage, and at $6.4 million in domestic gross, it is the lowest earning movie currently in the top ten. Terminator: Genisys, on the other hand, may not be the lowest earning, but at an estimated $2.4 million weekend, it is relying heavily on overseas money to give it a chance to eke out a profit by the end of its run.

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Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."

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