US Box Office lacks fireworks this Fourth Of July! Do you get it? Because: fireworks! Fourth of July! Yes, the gags have been creaking from the keyboards because this year’s holiday weekend, despite boasting the latest Transformers film and several new releases, slumped with a 45% drop in takings from 2013. Even Age Of Extinction, which has been stomping box-office charts around the world, could only muster up $36.4 million in its second weekend of release, a near 64% drop.
Still, Michael Bay and Paramount won’t be too sad, given the aforementioned global success and the fact that the movie has now earned $174.7 million in the US after just two weeks and $575 million worldwide.
Optimus and the rest saw off competition from Melissa McCarthy, who proved that she is still a draw even if her latest, Tammy, has received withering reviews and is reporting poor word of mouth from audiences. Opening a couple of days before the holiday weekend, the comedy has made $32.9 million so far, a little under expected results.
The road trip madness faired better than Jerry Bruckheimer’s stab at horror (well, after Kangaroo Jack, at least), as Deliver Us From Evil’s blend of police procedural and exorcism mustered $9.5 million across the weekend upon release for third place and a $15 million total thus far. Fourth was 22 Jump Street, which continues to do well, taking in $9.4 million this weekend in fourth and crossing $158.8 million for its stateside total. Fifth place went to How To Train Your Dragon 2, which dropped from third and still made $8.7 million for a running total of $140 million.
Some of that drop might have been from fresh family film competition Earth To Echo, though the new arrival didn’t exactly prove much of a threat – it landed in sixth place with $8.2 million on the weekend and $13 million to date. It’ll have to hope that there aren’t many other family-focused films on the way for a while.
Maleficent, which has just replaced Frozen atop the Japanese box office (cue Disney bean counters doing the dance of joy), fell to seventh with $6.1 million, while **Jersey Boys **was down to eighth and $5.1 million, ahead of Think Like A Man Too in ninth with $4.9 million. Edge Of Tomorrow continues to hold on in the top 10, though it shed a lot of screens and fell to the bottom this weekend, bringing in $3.6 million.
To see a giant explosion take on a woman and her grandmother in the full chart listings, head to Box Office Mojo.