It also marks the latest Depp film to plunder at the box office. It cost $170 million to produce – nearly as much as “X-Men: Apocalypse”. The follow-up to 2010’s “Alice in Wonderland”, which racked up more than $1 billion during its run, stumbled out of the gate, bombing with $28.1 million and a projected $35 over the four-day period. After all, “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice” did not make what most box office analysts expected from such a huge blockbuster.
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X-Men: Apocalypse opened top of the Memorial Day weekend with an estimated $65m.
While Through The Looking Glass topped what Hollywood calls the “foreign” box office chart with success in China ($US27.1 million), Mexico ($US5 million) and Russia ($US4.6 million), it struggled in Britain ($US3.2 million) and other key European countries.
With a production cost of around $170m, the Alice in Wonderland sequel – in which Depp plays the Mad Hatter – had been expected to open with takings of around $60m.
The Bryan Singer-directed X-Men filled the multiplexes with a cast of mutants that included newcomers Sophie Turner and Tye Sheridan, along with franchise marquee names such as Jennifer Lawrence and Michael Fassbender.
“It’s a disappointing result”, Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis told the Associated Press.
X-Men: Apocalypse took in an estimated US$65 million between Friday and Sunday, 29 per cent less than initial results for its franchise predecessor. It’s a good thing there wasn’t any money wagered on that bet, because one side of the equation looks to have lost out big time, as the Disney sequel is in pretty deep trouble after its first weekend in theaters. “We have embarked on a branded tent-pole strategy that makes big bets”.
With smash hits like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Zootopia and The Jungle Book, Disney has captured about 32 per cent of the domestic box office this year, according to the database Box Office Mojo. (It has passed $1.1 billion globally.) And the R-rated comedy “Neighbors: Sorority Rising” came in fifth with $9.1 million in its second week.
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The movie was expected to make in excess of $55 million (£37.6 million), and did even worse than “Tomorrowland”, which also flopped previous year over the four-day Memorial Day weekend holiday – it made $42 million (£28 million) for Disney and barely made back its production budget. Where available, the latest global numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included.
