Furious 7‘s month-long reign at the box office came to an end this weekend at the hands of another franchise entry, as Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron entered the US release market with a vengeance, earning $187.6 million to rise to the top of the box office. The total, in addition to displacing the aforementioned James Wan film as the biggest opening weekend gross of 2015, already puts the newest entry in the MCU in the top three highest grossing films of the year, ahead of the total gross of Fifty Shades of Grey, and just $6 million behind that of Cinderella.
The box office total of the first place winner caused a noticeable drop in the rest of the charts, as Age of Adaline finished in a distant second with $6.3 million. Furious 7 rounded out the top three with a $6.1 million gross, while Dreamworks’ Home completed its sixth straight week in the top ten with a fifth place finish and $3.3 million. After falling out of the top ten last week, Cinderella returned to sixth place, while both Ex Machina and Unfriended continued to hold spots in the top ten, at seventh and eighth place, respectively.
Among limited releases, the biggest opening went to Thomas Vinterberg’s adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Far From The Madding Crowd, which earned $172,000 in a ten theatre opening, for a PSA of $17,200. The biggest PSA among openers, however, went to the Kristen Wiig-starring Welcome to Me, which brought in $38,168 from the two theatres it opened in, giving it a PSA of $19,084. Albert Maysles’ final documentary Iris earned $63,500 from six theatres for a PSA of $10,583. Helen Hunt’s return to the director’s chair, Ride, made $4,500 in two theatres, giving it a PSA of $2,250.
The top earners at the US box office for the weekend are as follows:
- Avengers: Age of Ultron — $187,656,000
- The Age of Adaline — $6,250,000
- Furious 7 — $6,114,000
- Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 — $5,550,000
- Home — $3,300,000
- Cinderella — $2,357,000
- Ex Machina — $2,231,000
- Unfriended — $1,988,000
- The Longest Ride — $1,700,000
- Woman in Gold — $1,681,000