Weekend box office – 17th to 23rd of May 2014 – can Spider-Man 2 catch Bad Neighbours?

The title race for this year’s comedy smash hit arguably began with The Other Woman a couple of weeks back but the first real contender is this week’s Bad Neighbours, a star studded comedy set to rip into the box office. Additionally, its release is kickstarting the summer movie season. Last week, we predicted it’d leap in ahead of The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s second week of release but let’s see how it got on.

US:

1. Bad Neighbours – Director: Nicholas Stoller – $49 million
2. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – $35.1 million
3. The Other Woman – Nick Cassavetes – $9.6 million
4. Heaven is for Real – Randall Wallace – $7.5 million
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – $5.8 million

UK:

1. Bad Neighbours – Nicholas Stoller – £8.4 million
2. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – £1.3 million
3. The Other Woman – Nick Cassavetes – £0.9 million
4. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – £0.6 million
5. Pompeii – Paul WS Anderson – £0.5 million

It’s not too surprising to find Bad Neighbours topping both sides of the Atlantic but this is the first time in a while that the UK and US box office top 3 have been identical. Superhero adventure Spider-Man 2 is doing decent numbers but it may not be the ones that Sony hoped for, as it is The Winter Soldier will lead it at the end of the year. Revenge comedy The Other Woman meanwhile is still holding out but its unlikely to be remembered. Despite a critical thrashing, Heaven is for Real is still reeling in the predominantly Christian audience in America while, in the UK, historical epic Pompeii is getting increasingly unlikely to breach the $100 million mark, let alone it’s minimal target of $160 million. This week’s score of 6/10 takes my running total to 135/280.

US:

1. Godzilla – Gareth Edwards
2. Bad Neighbours – Nicholas Stoller
3. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb
4. Million Dollar Arm – Craig Gillespie
5. The Other Woman – Nick Cassavetes

UK:

1. Godzilla – Gareth Edwards
2. Bad Neighbours – Nicholas Stoller
3. The Two Faces of January – Hossein Amini
4. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb
5. The Other Woman – Nick Cassavetes

Zac Efron, Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne in Bad Neighbours, this week’s UK and US box office number one.

Weekend box-office – 10th to 16th of May 2014 – will Other Woman get revenge on Spider-Man 2?

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is kicking off the summer movie season with its US release but early predictions saw it falling behind blockbusters Captain America: The Winter Soldier, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Godzilla. Sony need their sequel to take off otherwise their planned franchise could be quickly forgotten.

US:

1. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Director: Marc Webb – $92 million
2. The Other Woman – Nick Cassavetes – $14.2 million
3. Heaven is for Real – Randall Wallace – $8.6 million
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – $7.7 million
5. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – $7.6 million

UK:

1. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – £2 million
2. The Other Woman – Nick Cassavetes – £1.4 million
3. Pompeii – Paul WS Anderson – £1.2 million
4. Tarzan – Reinhard Klooss – £0.8 million
5. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – £0.5 million

Spider-Man 2 has done decent numbers but it’s still greatly disappointing. The new X-Men, ordinarily the timid cousin of Avengers and Spider-Man, has a predicted $125 million coming its way. Meanwhile The Other Woman has hardly capitalised on this position, sitting still in second place. While it has been impressive, the revenge comedy is likely to lose the title of this year’s big summer comedy to Bad Neighbours, A Million Ways to Die in the West or 22 Jump Street. Despite these surprises, this week I’ve scored a decent 4/10, taking my running total to 129/270.

US:

1. Bad Neighbours – Nicholas Stoller
2. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb
3. Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return – Will Finn, Dan St Pierre
4. The Other Woman – Nick Cassavetes
5. Heaven if For Real – Randall Wallace

UK:

1. Bad Neighbours – Nicholas Stoller
2. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb
3. The Other Woman – Nick Cassavetes
4. Sabotage – David Ayer
5. Pompeii – Paul WS Anderson

Andrew Garfield, Dane DeHaan and Emma Stone in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, this week’s UK and US number one.

Weekend box-office – 3rd to 9th of May 2014 – can Marvel’s Spider-Man and Winter Soldier hold off The Other Woman?

This week, two of Marvel’s blockbusters are the targets of feminised revenge comedy The Other Woman. Last week, we boldly predicted that thriller Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which has been kicking around a good few weeks, would slip down a place in the US but the more recent Amazing Spider-Man 2 would hold off the competition in the UK. Meanwhile sci-fi commercial flop Transcendence is attempting to regain some success after its initial flop.

US:

1. The Other Woman – Director: Nick Cassavetes – $24.8 million
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – $16.2 million
3. Heaven if For Real – Randall Wallace – $14.4 million
4. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – $13.9 million
5. Brick Mansions – Camille Delamarre – $9.5 million

UK

1. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – £3.4 million
2. The Other Woman – Nick Cassavetes – £2.7 million
3. Transcendence – Wally Pfister – £1.2 million
4. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – £0.9 million
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – £0.6 million

The Other Woman has debuted modestly and it’ll likely surpass $100 million worldwide but these statistics are hardly breakout comedy of the summer stuff, that title will likely go to Bad Neighbours, Tammy or A Million Ways to Die in the West. Captain America meanwhile has just reached the $650 million mark, just beating Thor: The Dark World’s total. The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s takings have dropped however, despite retaining the number one spot. Having scored 7/10, I’ve taken my running total to 125/260.

US:

1. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb
2. The Other Woman – Nick Cassavetes
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
4. Walk of Shame – Steven Brill
5. Heaven is for Real – Randall Wallace

UK:

1. Bad Neighbours – Nicholas Stoller
2. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb
3. Pompeii – Paul WS Anderson
4. Transcendence – Wally Pfister
5. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha

Dane DeHaan and Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, this week’s UK number one.

Leslie Mann, Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton in The Other Woman, this week’s US number one.

Weekend box-office – 26th of April to 2nd of May 2014 – Can Spider-Man 2 swing past Rio 2?

2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man did impressive numbers worldwide but it still undergrossed its Sam Raimi helmed predecessors. Last week, we predicted that the new sequel would top the UK box office but we may have slightly underestimated its success. Meanwhile, Johnny Depp is hoping for better things after the commercial flop of The Lone Ranger with his sci-fi drama Transcendence, which is also the directorial debut of Chris Nolan veteran Wally Pfister.

US:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo – $25.6 million
2. Heaven is for Real – Randall Wallace – $22.5 million
3. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – $22.2 million
4. Transcendence – Wally Pfister – $10.9 million
5. A Haunted House 2 – Michael Tiddes – $8.8 million

UK:

1. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – £9 million
2. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – £1.1 million
3. Noah – Darren Aronofsky – £0.9 million
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – £0.8 million
5. The Love Punch – Joel Hopkins – £0.6 million

Transcendence is probably this year’s first flop that was actually expected to succeed, there was never much hope for Legend of Hercules or I Frankenstein. It’s a genuine shock to find Johnny Depp no longer a bankable Hollywood star and that Pfister, the greatly talented cinematographer of Inception and The Dark Knight fame, is miles from Nolan’s billion dollar successes. Meanwhile, The Winter Soldier is close to surpassing Thor: The Dark World’s takings, reaching $610 million.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has made a deep impression in its opening weekend, higher than the UK debuts of both The Winter Soldier and The Dark World but the judge of its success will likely be in America. Comedy drama The Love Punch and horror spoof sequel A Haunted House 2 round off both of this week’s charts. From my predictions, I’ve scored 3/10 taking my running total to 118/250.

US:

1. The Other Woman – Nick Cassavetes
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
3. Heaven is For Real – Randall Wallace
4. Brick Mansions – Camille Delamarre
5. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha

UK:

1. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb
2. The Other Woman – Nick Cassavetes
3. Transcendence – Wally Pfister
4. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha
5. Tracks – John Curran

Andrew Garfield and Jamie Foxx in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, this week’s Uk number one.

Anthony Mackie in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, this week’s US number one.