X-Men: First Class took a solid but unspectacular $56 million in its first three days to top the US box office this weekend. It was a decent start, but far less than the $85 million X-Men Origins: Wolverine took on its debut. Indeed it’s lower than X-Men 2 or The Last Stand, and while it just squeaked ahead of X-Men’s $54.5 million opening, as that was in 2000, adjusted for inflation First Class is undoubtedly the weakest debut in the franchise so far.
It’s a shame, as the movie opened to solid reviews (it’s currently at an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, a very good score for a summer movie), but it seems the premise is more attractive to fanboys than the general populous of the US. It’s also true that having been burned by the dreadful Wolverine, many may be steering clear of this one.
First Class was the only new entry in the US top 10, with the rest of the chart mainly see each film drop down a place. Hangover II dropped a whopping 62% on its second weekend, but after it’s enormous debut last week, that’s not t0o shocking, and it’s still ahead of where the first film was at this point. Kung Fu Panda 2 dropped a little under 50% in its second cycle, just taking it past the $100 million mark. Dreamworks Animation will be hoping the international box office can make up for the film’s relatively weak US release (and with a family movie, they probably don’t have to panic about that too much).
However it’s Midnight In Paris that really continues to impress, with the film now in 147 theatres it’s still doing excellent business, taking nearly $20,000 per screen – more than any other movie in the top 10 – in its third weekend.
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of June 3rd-5th.