Box office report: San Andreas makes waves at the box office with $53 million opening
Looks like San Andreas is anything but a disaster. Brad Peyton’s earthquake adventure rocked the box office this weekend, ending the three-day period with an estimated $53.2 million. That’s well above early predictions of $40 million, and it means this is Dwayne Johnson’s biggest solo debut ever. Even with so-so reviews (it’s only got a 49 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes), San Andreas still managed to destroy its competition this weekend, and it suggests there’s still room for an old-school disaster flick (without aliens or monsters) in the summer box-office race.
San Andreas’ performance marks a stark contrast to last weekend’s Tomorrowland opening, when the Disney action-adventure story fell short of initial predictions and only brought in $33 million over the three-day period. Tomorrowland fell even further this weekend, dropping about 60 percent to an estimated $13.8 million, wedging it in third place between Pitch Perfect 2 and Mad Max: Fury Road, which made $14.8 million and $13.6 million respectively.
Meanwhile, this weekend’s other major release didn’t even crack the top five: Cameron Crowe’s Aloha debuted to an estimated $10 million. Aloha has been dogged by scathing reviews, an email scandal, and accusations of white-washing the Hawaiian islands. Even big names like Bradley Cooper, Rachel McAdams, and Emma Stone couldn’t propel Aloha to a bigger box office debut, and EW’s own Chris Lee wrote about the odd choice to cast Stone as an Asian-American. Avengers: Age of Ultron took the fifth-place spot instead, making about $11 million in its fifth weekend and bringing its domestic total up to a whopping $427 million.
Here are this weekend’s top five at the box office:
1. San Andreas — $53.2 million
2. Pitch Perfect 2 — $14.8 million
3. Tomorrowland — $13.8 million
4. Mad Max: Fury Road — $13.6 million
5. Avengers: Age of Ultron — $10.9 million