Weekend Box Office: Batman V. Superman V. Melissa McCarthy

By Ignatiy Vishnevetsky | April 11, 2016 | 5:34pm

Aux Features Film

The continuing saga of how a movie that made a lot of money came to be seen as a commercial failure: Three weeks into release, the staggeringly expensive Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice finds itself challenged for the top spot at the box office by The Boss, the Melissa McCarthy vehicle that got even worse reviews—well, everywhere except at this storied publication.

Box-office reporters are declaring The Boss the winner by a very narrow margin, with Box Office Mojo is reporting that the difference could be as little as $45,000. Whether that speaks to McCarthy’s continued success as a star of modestly budgeted comedies or to Warner Bros.’ overestimation of Batman V. Superman—which has made $783 million worldwide, but needs more than $800 million just to break even—probably depends on which dusty industry opinion piece you’re reading.

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Both films made around $23 million on a weak weekend. (How weak? The highest new release per-screen average was for a documentary about Hannah Arendt.) The first-person-shooter-esque action flick Hardcore Henry came in at No. 5 with $5 million. That would be great for a niche, Russian-made genre film (main selling point: it will make you hurl) had distributor STX Entertainment not bought the rights for Hardcore Henry (formerly Hardcore) for $10 million, advertised the heck out of it, and released it in over 3,000 theaters.

Meanwhile, the Jake Gyllenhaal-led “American Beauty Lite” Demolition made $1.1 million to land at No. 15, just behind Jeff Nichols’ fantastic Midnight Special, which went wide this weekend, expanding to almost 500 theaters. There were no huge breakouts on the indie release front: A.V. Club favorite Louder Than Bombs earned $6,085 per theater on four screens, which is about the same averaged by Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation in 10 theaters. Hopefully, both films will develop momentum over time.

The Max Landis-scripted Mr. Right opened simultaneously with a VOD release, bringing in $25,000 from 35 screens. The rest of the box office was packed with familiar titles, including Zootopia ($14.3 million) at No. 3 and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 ($6.4 million) at No. 4.

For more detailed numbers, visit Box Office Mojo.