Box office report: 'Transformers 4' holds No. 1 spot, no fireworks

Transformers: Age of Extinction showed its summer might once more by holding onto the No. 1 spot in its second weekend of release, grossing an estimated $36.4 million from 4,233 locations and effectively shutting out the slate of new releases. Michael Bay’s explosive epic also hit $400 million internationally after just 12 days in release.
But, overall, it was a quiet holiday weekend at the box office, and the gap between 2013 and 2014 summer earnings only continues to grow. None of the week’s new releases were ever going to match last year’s Despicable Me 2 opening.
Among the weekend openers was Warner Bros.’ R-rated comedy Tammy (C+ Cinema Score), which managed to take in just $21.2 million in its first weekend in release and $32.9 million across the five-day, cooling star Melissa McCarthy’s recent box office hot streak. The second place opening isn’t a disaster by any means—the pic only cost $20 million to produce—but it also didn’t meet the studio’s modest expectations ($37 million across five days). On top of that, the lousy Cinema Score means that this one will drop hard and fast.

In third place, Screen Gems’ and Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ Deliver Us From Evil (B- Cinema Score) grossed an estimated $9.5 million from 3,049 locations this weekend, bringing its five-day total to $15 million. The “based on true accounts” supernatural tale reportedly cost $30 million to produce. It also earned $2.5 million from 16 markets internationally.
Sony’s 22 Jump Street snagged the fourth place spot in its fourth weekend with $9.4 million from 3,324 locations. That’s only a 41 percent fall from last weekend for the comedy, which now boasts a domestic total of $158.9 million. Fox’s How to Train Your Dragon 2 rounded out the top five with an $8.75 million weekend.
1. Transformers: Age of Extinction – $36.4 million weekend ($174.7 million domestic)
2. Tammy – $21.17 million weekend ($32.91 million domestic total)
3. Deliver Us From Evil — $9.5 million ($15 million domestic total)
4. 22 Jump Street – $9.4 million ($158.85 million domestic total)
5. How to Train Your Dragon 2 – $8.75 million ($140 million domestic total)
Earth to Echo, meanwhile, opened at No. 6 and earned an estimated $8.25 million across the three-day and $13.5 million over its five days in release from 3,230 screens, failing to meet analyst and distributor expectations by a few million dollars. Relativity bought the family-friendly pic from Disney in 2013, which follows a group of friends who discover an alien in their small town and resolve to help him find his way home. The inexpensive pic ($13 million) was released over the holiday in an effort to provide counter-programming to a slate mostly devoid of family films (an industry low since 2007). And, while it may have missed the mark opening weekend, the A- Cinema Score could indicate that word of mouth will be strong for this movie and that it’ll perform decently across the next few weeks.
In notable expansions, distributor Lionsgate rolled out Dinesh D’Souza’s America (A+ Cinema Score) to 1,105 theaters this weekend where it brought in an estimated $2.7 million, bringing its domestic cume to $4.04 million. Snowpiercer also expanded to 250 theaters and took in $998K across the three day weekend.