BOX OFFICE: EDGE OF TOMORROW On Pace For A Third Place Debut

  The film, The Fault in Our Stars, starring Shailene Woodley (The Amazing Spider-Man 2), is conquering the North American box office with an estimated $52M, though it could goes as high as $57M. Keep in mind, that is factoring in an expected 40% drop in Saturday ticket sales. Word-of-mouth for the tearjerker may could mitigate that assumed drop as audiences gave it an 'A' Cinemascore. For comparison: Edge of Tomorrow received a 'B+' Cinemascore. While Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow's Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, is only on pace for $30M. That would put it in third place behind Walt Disney Pictures' Maleficent. The film that stars Angelina Jolie is in its second weekend and is only experiencing a 50% drop from its debut. On its current pace the Sleeping Beauty film will pull in $34M.

On the flip side, The Tom Cruise sci-fi action pic from Warner Bros., Edge of Tomorrow will be lucky to hit $30M but international numbers should lift it up … probably not high enough. The popcorn movie even took over the IMAX screens this weekend … the key question is can it make a profit? Let’s face it, it’s gonna be a tough one. I gotta think this is not just about Cruise but also tentpole fatigue. I mean, at some point, audiences just gotta look at one after another of these pictures and say, ‘been there, done that.’ Perhaps, Hollywood needs to get back to its roots — the moviemaking of the 1940s or 1970s where story and characters were the key, not explosions and CGI effects. Speaking of which, Disney’s CGI-laden Maleficent is expected to drop about 50% in its second weekend out to take in about $4M more than the Cruise pic. Thanks, in large part, to Angelina Jolie who embraces her character with a vengeance. And Chef from Open Road, is doing well in its expansion — a character/story-driven film by Jon Favreau.

1). The Fault In Our Stars (FOX), 3,171 theaters / $26M+ Fri.
3-day cume: $53M to $55M (Fox says $52M) / Wk 1

2) Maleficent (DIS), 3,948 theaters (0) / $10.2M Fri.
3-day cume: $34M+ (-51%) / Total expected cume: $127.9M / Wk 2

3). Edge of Tomorrow (WB), 3,490 theaters / $10.6M Fri.
3-day cume: $29.6M to $30.1M / Wk 1

4). X-Men: Days of Future Past (FOX), 3,639 theaters (-362) / $4.5M Fri.
3-day cume: $14.6M to $15.65M (-52%) / Total cume: $190M+ / Wk 3

5). A Million Ways to Die in the West (UNI), 3,160 theaters (+2) / $2.2M Fri.
3-day cume: $6.8M (-59%) / Total cume: $29.8M / Wk 2

6). Godzilla (WB), 3,110 theaters (-391) / $1.7M Fri.
3-day cume: $6.2M (-48%) / Total cume: $185.4M / Wk 4

7). Neighbors (UNI), 2,674 theaters (-265) / $1.6M Fri.
3-day cume: $5M to $5.2M (-36%) / Total cume: $137.7M / Wk 5

8). Blended (WB), 2,928 theaters (-627) / $1.25M Fri.
3-day cume: $4.1M (-49%) / Total cume: $36.6M / Wk 3

9). Chef (OPRD), 1,298 theaters (+674) / $715K Fri.
3-day cume: $2.55M (+36%) / Total cume: $10.35M / Wk 5

10/11). Million Dollar Arm (DIS), 1,643 theaters (-686) / $565K Fri.
3-day cume: $1.9M (-46%) / Total cume: $31.5M/ Wk

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (SONY) 1,481 theaters (-671) / $540K Fri.
3-day cume: $1.9M (-48%) / Total cume: $196.3M / Wk 6

The story unfolds in a near future in which a hive-like alien race, called Mimics, have hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, shredding great cities to rubble and leaving millions of human casualties in their wake. No army in the world can match the speed, brutality or seeming prescience of the weaponized Mimic fighters or their telepathic commanders. But now the world’s armies have joined forces for a last stand offensive against the alien horde, with no second chances. Lt. Col. Bill Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and then dropped—untrained and ill-equipped—into what amounts to little more than a suicide mission. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an Alpha down with him. But, impossibly, he awakens back at the beginning of the same hellish day, and is forced to fight and die again…and again. Direct physical contact with the alien has thrown him into a time loop—dooming him to live out the same brutal combat over and over. But with each pass, Cage becomes tougher, smarter, and able to engage the Mimics with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt), who has lain waste to more Mimics than anyone on Earth. As Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated battle becomes an opportunity to find the key to annihilating the alien invaders and saving the Earth.

EDGE OF TOMORROW is being directed by Doug Liman (“The Bourne Identity,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”) from a screenplay written by Dante Harper, Christopher McQuarrie and Joby Harold, based on the novel "All You Need Is Kill" by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The film stars: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Jonas Armstrong (BBC’s “Robin Hood”), Tony Way, Kick Gurry, Franz Drameh, and Charlotte Riley. The film will hit theaters June 6, 2014.