The 4th of July weekend box office was down significantly from last year. And while many analysts are surprised by the poor results over the holiday, I predicted that “Tammy”, “Deliver Us from Evil”, and “Earth to Echo” would all struggle, mostly because they aren’t designed to be Independence Day blockbusters.
Last year, “Despicable Me 2” crushed the 4th with an $83.5 million 3-Day and $143 million 5-Day weekend. “The Lone Ranger”, which Disney expected to be a smash-hit with star Johnny Depp and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, opened under $30M Fri-Sun with $48M total from Wed-Sun. At the time considered an instant bomb, it actually performed better than any of the trio of ’14 July 4th releases.
“Transformers: Age of Extinction” (a traditional 4th release) won the holiday in its second week (though it dropped 64%). Finishing second – “Tammy”. The Melissa McCarthy comedy, which she co-wrote with director/husband Ben Falcone, made $32.9 million in its first five days. That’s less than McCarthy’s previous two leading role comedies (“Identity Thief” and “The Heat”) made in their first three days. Largely poor reviews likely played a role. But considering the budget for “Tammy” was only $20 million, the film’s already profitable even though not a financial smash hit.
Horror movies normally open strong ($20-$25M+), but “Deliver Us from Evil”, starring Eric Bana, only managed to earn $15 million. A poor marketing strategy could be to blame, or maybe horror fans are waiting two weeks for the sequel “The Purge: Anarchy”.
And “Earth to Echo”, the awful “E.T.” knock-off from Relativity Media, managed a 5-Day total of just $13.5 million. Surprisingly mixed reviews can’t be the cause, nor the family audience competition (“How to Train Your Dragon 2” still dropped 34%). Maybe the general public could sense what anyone who went found out: this is a terrible film. Looking ahead, Disney’s animated sequel “Planes: Fire & Rescue”, opening in less than two weeks, could make as much as $45 million out of the gate.
Next year, another “Terminator” reboot and Channing Tatum’s “Magic Mike 2” will be the big 4th of July 2015 releases, and “Ted 2” will be in its second week. It should feel like old times at the box office.