Better with age? Cruise’s latest ‘Impossible’ tops box office

LOS ANGELES, United States – Improbable? Maybe, but “Mission Impossible – Fallout,” the sixth and latest stunt-filled edition of the Tom Cruise action franchise has topped the weekend box office in North America, outperforming the five earlier “Impossibles.”

The Paramount/Skydance production took in an estimated $61.5 million for the three-day weekend, according to industry tracker Exhibitor Relations, more than quadrupling the $15 million earned by second-place “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.”

“Impossible” has 56-year-old Cruise, who famously still does his own cliff-hanging, car-rolling stunts, ordered to track down some missing plutonium and find a terror-minded villain. Critics seem to like the film despite its evident weaknesses: Though “often ridiculous,” the Washington Post wrote, the film “works amazingly well.”


Universal’s “Mamma Mia” clung to the second spot for a second straight weekend, though its take was nearly 60 percent below its opening. With a star-studded cast including Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan, the film uses plentiful flashbacks to fill in the story of Streep’s carefree character on the only Greek island with a built-in ABBA soundtrack.

In third was Sony’s “The Equalizer 2,” with Denzel Washington again playing a former black-ops agent — and now low-profile Lyft driver — drawn into action to avenge a friend’s death. It took in $14 million.

Fourth spot went to another Sony film, “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation,” at $12.3 million. The animated comedy, whose voice cast includes Adam Sandler and Selena Gomez, follows Count Dracula and his family as they get away from their hotel for their own vacation.

In fifth was a new release, Warner Bros.’ family-friendly “Teen Titans Go! To the Movies,” at $10.5 million, which Variety called slightly disappointing given the film’s 90 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The first feature film based on a popular animated series, “Titans” has a voice cast including Kristen Bell, Will Arnett and Greg Cipes. /cbb

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“Ant-Man and the Wasp” ($8.4 million)

“Incredibles 2” ($7.2 million)

“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” ($6.8 million)

“Skyscraper” ($5.4 million)

“The First Purge” ($2.2 million)

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

‘Angry Birds’ tops North American box office

LOS ANGELES, United States — “The Angry Birds Movie” hopped to the top of the North American box office over the weekend, booting “Captain America” to second place, according to preliminary industry estimates Sunday.

The 3D animated take on the popular video game features a trio of flightless birds — Red, Chuck and Bomb — who take out their anger on an invasion of purple pigs.

The Sony production pulled in an estimated $39 million its first weekend in North American theaters, topping last week’s box office leader, “Captain America: Civil War,” according to industry tracker Exhibitor Relations.

That action-packed blockbuster and its cast of Marvel superheroes raked in another $33.1 million over the weekend for a cumulative total of $347.4 million after just three weeks in theaters.

Third place went to new-on-the-block “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising,” a comedy starring Seth Rogan, Rose Byrne and Zac Efron that scored $21.8 million its first weekend out.

A sequel to 2014 hit “Neighbors,” it flips that movie’s premise by having unruly sorority sisters — instead of frat brothers — turn the lives of their happily married neighbors upside down.

“The Nice Guys,” a detective mystery starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, came in fourth on its debut weekend with a box office take of $11.3 million.

Gosling and Crowe play a private eye and a hired enforcer on the hunt for a missing woman.

“The Jungle Book,” a remake of the Disney animated classic, slipped to fifth place its fifth week in theaters, taking in $11 million for a cumulative total of $327.5 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

— “Money Monster” ($7 million)

— “The Darkness” ($2.4 million)

— “Zootopia” ($1.7 million)

— “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” ($1.2 million)

— “Mother’s Day” ($1.1 million)

source: entertainment.inquirer.net