‘Maleficent’ reigns supreme

Despite middling reviews (52 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), Maleficent is a certified hit. The reimagining of “Sleeping Beauty” opened to a boffo $70 million this weekend, easily earning the No. 1 slot at the box office. Critics were underwhelmed by the CGI-heavy flick, but, this being star Angelina Jolie’s first time in front of the camera since 2010’s The Tourist, fan interest was high. Audiences were overwhelmingly female (60 percent), though they were more evenly split by age: half were over 25, while families accounted for 45 percent of moviegoers. They awarded the film an “A” Cinemascore grade, which tends to bode well for continued box-office success. Odds are Maleficent will wind up with $200 million or so in total.

X-Men: Days of Future Past, the weekend’s No. 2 earner, should end its theatrical run with a bit more revenue under its belt, between $220 and $230 million. The actioner took in an additional $32.6 million, a downturn of 64 percent – roughly on par with expectation – from last week. Past has so far earned $162.1 million.

Far below the X-Men, Seth MacFarlane’s comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West landed at No. 3 with a disappointing $17.1 million showing. “Disappointing” is something of an understatement; the film’s gross is roughly one-third of that which MacFarlane’s Ted earned over its opening weekend in 2012 ($54 million). The mostly male (55 percent) and older (72 percent over the age of 25) crowd gave the movie a Cinemascore grade of a “B,” which, when taken with its poor reviews (33 percent rotten on RT), means West will likely make like its title, and expire soon. Look for a total gross south of $50 million.

Rounding out the weekend’s top 5, holdover Godzilla clocked in at No. 4 with its $12.2 million gross, whle Adam Sandler comedy Blended hauled in $8.4 million, bringing its 10-day total to a soft $29.6 million.

All is not lost in the land of the broad comedy, however. Neighbors continues to perform nicely, having earned another $7.7 million this weekend. Its total now stands at $128.6 million.