‘Man’ overcomes the ‘Boys’

Think Like a Man Too claimed the No. 1 spot at the box office this weekend, as predicted. The Kevin Hart comedy grossed $30 million. Its debut figure falls just shy of that which Think Like a Man earned over its opening weekend ($33.6 million) in 2012, but it is an improvement over Hart’s last outing, About Last Night ($25.6 million).

Although the film bowed to expectation, there are several pundits who believe Think Like a Man Too could have performed better, given Hart’s popularity, and out-earned its predecessor. Most likely, the weekend’s No. 2 earner, 22 Jump Street, poached a good chunk of Too’s audience. Street fell 49 percent to gross $29 million. Neighbors suffered a similar downturn its second weekend out of the gate, and went on to enjoy a successful run (it’s still screening in some theatres). 22 Jump Street should follow a similar pattern. To date, the film has earned $111.5 million, and will likely tally out at $170 million or so.

How to Train Your Dragon 2, the weekend’s No. 3 earner, is charting a similar course. The animated kids comedy is performing slightly worse than expected: it fell 49 percent this weekend, where the first Dragon eased just 34 percent over its sophomore outing. Still, like Street, Dragon 2 is on track to earn a none-too-shabby $170 million in total.

In fourth place, Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys disappointed with $13.5 million. That’s worse than misfire Rock of Ages ($14.4 million), although it is an improvement over Eastwood’s last directorial feature, J. Edgar ($11.2 million). Audiences were overwhelmingly older – 71 percent over the age of 50. More seasoned viewers do not typically rush out to catch a flick its first weekend in theatres, so despite a lackluster debut, Boys could hold well. The film may close out with roughly $50 million in total.

Maleficent clocked in at No. 5, earning $13 million domestically and officially crossing the $500 million mark worldwide. The film is now Angelina Jolie’s highest-grossing live-action feature ever. In terms of an overall domestic gross, Maleficent may end up with $215 million, in which case, it will be the biggest hit of the summer so far, besting the monsters and masked crusaders (otherwise known as Godzilla and The Amazing Spider-Man 2).

In total, this weekend’s box office ($142.6 million) was down 39 percent from the same period last year, which saw Monsters University, World War Z and Man of Steel leading the charge to the tune of a combined $190 million.