‘X-Men’ tops holiday charts

On par with expectations, X-Men: Days of Future Past earned the No. 1 spot at the box office this Memorial Day weekend. The superhero flick’s $111 million domestic tally makes it the second highest-grossing X-Men movie ever, falling just $12 million shy of X-Men: The Last Stand’s record-setting opening haul. Though it failed to meet the bar set by that particular success past, Days of Future Past nonetheless enjoyed the fifth-best Memorial Day weekend bow of all time.

And audiences weren’t disappointed. The predominantly male (56 percent) and older (59 percent over the age of 25) crowd awarded the film a solid “A” CinemaScore grade. X-Men movies are often front-loaded, however, so it remains to be seen whether, or to what extent, its current buzz carries over into the weeks ahead. At the very least, filmmakers and studio can claim success abroad: The film earned a stellar $171 million overseas, with China and its $37.7 million contribution leading the charge.

Last week’s surprise hit Godzilla fell to the No. 2 slot this weekend, taking a pretty steep, 67 percent hit to earn $39.4 million for the four days. Largely thanks to its boffo opening last Friday-Sunday, the movie has so far grossed $156.8 million. It’s on track to total out in the low $200 millions.

Blended, the holiday weekend’s other new major release, went belly-up at the box office. The Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore comedy earned just $18.2 million for the four days, continuing a downturn for Sandler that has seen his more recent films idling in the low to mid-teens. (Not counting Memorial Day, Blended took in $14.2 million for the weekend, or only slightly more than That’s My Boy’s $13.5 million opening, and significantly less than Jack and Jill’s $25 million bow.)

Neighbors earned the weekend’s fourth-place slot with $17.2 million for the four days, out-earning that other superhero offering currently in theatres, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which grossed $10 million over the same period. Like Godzilla, Spidey’s eventual total should land somewhere in the low $200 millions.