Weekend Estimates: 'The Boss' ($23.48M) & 'Batman v Superman' ($23.44M) in Tight Race for First Place; 'Hardcore Henry' ($5.10M) Arrives SoftlyApril 10, 2016 09:42 AM

by Daniel Garris

It was an extremely close race between Universal's The Boss and Warner's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice for first place this weekend. The Boss is currently estimated to come out ahead with $23.48 million, but with an estimated lead of only $45,000, either film could ultimately end up in first place this weekend.

Regardless of whether or not it ends up in first place this weekend, The Boss outpaced expectations and performed well with its modest price tag in mind. The Melissa McCarthy led R-rated comedy also proved to be critic-proof this weekend. The film's opening weekend performance was 9 percent ahead of the $21.58 million opening weekend of 2014's Tammy (though it should be noted that Tammy's opening weekend take was softened by a Wednesday debut) and 19 percent below the $29.09 million debut of last year's Spy (it should be noted that The Boss had been widely expected to open below Spy). With this weekend's performance of The Boss, McCarthy continues to remain one of the more consistent box office draws in recent years. McCarthy will next appear in Sony's Ghostbusters, which arrives on July 15.

The Boss started out with $8.11 million on Friday (which included an estimated $985,000 from Thursday night shows), increased a healthy 20 percent on Saturday to take in $9.73 million and is estimated to decline 42 percent on Sunday to gross $5.64 million. That gave the film an estimated opening weekend to Friday ratio of 2.90 to 1. The Boss skewed heavily toward female moviegoers (67 percent) and slightly towards moviegoers under the age of 35 (51 percent). Audience reception to The Boss appears to be lackluster as the film received a C+ rating on CinemaScore and current has a Flixster audience score of just 50 percent. With that in mind, it's quite possible that The Boss won't hold up as well going forward as McCarthy's previous hits have. On the other hand, the film's mentioned strong Saturday hold is an early encouraging sign.

After leading the box office for the past two weeks Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice fell to a close second place this weekend with an estimated $23.44 million. The blockbuster 3D superhero film starring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill continued to fall off sharply, as the film was down 54 percent from last weekend. Batman v Superman is now on the verge of reaching the $300 million domestic mark with a 17-day take of $296.69 million. However, as a result of its soft holding power thus far, Batman v Superman is now running just 1 percent ahead of the $294.51 million 17-day take of last year's Furious 7 (which fell 51 percent in its third weekend to gross $29.16 million). With that in mind, Batman v Superman will soon fall behind the pace of Furious 7, especially with Disney's highly anticipated The Jungle Book entering the marketplace this coming Friday.

While Batman v Superman continued to decline sharply this weekend, Disney's Zootopia continued to display strong holding power with an estimated third place take of $14.35 million. The blockbuster 3D computer animated film was down just 26 percent from last weekend. Without taking into account ticket price inflation, Zootopia registered the eighth largest sixth weekend gross of all-time. Zootopia is also on the verge of reaching the $300 million domestic mark with a 38-day take of $296.01 million. The film is now running just 8 percent behind the $320.39 million 38-day take of last year's Inside Out and will continue to make up ground in that comparison going forward. Zootopia already has a current total gross to opening weekend ratio of 3.94 to 1.

Universal's My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 placed in fourth with an estimated $6.42 million. The PG-13 rated comedy sequel starring and written by Nia Vardalos was down 43 percent, as the film took a hit from the debut The Boss this weekend. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 continues to perform towards the higher end of expectations with a 17-day take of $46.75 million. That places the film 6 percent behind the $49.59 million 17-day gross of last year's The Intern (which fell just 26 percent in its third weekend to take in $8.68 million). My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 will hope to re-stabilize next weekend with the debut of The Boss behind it.

Hardcore Henry rounded out the weekend's top five with an estimated $5.10 million. The low-budget action film from STX Entertainment opened below pre-release expectations and delivered a lackluster per-location average of $1,690 from just 3,015 locations. The trailer for Hardcore Henry had gone over well, especially online, but that reception ultimately failed to get moviegoers to see the film this weekend. Hardcore Henry delivered the lowest debut for STX Entertainment to date in the distributor's young history. The film opened with $2.01 million on Friday (which included an estimated $380,000 from Thursday night shows), declined a concerning 7 percent on Saturday to gross $1.87 million and is estimated to slide 35 percent on Sunday to take in $1.22 million. That places the film's estimated opening weekend to Friday ratio at a fairly front-loaded 2.54 to 1. Much like The Boss, Hardcore Henry doesn't appear to be going over all that well with moviegoers. Hardcore Henry also received a C+ rating on CinemaScore and has a respectable current Flixster audience score of 66 percent.

Faith-based films Miracles from Heaven and God's Not Dead 2 claimed sixth and seventh place with respective estimated takes of $4.80 million and $4.05 million. Sony's Miracles from Heaven was down a very solid 34 percent this weekend, while God's Not Dead 2 was down a sizable 47 percent. Miracles from Heaven passed the $50 million mark this weekend and continues to perform nicely with $53.81 million in 26 days. God's Not Dead 2 has been far less impressive with $13.84 million in ten days and clearly isn't duplicating the word of mouth or the performance of its predecessor, 2014's God's Not Dead, which grossed $21.75 million in its first ten days after falling just 4.5 percent in its second weekend to take in $8.80 million.