TOP 12 FILMS AT THE BOX OFFICE
Disney’s original fantasy adventure “Tomorrowland” ended up earning slightly more in its debut than Monday estimates suggested, with $42.7 million across the holiday weekend.
While that’s within the range of what the studio and analysts predicted going into the four-day weekend, it’s going to be an uphill battle for the film starring George Clooney to make up its reported $180 million production budget.
Holdovers “Pitch Perfect 2” and “Mad Max: Fury Road” experienced modest drops in their second weekends in theaters and took the second and third place spots, while “Avengers: Age of Ultron” added another $28.2 million, bringing its domestic total to $411.4 million.
The top movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Monday:
1.
TOMORROWLAND, After a slow start, this film — about a former boy genius (George Clooney) and a current girl genius (Britt Robertson) traveling to a city outside time and space — becomes a delightful and thoughtful exploration of the ways in which the future, the concept and promise of it, function in human life. It’s a more serious movie than it seems. (PG) 129 minutes — Mick LaSalle
$42.7 million; 1 week
2.
PITCH PERFECT 2, Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson and the rest of the Barden Bellas are back for this delightful sequel to the 2012 hit. Now the Bellas are seniors, trying to live down a public embarrassment by winning an international a capella championship. This is one of the most likable films of the season. (PG-13) 115 minutes — M.L. $38.3 million; $125.7 million; 2 weeks
3. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, Artful touches and a cleverly imagined future world lift this film somewhat, but the bottom line is that it’s pretty much a two-hour chase scene, with lots of fake-looking special effects. If that sounds great to you, here’s your ticket. (R) 121 minutes — M.L. $31.3 million; $94.7 million; 2 weeks
4. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, It’s long, loud, stuffed with special effects and sporadically witty, and it sets up events for yet another sequel. What it doesn’t have is any sense of going above and beyond. Unlike some other entries in the Marvel universe — the first “Iron Man,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” or even the original “Avengers” — it doesn’t transcend its boundaries. Fans of the franchise will be pleased, but those looking in from the outside of comic-book culture may find themselves also looking at their watches. (PG-13) 141 minutes — Cary Darling, Fort Worth StarTelegram $28.2 million; $411.4 million; 4 weeks
5.
POLTERGEIST,
Kennedi Clements, as the child trapped between the real world and the afterlife in this remake of the 1982 film, gives us wild-eyed terror we can hang onto and a blood-curdling scream that will haunt your nightmares. The rest of the cast underreact to the stunning evidence of a supernatural menace in a way one can only describe as blasé. (PG-13) 93 minutes — Roger Moore, Tribune News Service
$26.3 million; 1 week
6.
HOT PURSUIT,
Every single funny moment in this film — about a by-the-book cop (Reese Witherspoon) transporting a drug dealer’s widow (Sofia Vergara) into witness protection — was in the trailer. What’s left is a tonally discordant, seriously unfunny movie that overstays its welcome, even with a run time of less than an hour and a half. (PG-13) 87 minutes — M.L. $4.6 million; $30 million; 3 weeks
7. FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, The casting of Carey Mulligan as a woman of such appeal that every man she meets falls in love with her — a role previously played by Julie Christie — deflates much of the passion in this tale of a woman landowner juggling a series of suitors in the late 19th century. It’s not bad, but not fully realized. (PG13) 118 minutes — M.L. $2.99 million; $6.2 million; 4 weeks
8.
FURIOUS 7,
Co-star Paul Walker died midway through the filming of this seventh installment of the action series, but the filmmakers decided to reanimate him in several scenes, and the result is just creepy. The action comes nonstop, but the spirit is gone, and when the movie isn’t creepy, it’s dull — and long. (PG-13) 137 minutes — M.L.
9. PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2, This sequel is even more of a kids’ movie than the 2009 original — slapstick and sight gags built around a clueless plump lump. The kids deserve better than this unfunny stuff. (PG) 94 minutes — R.M. $2.6 million; $66.5 million; 6 weeks
10.
HOME,
A race of fraidycat aliens takes over Earth in this animated feature. The film should entertain small fry, but this is among DreamWorks’ weaker efforts. Steve Martin gets off a few nice riffs as the aliens’ leader, and there’s also voice work from Rihanna and Jim Parsons. (PG) 94 minutes — Walter Addiego $2.5 million; $168.8 million; 9 weeks
11. THE AGE OF ADALINE, A fascinating concept — a woman stops aging at age 29 and looks like Blake Lively at 107 years old — is given weak treatment in this unimaginative movie. The script is unadventurous and unconvincing, and Lively is not actress enough to survive it. Harrison Ford shows up in the movie’s middle and provides some fun as Adaline’s long-lost love, but he can’t save it. (PG-13) 113 minutes — M.L. $1.96 million; $40.4 million; 5 weeks
12.
EX MACHINA, There are lots of sci-fi movies but few like this one, with intelligent things to say about science itself — in this case, artificial intelligence. Domhnall Gleeson stars as an employee who gets to stay for a week at the home of his employer, an eccentric billionaire tech entrepreneur, played with charm and an edge of menace by Oscar Isaac. (R) 110 minutes — M.L. $1.8 million; $22.4 million; 7 weeks