Final Box Office: 'Lucy' Topples 'Hercules' With $44 Million Debut
Scarlett Johansson is a bonafide action star. Outside of her her role as Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the star has now proven she can open up a brand-new action blockbuster all on her own, without the help of known characters or proven properties.
Lucy, which stars Johansson as a woman who takes a drug that grants her access to unused parts of her brain, has opened to a stellar $44 million in North America to debut at No. 1. In doing so, Lucy bested the much-hyped debut of Brett Ratner's Hercules, starring Dwayne Johnson. The sword-and-sandals epic opened at No. 2 with approximately $29 million.
While this is great news for Luc Besson, the Fifth Element director who helmed Lucy and produced it through his own EuropaCorp production company, it's disappointing news for Paramount and MGM, which teamed up for Hercules. As reported on Saturday, the mythical epic cost roughly $100 million to make, meaning it's going to have to make up the difference in overseas ticket sales.
When factoring in the $28.7 million it earned internationally, Hercules currently has a global total of $57.7 million. So, at the very least, it's well on its way to recouping its budget. When you consider that the movie hasn't even opened yet in much of Europe and Latin America, this has to be considered a good sign for the film's long-term prospects. Hell, Hercules has still yet to open in some of the larger Asian territories, so there's still a lot of potential for the movie to turn a big profit.
The good news also continued for some of the holdovers this weekend: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes earned a strong $16.4 million in its third weekend to come in at No. 3, bringing its domestic gross to $172.1 million. Meanwhile, The Purge: Anarchy came in at No. 4 with $9.9 million. Although the movie dropped 67 percent in its second weekend, the horror sequel only cost $9 million to produce.
The top five was rounded out by Planes: Fire & Rescue, which earned $9.3 million in its second weekend for a North American total of $35.1 million. It was able to earn the spot over Sex Tape, which continues to plummet with each passing week. The Jason Segel/Cameron Diaz comedy grossed just $6 million, which continues to disappoint, grossing less than $2 million more than the new, independently released comedy from Rob Reiner: And So It Goes, starring Oscar winners Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton, opened at No. 8 with $4.6 million.
Check out the full Top 10 below:
1. Lucy ($44 million)
2. Hercules ($29 million)
3. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ($16.4 million)
4. The Purge: Anarchy ($9.9 million)
5. Planes: Fire & Rescue ($9.3 million)
6. Sex Tape ($6 million)
7. Transformers: Age of Extinction ($4.6 million)
8. And So It Goes ($4.6 million)
9. Tammy ($3.4 million)
10. A Most Wanted Man ($2.7 million)
Credit: EuropaCorp