‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ dominating Memorial Day box office

Fox’s “X-Men: Apocalypse” and Disney’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass” squared off over Memorial Day weekend, but both blockbuster hopefuls emerged bruised from this box office clash of the titans. With that said, the film should receive a considerable bump from 3D showings, and worldwide audiences should help give this an added push towards profitability.

Its been a tough week for Depp.

Whether the recent drama surrounding Depp has had any bearing on the film’s reception is tough to quantify, but the continuing saga of his planned divorce from Amber Heard is still dominating the headlines.

“The original “Alice” had a lot of excitement around it because everyone wanted to put on those glasses and see how it looked in 3D”, said ComScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

If a film is rated at A-, you’d think that would mean that the same people who awarded that score – i.e. the first wave of viewers – would then generate good word of mouth for the film. Disney estimates that it will gross $35.6 million over the four-day weekend. With $33 million making up its first weekend domestically, the film only made $93 million in its total domestic run.

Disney’s distributing chief, Dave Hollis has wondered about the poor showing of “Alice” though with the film receiving critically bad reviews even before it came out, some have somewhat expected it. “We have embarked on a branded tentpole strategy that makes big bets.

Hollis declined to speculate on the impact the allegations against Depp had on the films opening.

With smash hits like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Zootopia and The Jungle Book, Disney has captured about 32 per cent of the domestic box office this year, according to the database Box Office Mojo.

Actor Jennifer Lawrence poses with James MacAvoy (L) and Oscar Isaac at a screening of X-Men Apocalypse at a cinema in London, Britain, May 9, 2016.

Two summers ago, X-Men: Days of Future Past opened in North America with $110.6 million, but X-Men: Apocalypse will fall short of that impressive mark. Fox backed the $178 million production.

“Im very pleased, ” said Aronson. “Its right on track with what our expectations were going in.”.

Overall comScore said business over the weekend was up about 5 percent from Memorial Day past year when Disney’s Tomorrowland bombed with $33 million.

“Captain America: Civil War” remains vital in its fourth week of release.

The film, starring Johnny Depp as Hatter Tarrant Hightopp, collected a mere $27 million in the domestic box office.

Total box-office returns in the USA and Canada for the holiday weekend were a little over $200 million, according to comScore.

The numbers were preliminary and will rise when ticket sales from Monday’s national holiday are included.