‘X-men Apocalypse’ rules, ‘Alice’ struggles at holiday weekend box office

“X-Men: Apocalypse” is projected to top the box office during the Memorial Day weekend in North America with approximately 80 million USA dollars of revenue.

“X-Men: Apocalypse” was forecast to generate $69 million over three days and $82 million over four days, according to analysts at BoxOfficePro.com, while the studio was predicting more than $80 million through Monday.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Alice could only manage $28.1m (£19.2m), while X-Men: Apocalypse debuted on top with an estimated $65m (£44.4m). So while the worldwide market is the last, best hope for Alice Through The Looking Glass making any money, it’ll need a huge rally in order to save the day. The original, Alice in Wonderland made $116 million on its opening weekend in 2010.

Afflicted with abysmal critical reactions and bad buzz from the current Johnny Depp situation, Alice Through the Looking Glass did not have a good three-day opening.

Throughout the weekend, projections for “Alice Though The Looking Glass” was reduced repeatedly.

Both of the new films released Memorial Day Weekend topped the box office charts, but are separated by an estimated $37 million.

Meanwhile, overseas it has earned $185 million (£126.5 million) to bring its worldwide total to $250 million (£170.9 million).

Amber Heard, 30, appeared in court on Friday with a bruise on her cheek, saying Depp had thrown her mobile phone at her during a fight.

Why? For a start, big-budget sequels, typically the safest route to box office success, generated ragged holiday weekend sales.

X-Men: Apocalypse collected $65 million and is expected to reach up to $76 million in the upcoming days.

“We’re very happy with this result as we introduce new characters in the X-Men universe”, said Fox domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson. “But certainly other films in the franchise have had better reviews and seen better box office”.

A marketplace crowded with holdover films targeting the same family audience – “The Angry Birds Movie”, “Captain America: Civil War” and Disney’s “The Jungle Book” – may have also been a factor.

Still, this is just a minor setback for Walt Disney Studios which now boasts three of the highest grossing films so far this year with: Captain America: Civil War ($1.11 billion), Zootopia ($992 million), and The Jungle Book ($880 million).

In fifth place was “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” with $11.4 million.