The Weekend Report: Ted 2 Falls Short of Predictions

In which I run down the big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend.

Although the box office rankings for this last weekend look exactly as they were expected to, the actual numbers attached to the movies in question were actually pretty off.  More accurately, the numbers attached to Ted 2, Seth MacFarlane's sequel to the Family Guy-esque movie about a child who wishes his teddy bear to life, were far lower than predicted.

This might just be that Ted 2 is retroactively a worse movie than we initially gave it credit for (it's not).  It might be that Seth MacFarlane doesn't have as many fans as everybody thought (again, it's not).  It might just be that more people were interested in seeing genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok and feelings run rampant in a little girl's head than an R-rated comedy about a foul-mouthed teddy bear (probably closer to the point).

Whatever the reason, Ted 2 under-performed in a very serious way.  While it can hardly have been said to have bombed, it likely isn't going to encourage Universal executives to greenlight Ted 3 any time soon, regardless of how gut-bustingly hilarious it actually turned out to be.

Despite its relatively narrow appeal, Max did a lot better than a lot of people were expecting it to.  My local theater kept selling out its showings throughout the weekend (even if it was being shown in some of the smaller theaters).  A combination of strong word of mouth, patriotic dressings so near the Fourth of July and a strong-looking coming of age story about a boy and his dog kept it on track for a solid opening weekend.

And from what I've heard, it's actually a really good movie.  Some have even gone so far as to say that it's one of the best movies about the post-9/11 military conflicts to date (and that coming from a guy who hated American Sniper).

Box Office Ranking:

1) Jurassic World -  $54.2m
2)  Inside Out - $52.1m

3) Ted 2 - $33m
4) Max - $12.2m
5) Spy - $7.8m
6)  San Andreas - $5.2m
7)  Dope - $2.8m
8)  Insidious: Chapter 3 - $2m
9)  Mad Max: Fury Road - $1.7m
10)  Avengers: Age of Ultron - $1.6m

So what movie did you see in theaters this last weekend?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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