Jackman’s Brooding ‘Wolverine’ Leads Weekend Film Sales

 

'The Wolverine'

Ben Rothstein/2013 Marvel & Subs./Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation via Bloomberg

Hugh Jackman as Logan in 'The Wolverine.' The film is playing across the U.S.

Hugh Jackman as Logan in 'The Wolverine.' The film is playing across the U.S. Photographer: Ben Rothstein/2013 Marvel & Subs./Twentieth Century

 

 

“The Wolverine,” the Marvel superhero film featuring Hugh Jackman, was the top weekend movie in the U.S. and Canadian theaters, with $55 million in sales for 21st Century Fox Inc. (FOXA)

“The Conjuring” dropped to second place from first with $22.1 million in receipts, Hollywood.com Box-Office said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. The teen comedy “The To Do List,” the only other premiere in wide release, debuted in 15th place.

 

The comic-book superheroes from Walt Disney Co.-owned Marvel, which have proven a reliable franchise for studios in the past, stumbled as “The Wolverine” missed forecasts. The film was predicted to take in between $70 million to $75.4 million, according to industry estimates. Fox has released six films about the X-Men mutants, which include the Wolverine.

Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution for 20th Century Fox, said the opening was below its predecessor, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” four years ago.

“Most sequels tend to open a little bit less than their predecessors in the U.S., but internationally they tend to open bigger,” he said. The movie has grossed $86.1 million internationally, he said, above all prior X-Men openings

The film garnered a 67 percent favorable rating out of 146 reviews aggregated by Rottentomatoes.com.