$56M weekend puts 'X-Men' first in class

Twentieth Century Fox hit its mark this weekend -- if not slightly above -- with "X-Men: First Class" bowing to an estimated $56 million from 3,641 domestic playdates, added to $64 million overseas for a total estimated weekend gross of $120 million globally. The Marvel re-boot handily won the Stateside box office, beating soph sesh players "The Hangover Part II" and "Kung Fu Panda 2." Though "First Class" did come in a little under what most bizzers had projected for the weekend at north of $60 million. Still, the film did better than the first "X-Men" installment, which bowed in 2000 to $54.5 million. "It's a huge challenge to take an existing and revered franchise and re-brand it," said Fox distribution exec Chris Aronson. "The bottom line is the film excelled in re-launching the franchise." Coming in at No. 2 for the weekend, Warner Bros.' "Hangover II" dropped a considerable 62% for an estimated $32.4 million; that's comparing the film to its three-day bow last weekend at $85.9 million. Pic so far has grossed a whopping $186.9 million domestically. Meanwhile, third-place pic "Panda 2," from Paramount and DreamWorks Animation, crossed the $100 million mark in Stateside grosses through Sunday. Not surprising, the film held better in its first post-Memorial Day frame, down 49%, with an estimated $24.3 million. The toon, however, dropped considerably more than "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Shrek Forever After," both of which fell between 37%-39% in their second outings. At the specialty B.O., Focus Features' "Beginners" tallied a strong per-screen average of $27,038 from five locations in New York and L.A., which puts the film on track to hit (or even exceed) the Focus' hopeful mark set for the film. Overall, "Beginners" collected an estimated $135,193 this weekend. Also bowing this weekend, the Weinstein Co.'s Brit coming-of-age comedy "Submarine" averaged $10,189 from four locations for an estimated weekend total of $40,754.

Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com

Source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118038044?categoryid=4076&cs=1&cmpid=RSS%7CNews%7CLatestNews

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