Weekend Box Office July 27-29: 'The Wolverine' Wins

"The Wolverine" ended a weeks-long string of box office disappointment this weekend by pulling in $55 million domestically, but the film's total take was not unqualified good news. While certainly a hefty amount, the total was a good $10 million under studio estimates, and it was not particularly impressive when compared to the opening weekends of other films in "The X-Men" franchise.

The Hugh Jackman vehicle fell short of its predecessor, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," which took in $85 million on its opening weekend in 2009, and "X-Men: The Last Stand," which took in $102 million in 2006. "The Wolverine" opened stronger in foreign markets that in it did in the US, though, and it's almost certainly going to turn a tidy profit before its run ends.

A little more troubling is the fact that "The Wolverine" had a somewhat disappointing opening on a weekend in which it had essentially no competition at the box office. It was the only new film in wide release this week, and last week's box-office winner, "The Conjuring," was a horror film that shouldn't have stepped on "The Wolverine"'s action-genre toes. Jackman's film got more love from audiences than recent flops "After Earth," "The Lone Ranger," "Pacific Rim" and "R.I.P.D.," but its opening is an indication that audience enthusiasm for big-budget action flicks is still muted.

"The Conjuring" remained strong this weekend, as did "Despicable Me 2" and "Grown Ups 2," which came in second, third and fifth, respectively. Fourth place went to "Turbo," which brought in $13.3 million; the animated film's two-week domestic gross stands at $55.8 million, well short of its $135-million production budget.

The low-budget sex comedy "The To Do List" took in only $1.5 million in its first weekend, but considering that it only opened in 591 theaters (as compared to "The Wolverine"'s 3,924 theaters) and had a production budget of $1.5 million, it did not disappoint. "Blue Jasmine," the new film from director Woody Allen, opened in only six theaters in New York and Los Angeles, but it took in an astounding $102,167 per screen ("The Wolverine" took in $14,016 per screen). "Blue Jasmine" expands to a wider release next week.