Tammy did OK, but Deliver Us From Evil and Earth to Echo did not generate any fireworks.
Melissa McCarthy in Tammy
Michael Tackett / Warner Bros. Pictures
Traditionally, Hollywood reserves 4th of July weekend for spectacle, relying on effects-driven, quasi-family-friendly action films to drive audiences from their backyard barbecues and into the multiplex. Usually, that formula works like gangbusters. Just last year, for example, Despicable Me 2 was a monster hit, opening with $83.5 million over the July 4 weekend, and $143.1 million in its first five days.
But thanks to bad weather, World Cup competition, and — most of all — a crop of less-than-thrilling prospects, this was the lowest grossing 4th of July weekend since the 1980s, when adjusting for inflation.
Because July 4 falls on different days of the week each year, it's difficult to make direct box office comparisons for Independence Day weekend: July 4 fell on a Friday this year versus a Thursday last year, for example, meaning many adults had just one day off in 2014 versus two in 2013. Still, Transformers: Age of Extinction dropping 63.6% from its debut weekend, with just $36.4 million over the holiday weekend, does not bode well for the long-term health of the franchise. In fact, it is currently tracking well behind the domestic grosses of the first three Transformers films.
Of the three movies to premiere this weekend, Tammy fared best, pulling in an estimated $21.2 million over the July 4 weekend, and $32.9 million since it opened on July 2. That's… decent, but it's rare for a straightforward, live-action comedy without any aliens, monsters, or other sci-fi elements to even show up in theaters during this holiday weekend. And Tammy — which McCarthy also co-wrote with her husband Ben Falcone, who directed the film — falls behind the major comedies that have opened over 4th of July weekend. When adjusting for inflation, 1988's Coming to America, 1992's Boomerang, 2003's Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde, and 2006's The Devil Wears Prada all opened better.
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