Monday Morning Box Office Report: Pitch Perfect 2 Leaves Mad Max in the Dust

Posted by on May 18th, 2015   Filed under: Box Office

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There was a lot of excitement surrounding Pitch Perfect 2 heading into this weekend, and thanks to a very successful marketing campaign, the movie ended up being a massive hit for Universal Pictures. The comedy/musical sequel opened to $70.3 million, which was more than the first film made in its entire box office run. That’s the biggest debut ever for a musical and may also be the biggest debut for a first-time director (the film was helmed by Elizabeth Banks). Mad Max: Fury Road ultimately didn’t come close, pulling in just $44.4 million, which still isn’t bad for an R-rated action film. It’s something that Warner Brothers can hopefully build on if they decide to greenlight a sequel. Meanwhile The Avengers: Age of Ultron fell to third place with another solid $38.84 million and there was a massive drop-off after that as Hot Pursuit and Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 rounded out the top 5. It will be interesting to see what happens next week when Tomorrowland and Poltergeist jump into the ring.

1. Pitch Perfect 2 — $70.3M
2. Mad Max: Fury Road — $44.44M
3. The Avengers: Age of Ultron — $38.84M
4. Hot Pursuit — $5.78M
5. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 — $3.6M
6. Furious 7 — $3.6M
7. The Age of Adaline — $3.2M
8. Home — $2.7M
9. Ex Machina — $2.1M
10. Far from the Madding Crowd — $1.3M



  • 1138sw

    Was not expecting this outcome but I guess people are hungry for comedies in these dark times.

    I see that the first Pitch Perfect earned 65 million domestic with and an additional 50 million foreign. I guess with an 100 million gross I can see why Universal green lit a sequel.

  • Michael Bermingham

    These cheeky headlines are annoying and kinda disingenuous. Fury Road didn’t blow up but it’s not a flop either.

  • LongSlog

    I really hope, for the sake of movies, that Mad Max has a long and healthy life at the box office, and does especially well in the international market.

  • Michael Bermingham

    It, apparently, has done well internationally this weekend. While Pitch Perfect 2 did better domestically, Fury Road did slightly better.

    Good news since, like Pacific Rim, the international market can green light sequels these days. Not snarky headlines.

  • Sean

    As I stated in the post, it did fine for an R-rated action movie based on a 30 year old property. I don’t think “left in the dust” is an exagerration, Pitch Perfect almost doubled what Mad Max made.

  • pcch7

    109 million world wide for Fury Road, it’s at least making it’s money back. This pleases me, always thought it would do well but you never know with the general public these days.

  • Justin H

    People sure get testy over nothing…Pitch Perfect DID make much more than Fury Road domestically. I don’t see OMG FLOP! in the headline or in the article.

  • Justin H

    Yeah I was a bit worried even though Mad Max is a pretty recognizable name, the movie was just so batshit weird in some ways I thought the mouthbreathers would be scared away.

  • Justin H

    I think it stayed pretty popular with home releases as well. Its got pretty broad appeal too I guess.

  • Matt the Kiwi

    Normally a fluffy musical beating out a unique action masterpiece would bother me but I’ve got a bit of an unhealthy crush on Elizabeth Banks so I want her to kick ass at the box office. And both movies are genuinely great in their own right (and not competing for the same demographic) so all is good in the world.

  • Kenneth Serenyi

    Its obviously the R rating that is “hampering” Mad Max. The relentless action was a little too numbing for me by the last third of the movie but many people already think of it as an action classic.

  • FDB

    The tendency to (rather arbitrarily) compare the box office takes of two movies based on no other criteria than their shared release date makes no sense to me. Both were a huge success, and hopefully an indication to studios that quality films will always find an audience. If I had to put money on it, I would say that Mad Max will have a much higher multiplier than the standard summer blockbuster; I’d be surprised if it fell by more than 30% next weekend. Not that any of that matters to me personally (aside from maybe affecting its sequel prospects), it was a great movie.

  • pcch7
  • Nick Poliskey

    Come on, this was bad for Mad Max, why can’t we all just admit it.

  • Nick Poliskey

    But realistically, it is. There is no reason that a mid may action release should lose out to a musical comedy, and we all know it.

  • Nick Poliskey

    And if it was rated PG-13 we would all be bitching and moaning just like with Thunderdome. Or do you not remember Seans #1 problem with the mad max franchise.

  • Kenneth Serenyi

    Rated R is indeed good :)

  • Nick Poliskey

    Sean, come on, your #1 gripe with the ENTIRE franchise was the PG-13 on thunderdome. R-rated movies certainly can make big money, for god sakes, American Sniper hauled in 89M in opening weekend in January. this is BAD for Mad Max.

  • Nick Poliskey

    I think the last trailer was bad. the first couple were awesome, but that last one was f-ed up.

  • Nick Poliskey

    Unless Mad Max is HUGE internationally, I doubt we are going to get the sequels.

  • Sean

    If you look at the list of best opening weekends for R-rated movies there are only 6 movies that made more than $70 million. They can make big money, but it doesn’t happen very often.

  • Michael Bermingham

    International & Domestic combined, Mad Max made $115 vs Pitch Perf $112 million. I looked at Pacific Rim, which did less it’s opening weekend, and they green lit a sequel to that. Considering the franchise potential of Mad Max and it’s international appeal, I’ll still bet on a sequel. I think, we often get too concerned with the North America market but China and other foreign territories are playing a bigger hand these days. R rated or not.

  • Noodles

    Guys, a film has to earn approx. double its budget to break even (the threatres take approx. 50% of the ticket sales). Doesn’t look great for Fury Road from the box office perspective, but it’s still getting a sequel so…