As expected, this weekend was a bit of a bummer for Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, with "The Purge" scaring away the competition at the box office. The "Wedding Crashers" duo's new comedy "The Internship" bowed at No. 4, also falling short of "Fast & Furious 6" and "Now You See Me."
"The Purge" held a significant lead over the rest of the weekend's slate, collecting an estimated $36.4 million during its first stint in theaters, according to Box Office Mojo. The futuristic Ethan Hawke-Lena Headey horror thriller about a 12-hour period during which all crime is legal majorly surpassed expectations, considering it was filmed on a measly $3 million budget.
The movie is also a bone fide success when considering that the rest of the weekend's offerings barely squeaked out more than half of its total. "Fast 6," in its third weekend in theaters, added $19.8 million to its earnings, bringing its current profits to nearly $203 million and making it likely to become the series' highest-grossing movie. "Now You See Me" nabbed a cool $19.5 million during its second weekend, upping its intake to $61.4 million.
And then comes "The Internship," which debuted at a disappointing No. 4 after accruing $18.1 million. Vaughn and Wilson couldn't muster up the same level of success that "Wedding Crashers" saw back in 2005 when it premiered to a $33.9 million opening.
Rounding out the top five was the animated flick "Epic," which now has a total gross of $84.2 million.
Success continued to greet "Iron Man 3" during its sixth week, with the Marvel Universe entry having already secured the No. 5 spot on the list of highest-grossing films of all time. Its estimated global profit is nearly $1.2 billion worldwide. The threequel needs an additional $145 million to top "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" on the all-time list and slip into fourth place.
Another low-budget picture to attract stylish totals over the weekend was Joss Whedon's buzzy new adaptation of "Much Ado About Nothing." Shot over the course of 12 days for only $71,000, the black-and-white Shakespeare update collected $183,000 on only five screens, topping the limited-release opening of fellow indie gem "Frances Ha." "Much Ado" will receive a wider expansion in the coming weeks.
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