All Hail the 'Apocalypse' - Updated Box Office

 Everything they've built will fall! And from the ashes
of their world, we'll build a better one!

Everything fall! And from the ashes, X-Men: Apocalypse risen to top spot. According to Deadline, the mutants amassed PHP 230 million in its opening week. That's above 2014's Days of Future Past which collected est. $ 4 million (est. PHP 176 million) on its first week. This is a very good number considering three weeks ago we just had a tentpole superhero movie (namely Civil War).

The top grossing cinemas for this movie are: 1. SM Megamall - PHP 11 million, 2. SM Mall of Asia - PHP 10.1 million, & 3. Trinoma - PHP 8.1 million.

Without Hugh Jackman (the biggest factor in the X-Men franchise), the superhero pic did still collected huge numbers. How did it happen? Perhaps because the X-Men brand has become stronger than ever. The release date (Summer) is a proven strong date and Filipinos watching movies continue to increase significantly. The previews are highlighting its visual effects which attracts most Filipino moviegoers. Jennifer Lawrence remains popular (The Hunger Games is popular in the country but not too much) and has become the new Jackman of the franchise. And lastly, the addition of Cyclops, Nightcrawler & Jean Grey might also add curiosity and excitement to fans and general audiences.

It would be a test next week if the mutants can be strong enough to defeat Warcraft (also a male-targeted summer movie). Reviews are good but not as great as DOFP. A similar pattern for Apocalypse and Warcraft is the battle between 2013's Man of Steel and World War Z where MOS opened huge then fell the next week when WWZ opened though Apocalypse might drop softer than the latter pattern.

May 18-22, 2016 Box Office