Box Office Results for June 3, 2011

This weekend, 20th Century Fox and Marvel rebooted their mutant super hero franchise and scored a top spot launch with the comic book pic X-Men: First Class, which stood as the only new wide release. The PG-13 film debuted to an estimated $56M over the weekend from 3,641 theaters for a solid $15,380 average. It was in line with other Marvel super hero films of the same type, most notably 2008’s reboot/sequel The Incredible Hulk, which debuted to $55.4M in June of that summer.

X-Men: First Class also reached about the same number of people as last month’s Thor, which bowed to $65.7M. The new X-Men was only presented in 2D and lacked any big star names that would attract a broader crowed like Thor‘s Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins.

The new tale that documented the origins of Charles Xavier/Professor X and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto played to an adult male crowd. Studio research showed that 58% of the audience was male while 54% was over 25.

Following its record-breaking holiday opening, the comedy sequel The Hangover Part II tumbled 62% in its second weekend to an estimated $32.4M lifting the 11-day total to a hefty $186.9M. The drop was understandable given the upfront demand for the Warner Bros. film and the fact that it was coming off of a holiday. The Bangkok-set film is on track to finish in the neighborhood of $250M.

Kung Fu Panda 2, the other sequel that launched over Memorial Day weekend, grossed an estimated $24.3M falling by a moderate 49%. Paramount and DreamWorks Animation have banked $100.4M after 11 days and looks headed for the $160M mark.

Continuing with its rapid erosion domestically and hefty numbers overseas was Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which approached the $800M global mark. The Johnny Depp adventure fell 55% to an estimated $18M for a North American cume of $190.3M.

Kristen Wiig scored her first $100M+ grosser as a lead with Bridesmaids, which still showed fabulous legs with an estimated $12.1M, off only 27%, for a $107.3M total. Universal‘s sleeper hit now looks likely to reach $140M if not more.

The pair of action hits that kicked off the summer movie season followed. Paramount and Marvel’s Thor dropped 56% to an estimated $4.2M while Universal’s Fast Five grabbed an estimated $3.2M falling 49%. Totals are now $169.1M domestic and $427.1M worldwide for the super hero flick and $202.1M and $568.6M for the street car sequel.

Still doing stellar business in limited release was Woody Allen‘s indie comedy Midnight in Paris, which is expanding nicely with an estimated $2.9M from 147 playdates. The Sony Classics film averaged $19,837 and raised its sum to $6.9M with many more markets yet to open.

Wedding comedies that have been side-by-side on the charts rounded out the top ten. Stage 6 and Our Stories‘ Jumping the Broom grossed an estimated $865,000, down 53%, while Something Borrowed fell 55% to an estimated $835,000 for Warner Bros. and Alcon. Cumes are $35.9M and $36.7M, respectively.

Opening to good results in platform release was the Ewan McGregor pic Beginners, which bowed to an estimated $135,000 from only five sites for a $27,000 average. Focus will expand the Olympus film throughout June. Fox Searchlight and River Road saw a strong expansion for their Terrence Malick film The Tree of Life, which widened from four to 20 theaters for a weekend estimate of $621,000 and a solid average of $31,050. Total is $1.3M.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $154.9M, which was up a healthy 29% from last year when Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation Studios’ Shrek Forever After remained in the top spot for a third time with $25.5M; but off 2% from 2009 when Warner Bros. Pictures The Hangover debuted at number one with $45M.