WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (6.2.14) – MALEFICENT REIGNS OVER ALL

“Maleficent,” Disney’s live-action reimagining of the classic fairy tale, took over the top spot from “X-Men: Days of Future Past” at the box office this weekend. The Angelina Jolie vehicle took in $70 million domestically during its debut and another 100.6 million abroad, which bodes well for Disney’s other upcoming live-action takes on their own movies – “Cinderella” and “The Jungle Book,” both set for 2015. The latest installment of the X-Men franchise plummeted 64.1% in its second week, bringing in another $32.6 million, which, let’s be honest, is still better than most movies make in their opening.

Meanwhile, the other big new opening this weekend was “A Million Ways to Die in the West,” which turned out to be not so big at all. The Seth MacFarlane “comedy” struggled to a 3rd place opening with just $17 million domestically. Filling out the top 5 were “Godzilla” with 12.2 million to bring it to 174.7 million and the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore romcom “Blended” with 8.4 million.

Next weekend is set up to be a battle royale between the sci-fi and YA adaptations with the releases of both the highly anticipated “The Fault in Our Stars” from teen-whisperer John Green and Tom Cruise’s positively-reviewed “Edge of Tomorrow,” which is based on a beloved graphic novel.

Here at Tracking Board we’ve got a little bet going to see which film takes the top spot. We’ll let you know who won (and what they won) next week. But whoever lands at #1, we expect to see a lot of money trade hands.