Box Office Report: ‘Rock of Ages,’ ‘That’s My Boy’ Flop in Their Debuts

Box Office Report: 'Rock of Ages,' 'That's My Boy' Flop in Their Debuts

Comedy took a beating at the domestic box office over Father's Day weekend as 1980s jukebox musical Rock of Ages and Adam Sandler's R-rated That's My Boy did dismal business in their debuts.

Instead, it was holdovers Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Prometheus that continued to top the chart, staying at No. 1 and No. 2 respectively with $35.5 million and $20.2 million.

Rock of Ages topped out at $15.1 million to place third; That's My Boy grossed $13 million to come in No. 5 after being bested by holdover Snow White and the Huntsman ($13.8 million).

The lame performances of Adam Shankman's musical Rock of Ages -- with an all-star ensemble cast including Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand -- and That's My Boy are major disappointments for their respective studios and stars, and particularly Sandler.

Rock of Ages, from New Line and Warner Bros., received a so-so B CinemaScore. The movie came in far behind Shankman and New Line's 2007 Hairspray and Universal's 2008 Mamma Mia! Both of those movies -- likewise based on hit Broadway films -- opened just north for $25 million.

One issue for Rock of Ages was that it failed to rally younger moviegoers, despite leads Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta. Nearly 75 percent of the audience was over the age of 25, the demo that most relates to the film's music. Females made up the majority of those buying tickets, or 62 percent.

Rock of Ages also fell flat overseas, where it grossed a sobering $4.1 million from 10 markets. It came in No. 3 in the U.K. and Australia with $1.7 million and $1.4 million, respectively.

Both Rock of Ages and That's My Boy cost just under $70 million to produce.

Sony's That's My Boy, earning a B- CinemaScore, marks Sandler's lowest debut for a comedy since Spanglish in 2004 ($8.8 million). The film, pairing Sandler with Andy Samberg and Leighton Meester, is the actor's first R-rated comedy since Funny People, which opened to $22.7 million in July 2007.

Sandler has been one of Hollywood's most consistent stars in terms of box office performance, although last year's summer comedy Jack and Jill underperformed domestically, cuming roughly $74 million.

Posted by Kade Quinn on Monday June 18 2012, 6:04 AM EST. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Entertainment, Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0