Box Office: Melissa McCarthy's 'The Boss' Narrowly Beats 'Batman v Superman'

Movie

Despite getting bad reviews, the R-rated comedy shines this weekend with approximately $23.48 million solely due to McCarthy's star power.

April 11, 2016

AceShowbiz -

Melissa McCarthy is "The Boss" in the Box Office chart this week. Despite bad reviews, the R-rated comedy managed to debut at number one and narrowly beat "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" by taking in approximately $23.48 million.

"The Boss", which was written by McCarthy, her husband Ben Falcone and their "Groundlings" collaborator Steve Mallory, follows the actress as a titan of industry who is sent to prison after she's caught for insider trading. Critics gave the comedy a Rotten Tomatoes score of 19 percent, calling it something to add to the "pile of mediocrity" and a "catastrophic comic miscalculation." It also received a C+ rating from CinemaScore.

However, McCarthy's star power as comedy icon as well as the pic's female-led character has lured 67 percent female moviegoers and 51 percent under the age of 35. "She has a hot streak going like no other comedian, male or female, working today," said Exhibitor Relations' analyst Jeff Bock. "You have to consider the lineage of Eddie Murphy in the '80s, Jim Carrey in the '90s and Adam Sandler in the aughts. She is their heir apparent."

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It was McCarthy's third number 1 opening after "Identity Thief" and "Spy". Nicholas Carpou, Universal's domestic distribution president, said, "We love the fact that Melissa is a genuine movie star, people love her comedies and she opens at number one. 'The Boss' is a female-driven, R-rated raunchy comedy that delivers, and there hasn't been one for a while."

Meanwhile, the superhero movie had to settle on the second place with an estimated $23.44 million. It fell 54 percent in its third weekend and accumulated a total domestic gross of $296.7 million. Disney's "Zootopia" took the third position with approximately $14.4 million, followed by romantic comedy "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" with $6.4 million. New entry "Hardcore Henry" opened at just $5.1 million, enough to place it at number 5.