June Box Office Down 16 Percent From Last Year's Record
The domestic box office totaled $1.04 billion in June, which is a pretty standard result for the second month of Summer. Unfortunately, it was off a massive 16 percent from last year's $1.25 billion record, which puts the yearly box office in a precarious position heading in to the third quarter.

Last June's lineup was unusually strong: Man of Steel, Monsters University and World War Z earned a combined $543 million during the month. In comparison, the Top Three titles in June 2014 earned a more modest $420 million.

Maleficent led the way with $153.4 million. This is the first time a May release topped the June box office since Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End in 2007.

The Angelina Jolie fantasy opened to a strong $69.4 million at the end of May, and has held incredibly well since then. It's on track for around $230 million total, which is nearly on par with last year's Oz The Great and Powerful ($234.9 million). Maleficent has also done strong business overseas: with Japan on the way, it should pass $400 million soon.

The top June release was comedy sequel 22 Jump Street, which earned $142.7 million through 18 days in theaters. On its third weekend, it passed the first movie's $138.4 million total, and is on its way to quite a bit more before the end of its run. It's only a matter of time now before 23 Jump Street gets the go-ahead.

DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon 2 opened on the same day as 22 Jump Street, but hasn't fared nearly as well: through 18 days, the animated sequel has earned $124.2 million. That's lagging $10 million behind the original movie, and that gap is only going to get wider in the coming weeks. Ultimately, this could wrap up below $170 million, which is a massive disappointment for what was expected to be one of the biggest movies of the Summer.

Fellow Fox release The Fault in our Stars earned $110.9 million through the end of the month. The young-adult adaptation is on its way to over $120 million, which is a huge success considering the movie's miniscule $12 million budget.

Transformers: Age of Extinction only played in theaters for four days, but it still wound up in fifth place in June with $110.5 million. The movie should earn substantially less than its predecessors in the U.S., but could make up the gap overseas.

The rest of the field was a mixed bag. Tom Cruise's Edge of Tomorrow started slow ($28.8 million), but held well enough that it should ultimately reach $100 million. It's also done well overseas, where it's on track to close with at least $250 million.

Think Like a Man Too had a solid first place debut, but fell hard in its second weekend (down 65 percent). Through the end of the month, the comedy sequel had earned $49.2 million, and is on track to close well below its predecessor's $91.5 million.

Finally, Clint Eastwood-directed musical Jersey Boys earned a weak $28.4 million through 11 days. It will ultimately gross more than Rock of Ages and recent Eastwood titles like J. Edgar and Invictus, though that's not saying much.

During the second quarter of 2014, overall box office totaled $2.82 billion. That's down nearly seven percent from last year. The quarter was led by Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($257.2 million). A Marvel Cinematic Universe title has topped the second quarter in four of the last five years (Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Iron Man 3 and now Captain America).

Through the end of June, year-to-date box office is at $5.2 billion, which is off 1.4 percent from last year. 20th Century Fox is the highest-grossing studio so far this year with around $900 million, and will move past the $1 billion mark when Dawn of the Planet of the Apes hits theaters next week.

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Related Charts

June Calendar Grosses

2014 Grosses (2014-only releases)

Year-to-Date Comparison