'X-Men: Apocalypse' No. 1 With $80M; 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' Bombs

By Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter

Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse is easily winning the Memorial Day box office race, devouring Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Apocalypse grossed $65 million for the three-day weekend, putting its four-day holiday gross at an estimated $80 million f-rom 4,150 theaters, 30 percent behind Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past ($110 million). The big difference between the two films —Apocalypse was lambasted by many critics, who conversely adored Days of Future Past, released over Memorial Day weekend in 2010.

Heading into the weekend, tracking suggested the male-skewing Apocalypse would gross $85 million-$100 million. Fox, however, was more conservative, saying in the $80 million range.

Related: Why the ‘X-Men’ Franchise Needs to Evolve or Die (Analysis)

On Friday afternoon, the $178 million superhero tentpole looked like it would take in $90 million or more, but traffic slowed as the evening wore on. Globally, Apocalypse is in good shape, considering it has already amassed north of $185 million overseas, whe-re it began playing in some markets last weekend.

James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne and Lucas Till are among those reprising their roles, while a raft of new actors join the franchise. The latter category includes Oscar Isaac, Alexandra Shipp, Tye Sheridan, Olivia Munn, Sophie Turner, Ben Hardy and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Also, Hugh Jackman makes a cameo as Wolverine.

While Apocalypse came in slightly behind expectations, Disney’s big-budget Alice Through the Looking Glass altogether bombed. Alice 2, receiving even worse reviews, grossed $28.1 million f-rom 3,763 locations for the three-day weekend for an estimated $35 million four-day debut — 70 percent behind Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, which opened to a stunning $116 million in spring 2010 (the original was a major 3D event).

In a public relations nightmare for Alice 2 star Johnny Depp, Through the Looking Glassrolled out in theaters just as the actor’s wife, Amber Heard, was granted a restraining order after alleging Depp previously assaulted her.

Related: 37 of Summer’s Most Anticipated Movies

Projections for Alice 2 kept being revised downwards throughout the weekend, pointing to poor word of mouth. Family friendly films generally see a sizeable uptick on Saturday;Through the Looking Glass — which had been expected to open to $55 million or more — was down 7 percent.

The film fared even worse than Disney’s ill-fated Memorial Day offering last year,Tomorrowland, which flopped after earning $42 million for the four days.