Box Office: Epic fail for Adam Sandler's 'That's My Boy' and Tom Cruise's 'Rock of Ages'

Tom Cruise in a scene from "Rock of Ages."

Credit: Warner Bros.

Adam Sandler and Tom Cruise have had better Friday's in their box office careers as both "That's My Boy" and "Rock of Ages" had disastrous debuts.

For all the negative reviews and audience feed back for Sandler's "Jack and Jill" last November, the comedy still eked out $149 million globally. The former "SNL" star may be paying the price for that "success" with his latest flick.  "That's My Boy" opened to a startling $4.6 million on Friday for what could be a $12-13 million weekend.  It's the worst opening for a wide Sandler opener since "Spanglish" in 2004.

"Boy" is Sandler's first R-rated feature since Judd Apatow's "Funny People," but Sony Pictures believed Sandler's audience would be unaffected by it. Although it's clear they knew their marketing materials were not resonating with moviegoers.  The TV campaign shifted midstream to focus more on co-star Andy Samberg's character.  More recently, the studio has run TV spots trying to make the film seem like a party comedy in the vein of "Project X" so it would appeal to younger males. Clearly, none of the marketing could overcome the tepid interest and largely negative reviews.  "Boy" has just a 27 grade on Metacritic and a 25% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes.

Warner Bros. situation with "Rock of Ages" is almost as dire.  The Adam Shankman directed movie musical cost a reported $90 million, but found just $5.3 million on Friday for what could be, at best, a $15-16 million weekend.  While technically an ensemble, Tom Cruise is the headliner in "Ages" and the jukebox musical appears as though it will be one of his worst openers. Even the disappointing "Knight and Day" found $20 million two years ago.  Warner Bros.'s will have to hope "Ages" can play like the former did overseas and help make up for the loss stateside.

Still holding on to the top slot is DreamWorks Animation's hit "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted." The CG animated flick pulled in another $10 million on Friday for $94.9 million in just eight days.  It's a superb hold for the threequel which has the family market all to itself until "Brave" opens on Friday.

Also remaining in second place is Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" with another $5.8 million and $74.4 million also in just eight days. Unlike "Madgascar 3," however, "Prometheus" took a massive Friday to Friday drop.  20th Century Fox may have to be satisfied with just crossing the $100 million mark in the U.S. on this one.  

"Snow White and the Huntsman" rounded out the top five with $4 million Friday and $112.7 million to date.

Look for complete weekend estimates tomorrow on HitFix.

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Gregory Ellwood
Editor-in-Chief, Co-Founder

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With over a decade of experience in the movie industry, Ellwood survived working for two major studios and has written for Variety, MSN and the LA Times. A co-founder of HitFix, Ellwood spends his time relaxing hitting 3’s on the basketball court and following his beloved Clippers.