NORTH AMERICA: 'The Fault in Our Stars' Shines with $65.98M in First Week

By Daniel Garris

Fox's The Fault in Our Stars grossed $3.71 million on Thursday to lead the daily box office one last time. The low-budget drama starring Shailene Woodley was down 11 percent from Wednesday's performance. With both Sony's 22 Jump Street and Fox's How to Train Your Dragon 2 entering the marketplace on Thursday evening, wide releases experienced significant daily percentage declines in general yesterday. The Fault in Our Stars was the week's top film with a seven-day start of $65.98 million. That was on the very high end of pre-release expectations, though the film was especially front-loaded towards its $26.06 million opening day performance.

Maleficent held steady in a very close second place with $3.59 million. Disney's 3D fantasy film starring Angelina Jolie trailed The Fault in Our Stars by just $111,534 for the day. Maleficent was down 10 percent from Wednesday and down a healthy 33 percent from last Thursday. The film placed in second for the week with a weekly take of $50.67 million. That was down an encouraging 46 percent from the film's opening week performance and brings the film's two-week total to $144.52 million. Maleficent is currently running 33 percent ahead of the $108.79 million two-week take of 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman.

Warner's Edge of Tomorrow took in $2.29 million to remain in third place. The critically acclaimed 3D sci-fi film starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt was down a sharp 17 percent from Wednesday, as it clearly took a hit from both the launch of 22 Jump Street and Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Edge of Tomorrow surpassed the $40 million mark yesterday and placed in third for the week with a seven-day start of $40.47 million. While that is in line with pre-release expectations, the film is having an underwhelming domestic performance when considering its expensive price tag. Edge of Tomorrow is currently running 14 percent behind the $47.29 million seven-day take of last year's Oblivion.

X-Men: Days of Future Past grossed $1.39 million to continue to claim fourth. Fox's critically acclaimed 3D superhero sequel fell 19 percent from Wednesday and 47 percent from last Thursday. X-Men: Days of Future Past placed in fourth for the week with $22.04 million. That was down 51 percent from the previous frame and brings the film's three-week total to $196.44 million. X-Men: Days of Future Past is set to surpass the $200 million domestic mark over the weekend.