Director Gregory Jacobs' Magic Mike XXL didn't have much of a first weekend at the box office, but one thing seems to be for certain: it's a hit with women. How do we know this? Because a report has been released saying that 96 percent of the film's audience was female.
This rather unbelievable number comes from Variety's box office report for the July 4th weekend. The trade notes that Magic Mike XXL had a bit of trouble selling tickets, making just $26.6 million over its first five days, but notes that a whopping $25.5 million of that came from women wanting to see the likes of Channing Tatum, Joe Manganiello and Matt Bomer strip off their clothes for money. This may sound ridiculous, but The Hollywood Reporter has the exact same figures.
Considering what the movie is about, it's kind of a 'no duh' situation that Magic Mike XXL is a hit with women, but 96 percent is surely some kind of a record. Even the first Magic Mike' didn't manage to score those kinds of numbers, with statistics saying that the audience for the movie was 73 percent women (perhaps more men were drawn to the fact that it was a Steven Soderbergh film?). It's also interesting to note that most of the the film's final total came from its first few days in release - which may suggest that those who really wanted to see it decided to see it as early as they could, while the rest of the movie-going public said "meh."
Magic Mike XXL surely had a small enough budget that the movie will make a profit, but its performance this weekend must still be seen as a disappointment. Riding a wave of positive reviews, the first Magic Mike made $39 million in its first three days during summer 2012, and the film ultimately made $167 million worldwide. Considering the sequel doesn't have as much buzz circulating around it, it seems very unlikely that it will be able to reach the surprising highs of its predecessor. It also seems unlikely that foreign numbers will push it to be more of a success, as that money only wound up making up 32 percent of the original's grosses. At the very least the team behind the film can be happy that it beat out Terminator: Genisys on its opening night, pulling in just a bit more cash from Tuesday evening tickets.
Did you go see Magic Mike XXL in theaters this weekend? Did you notice a complete lack of men in the audience - or at least only four for every 100 people? Are you as surprised by these numbers as we are? Do you think that there is any chance that we could see another sequel? Hit the comments section below with your thoughts.
