So here’s what we know. Jesse Eisenberg is box office. Will Smith? Still box office. Jaden Smith? Not happening.
“Now You See Me,” the cleverly cast and marketed but not so carefully scripted (seriously, you make it look like they’re robbing the rich and the banks and giving to the poor, and it doesn’t really) did a robust $28 million+ and Summit could claim weekend victory over “After Earth,” Will Smith’s critically lambasted attempt to pass his stardom on to his son, Jaden. It was a hard sell for Sony/Columbia, and no amount of hype could make it look like a sci fi epic that it wasn’t. No amount of spin could make it appear that it wasn’t some unseemly effort to “bestow” on precocious Jaden the stardom that has been an iffy proposition for much of Will Smith’s career. It was predicted to do as much as $40.
“After Earth” still managed about $27 million, but it cost $135.

And “Fast & Furious 6” still won its second weekend. That one fell off over 64% to pull in $34.5. That’s still enough to get it over $170.

“Star Trek Into Darkness” is now over $181, “Iron Man 3” is fading just shy of $400 million. “Epic” lost only 50% of its audience and is now over $65. Not an animated blockbuster, not by a long shot.

In indie releases — “The East” had a HUGE per screen average, and “Before Midnight” and “The Kings of Summer” did well on just a few screens, too. “Frances Ha” opened wider and almost cracked the top ten. “Mud,” however, is closing in on $20 million, and puts them all to shame.