Tom Cruise's 'Edge Of Tomorrow' Falls Prey To 'Maleficent' At International Box Office

Tom Cruise’s futuristic action epic “Edge of Tomorrow” opened in 28 international markets this weekend for a relatively light take-home of $20 million.

Based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s debut novel, “All You Need Is Kill,” “Edge of Tomorrow” features Tom Cruise as a public relations talking head sent to the front lines of an alien invasion against Earth. Cruise’s character finds himself reliving -- and dying in -- his first battle over and over again, only to wake up in the morning every time.

“Edge of Tomorrow” was released a week ahead of its Friday domestic debut in order to put space between it and the World Cup opening ceremony and first game on June 12, which meant it was pitted against Angelina Jolie’s “Maleficent.” Despite Tom Cruise’s star power and an original premise, “Edge of Tomorrow” only grossed $20 million, while “Maleficent” won the weekend with $100.6 million internationally and $70 million domestically, Box Office Mojo reports.

Competition from “Maleficent” seems to have killed the film’s momentum in several markets. The Hollywood Reporter notes that “Edge of Tomorrow” grossed $3.1 million in the United Kingdom, where Cruise’s last film “Oblivion” debuted to more than double that number with $7.6 million. “Oblivion” was a modest success with a worldwide gross of $286 million on a $120 million budget, but only $89 million of that came from the United States, a sign of Cruise’s diminishing star power in America. Meanwhile, “Maleficent” raked in $11 million in the United Kingdom and “X-Men: Days of Future Past” came in second place with $5.8 million.

There’s hope for “Edge of Tomorrow” yet, though. The film is set to release in the United States, China, Japan and 33 other markets on Friday, and with “Maleficent” in its second week, the Cruise sci-fi feature could take the top spot in several countries.

“Edge of Tomorrow” stands its best chance in China, after performing well in smaller Asian nations. The film beat “X-Men: Days of Future Past” in Malaysia ($1.2 million to $1 million) and took home $2 million and $1.9 million in Indonesia and Taiwan, respectively, as the No. 1 movie in both markets -- which bodes well for its success in the world’s second-biggest box office.