‘Fault in Our Stars’ outshines Tom Cruise at box office

It’s young-adult drama in, Tom Cruise out at the box office this weekend.

Teen weepie “The Fault in Our Stars” had audiences reaching for their Kleenexes on Friday as the movie took in a whopping $26 million. The Fox film is on its way to a stellar opening north of $50 million, exceeding earlier predictions of ticket sales in the $40 million-$45 million range.

Cruise starrer “Edge of Tomorrow,” meanwhile, was an underperformer, notching just $10.7 million on its way to a likely weekend domestic total under $30 million. The Warner Bros. picture — a science fiction action tale from Doug Liman, whose spec script had ignited a bidding war several years ago — marks Cruise’s latest box-office disappointment, following “Oblivion” and “Jack Reacher.“

Both of those movies failed to reach $90 million in domestic grosses, though “Oblivion” took in nearly $200 million more overseas. At the current pace, it’s very likely “Edge” will also fail to reach the $90-million mark in the U.S. The movie has been open for a week in several key international territories as well, such as Germany and the Britain, to thus far modest results.

Directed by Josh Boone from John Green’s YA bestseller, “Fault” looks at the relationship between cancer patients Hazel (Shailene Woodley) and Augustus (Ansel Elgort) as they navigate their difficult conditions and budding romance. The film has received critical plaudits for its unblinking look at illness and mortality.

The film also received an “A” CinemaScore from audiences Friday, bolstering pundits’ belief that the film can continue to flourish at the box office in the weeks ahead even as big releases such as the R-rated comedy “22 Jump Street” and Mark Wahlberg action-adventure “Transformers: Age of Extinction” hit theaters.

In second-week news, Angelina Jolie’s Sleeping Beauty update “Maleficent” had a decent hold with just over $10 million Friday for a likely weekend tally approaching $40 million, a drop from last weekend of less than 50%. The Disney release, which has now crossed the $100-million box-office mark, is looking to challenge the $186-million total of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” Jolie’s highest-grossing domestic film (though the 2005 movie’s total actually comes to $233 million in today’s dollars).

The “Maleficient” numbers are encouraging for executives for other reasons. It’s been a summer when the biggest openers — including “Godzilla,” “X-Men: Days of Future Past’ and “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” — have all plummeted more than 60% in the weekend following their debut, causing consternation in Hollywood about the durability of its biggest stars and franchises.