As predicted, the Universal animated sequel The Secret Life of Pets 2 topped the weekend box office, though with an estimated $47.1 million from 4,561 locations, the Illumination release came in on the very low end of expectations. Similarly, Dark Phoenix—another major summer sequel—had a disappointing debut relative to the previous films in the X-Men franchise, while holdover Aladdin continued strong in its third weekend in theaters
To be fair, the opening gross of the first Secret Life of Pets was a tough number to beat; indeed, that film’s $104.3 million debut was the biggest ever for an original film, either animated or live-action. Couple that with weaker reviews—Pets 2 has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 54% versus the first film’s 73%—and still-stiff competition from Disney’s Aladdin for the family audience, and it’s no wonder it fell short of the first installment’s opening number.
Then again, $47.1 million (not including $925K from Fandango previews on May 25) is less than half what the first Pets made in its opening weekend—an undeniably sharp drop. Let’s also not forget that the first film itself had to contend with a strong Disney holdover, namely Finding Dory, which brought in north of $20 million over the same weekend (its fourth in theaters). When looked at in context, comparisons with this year’s LEGO Movie 2 are difficult to get around. That film—another heavily-hyped animated sequel—also took in about half of what the first installment did when it opened back in February.
In addition to competition from Aladdin, in two weeks Pets 2 will have to contend with the sure-to-be-massive release of Toy Story 4, which has been breaking Fandango pre-sales records for animation. Luckily, the reported price tag on Pets is a frugal-for-CG-animation $80 million, not including marketing costs, which were no doubt substantial given the full-court press Universal has been giving the film leading up to release.
Coming in second this weekend was Disney’s release of Fox’s Dark Phoenix, which will stand as the last film in the latter studio’s X-Men franchise before Disney/Marvel presumably reboots it. With an estimated $33 million from 3,721 locations, the debut came in a full $20 million behind the X-Men series’ previous lowest opener The Wolverine, which opened to $53.1 million in July 2013.
Dark Phoenix had a few things going against it this weekend. For one thing, reviews were largely negative, resulting in a grim Rotten Tomatoes score of just 22%. For another, its status as the final film in a franchise that will soon enough be getting a Marvel reboot likely dampened enthusiasm. It doesn’t help that the last X-Men team-up film, 2016’s X-Men Apocalypse, wasn’t exactly beloved by fans. Additionally, the film was pushed back from its original November 2018 release date for what were reported to be fairly extensive reshoots, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the series’ fanbase.
Third place went to Aladdin, which dipped just 42% to an estimated $24.5 million in its third weekend. The Disney live-action remake has been holding well throughout its run, handily overtaking last weekend’s champion Godzilla: King of the Monsters in mid-week business. With $232.4 million so far, the family release has officially broken the one-film losing streak in Disney’s series of live-action remakes after Dumbo, which underperformed in its release earlier this year.
In fourth, last weekend’s No. 1 film Godzilla: King of the Monsters tumbled a steep 67% in its sophomore frame to an estimated $15.5 million, mimicking the 2014 Godzilla’s second-weekend plunge of 66.8% in May 2014 (though that film debuted much higher with $93.1 million). With $78.6 million to date, King of the Monsters will no doubt fall far short its predecessor’s $200.6 million total as well as fellow Universal MonsterVerse franchise companion Kong: Skull Island’s $168 million haul two years ago.
Faring much better in its sophomore frame was the Elton John musical biopic Rocketman, which eased 45% to an estimated $14 million. While certainly no Bohemian Rhapsody—an unfair comparison anyway given Rocketman’s stricter R rating—the Paramount release is demonstrating solid legs thanks to positive word-of-mouth as well as its older target audience, which tends not to rush out to see new films the way younger moviegoers do. The critically-acclaimed film now boasts a healthy $50.5 million after ten days.
Another sophomore holdover, Universal’s Ma, dropped 56% to an estimated $7.8 million in sixth place, bringing the total for the Octavia Spencer horror release to $32.7 million after ten days. That’s a good result for the Blumhouse production, which only cost a reported $5 million.
Seventh place went to the very leggy John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, which brought in an estimated $7.4 million for a franchise-best $138.6 million total. In eighth, Avengers: Endgame grossed an estimated $4.8 million in its seventh week for a total of $824.4 million, followed by Pokémon: Detective Pikachu with $2.9 million (for a $137.4 million total) and UA’s Booksmart, which grossed an estimated $1.5 million in its third weekend for a $17.8 million total.
Limited Release:
Amazon Studios’ Late Night debuted in just four locations in New York and LA this weekend and brought in an estimated $249K, giving it an excellent per-screen average of $62K. Notably, the Mindy Kaling-Emma Thompson comedy was originally slated to debut nationwide before the studio decided to go with a platform release instead.
A24’s The Last Black Man in San Francisco opened on seven screens this weekend and brought in an estimated $230K, giving the critically-acclaimed drama an impressive $32K per-screen average. The platform release expands into top markets next weekend.
Overseas Update:
Having grossed more than $30 million overseas prior to its U.S. launch, The Secret Life of Pets 2 opened in 21 additional markets this weekend and brought in an estimated $16 million. Its overseas total now stands at $49 million while its global cume is at $97 million.
Dark Phoenix brought in over three times as much overseas this weekend as it did domestically, grossing an estimated $107 million from 53 markets, including $45.6 million in China. That made it the No. 1 film worldwide with an estimated $140 million haul.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters grossed an estimated $47.1 million in 78 international markets, bringing its overseas tally to $213.7 million and its global haul to $292.3 million.
Aladdin brought in an estimated $67.6 million internationally this weekend, bringing its overseas total to $372.5 million and its global haul to a sensational $604.9 million. It’s now surpassed the worldwide cumes of both Cinderella and Oz: The Great and Powerful, which grossed $544 million and $494 million, respectively.
Finally, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum crossed the $250 million global mark with an estimated $10.1 million overseas this weekend. Its totals now stand at $113.6 internationally and $252.2 million worldwide.
The post Studio Weekend Estimates: <em>The Secret Life of Pets 2</em> Barks Up $47.1M at No. 1; Runner-Up <em>Dark Phoenix</em> Disappoints w/ $33M appeared first on Boxoffice.
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