It’s a good and bad weekend for Disney. On the one hand, their latest Pixar sequel, Finding Dory is still swimming strong, returning for a third week in the number one spot with an extra $41.9 million in its pocket. It’s a bonafide hit, but the same can’t be said for their weekend release, Steven Spielberg’s The BFG, which came in fourth place with $19.6 million. Considering its $140 million budget (not counting extra marketing costs), it’s almost certainly a flop, which is a shame because it’s the better movie of the two. Well, in my opinion, at least.
All things considered, however, the Mouse House shot themselves in the foot over this fourth of July weekend. With the continued success of their animated sequel, they’ve essentially took families from seeing their one movie by getting them in theaters for their other. Finding Dory‘s domestic total now comes to a healthy $272.2 million, with a $538.2 million worldwide. That now makes it the fifth highest grossing animated movie of all-time, without adjusting for inflation.
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The BFG, meanwhile, continues Spielberg’s cycle of disappointing box office openings of late. His first movie with Disney, it opened higher than the veteran filmmaker’s previous film, last year’s Bridge of Spies, but that Cold War movie opened with $15.3 million inside 2,811 theaters, significantly less than The BFG‘s 3,357 rollout. With that in mind, perhaps a July release was not the wisest choice for this Roald Dahl adaptation. Maybe October would have served it better? I guess we’ll never know.
Speaking of movies that opened on the wrong weekend, Independence Day: Resurgence came in fifth place in its second weekend with $16.5 million, continuing its ongoing underperforming box office performance. Although the film’s four-day weekend total is supposed to round out to $20.1 million overall, I have a hunch people are going to turn up to see this tomorrow. Call me kooky, but if people are going to see this movie at all, they’re probably going to see it on Independence Day. Radical thinking, I know.
As for the weekend’s other new releases, The Legend of Tarzan and The Purge: Election Year opened in second and third place this weekend, respectively, with $38.1 million and $30.9 million to their names. Both performed better-than-predicted, although Tarzan will have some more work to do if it wants to make back its $180 million budget. (Deservedly) poor reviews are not going to help, so Warner Bros. might need some help overseas if they want to turn a profit on this one.
Election Year, however, will not have that problem, as it already made back its $10 million budget and then some. It’s not making a killing, but it’s nevertheless a hit. Universal should be pleased to know their property is among the very few franchises this summer not suffering from sequelitis fatigue. Although this new Purge suggested the end of the series, expect another sequel, or 10, to come in the near future.
As for the rest, Central Intelligence is holding on tight in sixth place with $12.3 million added to its $91.8 million domestic gross, The Shallows is also swimming smoothly with an additional $9 million in seventh place and Warcraft came dead in the water in Japan with a meager $273,000. Universal isn’t sweating it though, most likely, since they have The Secret Life of Pets set to obliterate Finding Dory out of the water next weekend. Water puns!
Check out the full box office results below, courtesy of THR and Box Office Mojo, below.
- Finding Dory Weekend: $41.9 million Domestic Total: $372.3 million
- The Legend of Tarzan Weekend: $38.1 million Domestic Total: $38.1 million
- The Purge: Election Year Weekend: $30.9 million Domestic Total: $30.9 million
- The BFG Weekend: $19.6 million Domestic Total: $19.6 million
- Independence Day 2 Weekend: $16.5 million Domestic Total: $72.7 million
- Central Intelligence Weekend: $12.3 million Domestic Total: $91.8 million
- The Shallows Weekend: $9 million Domestic Total: $35.3 million
- Free State of Jones Weekend: $4.1 million Domestic Total: $15.2 million
- The Conjuring 2 Weekend: $3.9 million Domestic Total: $95.3 million
- Now You See Me 2 Weekend: $3 million Domestic Total: $58.7 million
