Weekend Box Office: Jungle Fever

Even though two of the holiday weekend’s three new movies performed well above expectations, Pixar managed to retain the top spot at the box office for the third consecutive week. However, the competition collectively made this an extremely successful weekend at the box office.

Finding Dory‘ found another $41.4 million over its third three-day weekend and $50.1 million over the four-day holiday weekend. Its 18-day total now sits at $380.5 million, which is less than half a million from out-grossing the domestic total of 2003’s ‘Finding Nemo‘. The sequel’s international roll-out also moves forward with great success. It earned $167.8 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $548.3 million. How long will it take Disney to greenlight ‘Finding Marlin’?

The first big surprise of the weekend came from ‘The Legend of Tarzan‘, which debuted in second place. Warner Bros.’ $180 million adventure picture grossed $38.5 million over the three-day weekend and $45.5 million over the four days. While those numbers are much better than the predictions forecast at the start of the weekend, ‘Tarzan’ still has a lot of ground to make up due to its huge budget. Internationally, it pulled $19.3 million from the several markets in which it opened. With many more markets to go, it certainly has room to find success.

Also performing above expectations was ‘The Purge: Election Year‘. With an opening nearly identical to that of its predecessor, ‘The Purge: Anarchy‘, the microbudget franchise shows no sign of slowing. ‘Election Year’ launched with $31.3 million over the three-day weekend and $34.7 million over the four days. With a budget of just $10 million, the horror flick is already a success, and it hasn’t even opened in any of the major international markets! I doubt that Universal will wait another two years to pump out the next sequel.

The only disappointment of the weekend was Steven Spielberg’s latest family film, an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s ‘The BFG‘. The PG picture earned $18.5 million over the three-day weekend and $22.2 million over the four days. Another $3.9 million came in from two major international markets. Produced on a budget of $140 million, that’s quite a flat debut. Spielberg’s ‘Bridge of Spies‘ opened similarly last fall, but had great staying power. Will the same be possible for this kids’ movie?

Last week’s tentpole ‘Independence Day: Resurgence‘ rounded out the Top 5. With just $16.5 million over the three-day weekend, it fell a harsh 60% week-over-week. The four-day weekend resulted in $20.2 million, bringing its 11-day total up to $76.3 million. Overseas, it did $177 million, giving the $165 million CG-heavy disaster movie a $253.4 million worldwide total.

In limited release, Roadside Attractions’ thriller ‘Our Kind of Traitor‘ had a difficult time finding an audience. Playing on 373 screens, it debuted in the #12 spot to $984,295 over the three-day weekend and $1.2 million over the four-day weekend, with respective per-screen averages of $2,639 and $3,273.

3-Day Weekend Top 10:

1. ‘Finding Dory’ (Buena Vista) – $41,411,664

2. ‘The Legend of Tarzan’ (Warner Bros.) – $38,505,000

3. ‘The Purge: Election Year’ (Universal) – $31,399,080

4. ‘The BFG’ (Buena Vista) – $18,554,950

5. ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ (Fox) – $16,550,000

6. ‘Central Intelligence’ (Warner Bros.) – $12,510,000

7. ‘The Shallows’ (Sony) – $8,800,000

8. ‘Free State of Jones’ (STX) – $4,140,000

9. ‘The Conjuring 2’ (Warner Bros.) – $3,845,000

10. ‘Now You See Me 2’ (Summit) – $3,000,000

4-Day Weekend Top 10:

1. ‘Finding Dory’ (Buena Vista) – $50,195,956

2. ‘The Legend of Tarzan’ (Warner Bros.) – $45,565,000

3. ‘The Purge: Election Year’ (Universal) – $34,796,220

4. ‘The BFG’ (Buena Vista) – $22,271,014

5. ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ (Fox) – $20,200,000

6. ‘Central Intelligence’ (Warner Bros.) – $15,010,000

7. ‘The Shallows’ (Sony) – $10,450,000

8. ‘Free State of Jones’ (STX) – $5,076,000

9. ‘The Conjuring 2’ (Warner Bros.) – $4,570,000

10. ‘Now You See Me 2’ (Summit) – $3,600,000

5 comments

  1. Shannon Nutt

    Finally got around to seeing ‘Independence Day’ and wish I hadn’t. Not only is it a bad movie, but it manages to ruin the first movie in the process – kind of the way Alien 3 mucks up everything you loved about Aliens and Alien. 🙁

    • Al

      ‘Alien 3’ doesn’t do that. It’s superb. Don’t let the fact that its misunderstood cloud your judgement. Watch the director’s cut and appreciate that a filmmaker with a unique vision was trying to take the series to new and exciting places.

      • There is no director’s cut for ‘Alien³’. There’s an extended cut overseen and produced by Charles de Lauzirika, but Fincher had nothing to do with it. He was approached to work on it, but he turned the opportunity down.

        • Al

          I’m well aware of the fact that Fincher wouldn’t have any involvement with a proper director’s cut, and I can understand his reasons why.

          Slip of the tongue…

          I hereby edit my original statement to “Watch the extended cut…”

          Happy, now?

          The point is that ‘Alien 3’ is a very intriguing and engaging film. It’s a lot better than most people give it credit for. And it certainly doesn’t “muck up” either of the first two entries.

      • William Henley

        Oh no, I think Aliens 3 is perfectly well understood, its a bad movie any way you look at it. That’s not misunderstanding, that is seeing clearly. It’s not as bad as Independence Day, though.

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