Finding Dory remained the box office champ in a weekend that gave us a sequel to one of the biggest films of 1996, a Civil War period drama and Blake Lively fighting a shark – the last of which would make for an interesting double feature with the animated Dory. The Finding Nemo sequel racked up $73.2 million, which was a drop of 45.8% from its opening weekend. Animated films have a pretty strong holdover on account of few alternatives in theaters at the time of release. In two weeks Dory has made an estimated $286.5 million domestic.
Opening in second place was Independence Day: Resurgence, a sequel to the 1996 hit that featured Will Smith. Smith is gone and it definitely shows in the film. Liam Hemsworth’s (Thor’s little brother) has the cocky attitude but lacks Smith’s charisma, and the movie as a whole seems to be stuck in neutral with few surprises and narrative miscues. A $41.6 million opening was less than what Twentieth Century Fox had estimated. The arrivals of The BFG, The Purge: Election Year this week, plus The Secret Life of Pets the week following will definitely impede on its progress to meet its production budget of $165 million. At least in the States; overseas it will probably make three times its domestic gross.
Dwayne Johnson was equipped with some of Batman’s shark repellent as Central Intelligence staved off Blake Lively and The Shallows. The best received new release in theaters, the $20 million b-movie pitting a woman against a shark finished with $16.7 million.
Far behind with $7.7 million was Free State of Jones (No. 5), the Civil War drama starring Matthew McConaughey as the Robin Hood of conscientious Confederate Army objectors. Past Jones the rest of the Top 10 consisted of sequels that have steadily moved down the list, having played in theaters for three weekends or more.
In limited release, Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon opened in 783 locations and amassed $606k. A24’s Swiss Army Man and The Orchard’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople fared much better. Army opened in three locations and walked away with $114k, while Wilderpeople opened in five spots and finished with $85k.
This weekend it is Steven Spielberg and Tarzan taking on The Purge. I’m thinking Finding Dory holds steady with a first-place finish for one more week before Illumination Entertainment and Universal tell us all about The Secret Life of Pets.
Full Top 10 below.
01. Finding Dory – $73.2 Million ($286.5M)
02. Independence Day: Resurgence – $41.6 Million
03. Central Intelligence – $18.3 Million ($69.3M)
04. The Shallows – $16.7 Million
05. Free State of Jones – $7.77 Million
06. The Conjuring 2 – $7.70 Million ($86.9M)
07. Now You See Me 2 – $5.65 Million ($52.0M)
08. X-Men: Apocalypse – $2.47 Million ($151.1M)
09. TMNT: Out of the Shadows – $2.4 Million ($77.1M)
10. Alice Through the Looking Glass – $2.1 Million ($74.5M)
