Animated films continue to dominate Summer 2016 as The Secret Life of Pets took first place in its second weekend with a terrific $50.5 million. This marks the fifth weekend in a row that an animated film has sat on top of the box office (Finding Dory took the crown in the first three weekends, followed by two wins in a row for Pets).
In 2 weeks, Pets has grossed a staggering $203 million. Looks to me like Illumination Entertainment has another box office home run on its hands. With the Despicable Me trilogy, The Lorax, and this all grossing over $200 million, it seems like there is no stopping this underdog studio’s rise to the top. I’ll even go so far at to say that Illumination may surpass Dreamworks as Disney’s primary competitor in the realm of animation in the years to come.
Taking second place is Internet hot button issue Ghostbusters (You’re sexist if you don’t like it. You’re a whiny SJW if you do.) with $46 million. When I first looked at that number, I thought it seemed fairly solid. Then I noticed that this thing has a $144 million price tag to it. It’s too early to call this a flop, but I’m leaning in that direction. Melisa McCarthy is a big draw but she’s certainly not worth $144 million. The other Feige/McCarthy collaborations (The Heat, Spy, and Bridesmaids) had far more sensible budgets ($30-$65 million). What were they thinking?
In other animated news, Finding Dory just passed Shrek 2 to become the highest grossing animated movie of all time with an epic $445 million. On the all time domestic charts, the PIXAR sequel sits at 11th place and will crack the top 10 sometime this week. How high can it go?
In 8th place, the Bryan Cranston drug thriller The Infiltrator bombed with $6.7 million. It’s pretty easy to see where this one went wrong. Most people haven’t heard of it. You can’t make money if people don’t know your movie exists.
That does it for me! Any predictions for next week? Star Trek, Ice Age, and Lights Out are all debuting! Do Ghostbusters and The Infiltrator deserve better? Comment away!
Source: BoxOfficeMojo