Weekend Wrap-Up: It’s No Secret that Life of Pets Will Get a Sequel
July 12, 2016
As expected, The Secret Life of Pets earned first place on the weekend box office chart. However, almost no one was expecting it to dominate the way that it did with $104.35 million. There are some calling this film the best opening for a non-franchise animation film, but let’s face the facts... Universal started work on two or three sequels as soon as Friday’s Estimates came in. Meanwhile, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates has a good opening in the role of counter-programming with $16.63 million. Overall, the box office pulled in $217 million, which was 14% more than last weekend. More importantly, it is 1.3% more than the same weekend last year. Granted, this is lower than ticket price inflation, but since most people assumed the weekend would suffer a serious decline, this should be seen as a major victory. Year-to-date, 2016’s lead over 2015 grew a tiny bit hitting 2.4% at $6.00 billion to $5.86 billion.
The Secret Life of Pets puts Illumination Entertainment into the elite group of digital animation studios. The film earned $104.35 million, making it only the sixth animated film to earn $100 million during its opening weekend and the first that wasn’t a sequel or a spin-off. Its reviews are 74% positive, which likely not enough to pick up an Oscar nomination for Best Feature-Length Animated film, but still good enough to give it longs legs at the box office. Ice Age: Collision Course is opening in two weeks, but its reviews suggest families will be better off seeing The Secret Life of Pets for the third time.
The Legend of Tarzan managed to grab second place with $21.01 million over the weekend, giving it $81.80 million after ten days of release. It held on a lot better than its reviews would indicate and it will have no trouble getting to $100 million domestically. However, it cost $180 million to make, so unless it is a bigger hit internationally, it’s not going to break even any time soon.
Finding Dory just missed second place with $20.82 million over the weekend for a total of $423.05 million. The film lost nearly 500 theaters and had to deal with direct competition, so its 50% decline is still reasonable. Additionally, it remains on pace to top Shrek 2 for biggest animated film domestically, but it won’t be able to become the first animated film to hit $500 million.
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates landed in fourth place with $16.63 million, which is good for a film that reportedly cost approximately $30 million to make. Its reviews suggest it won’t have great legs, but if it can get close to $50 million domestically and $100 million worldwide, then it will break even sooner rather than later.
The Purge: Election Year rounded out the top five with $12.39 million over the weekend for a total of $58.80 million after two weeks of release. It did fall 60% during its sophomore stint, but this isn’t bad for this genre. Furthermore, it is on pace to top the franchise relatively soon.
The only film in the sophomore class to not reach the top five was The BFG, with $7.91 million over the weekend for a total of $38.94 million after two. It will need to be a huge hit internationally to break even any time soon.
There are a few other films that made news either over the weekend, or right before the weekend. Central Intelligence reached $100 million on Thursday. It isn’t the only film on the weekend chart that will hit $100 million during a relatively narrow time span, as The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist is less than $1 million away and Independence Day: Resurgence is about two weeks away from the century mark.
Finally, there’s Sultan, which earned tenth place with $2.37 million over the weekend and $3.38 million from Wednesday through Sunday. Its very rare for a foreign-language film to reach the top ten, but Indian films have done it before.
- The Secret Life of Pets Comparisons
- Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates Comparisons
- Finding Dory Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Central Intelligence, Finding Dory, The Secret Life of Pets, Independence Day: Resurgence, The Legend of Tarzan, The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist, The BFG, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, The Purge: Election Year, Sultan, The Purge