Friday Estimates: Despicable Me 3’s $29.2 million Debut is Top Animated Day of the Year
July 1, 2017
As expected, Despicable Me 3 earned first place at the box office on Friday with $29.2 million. This is the best single day for an animated film this year. To emphasize, this isn’t just the best opening day, but the best single day, and it should top that on Saturday. The previous record was $23.00 million, earned by The Lego Batman Movie. This film’s reviews are not as good as The Lego Batman Movie’s reviews are (they both earned A minuses from CinemaScore) so it won’t have the same legs. That said, an $83 million opening is still a great start and roughly on par with Despicable Me 2.
Baby Driver’s legs are not living up to its reviews, but it came very close with $6.0 million on Friday. This puts it on pace for just under $19 million over the three-day weekend and $28 million over five. It is getting an A minus from CinemaScore, so its legs should be long enough to finish north of $60 million domestically, which means Sony’s share of the box office will match the film’s $34 million production budget. If it can find a similarly-sized audience internationally, relative to the size of the two markets, then it will break even before it reaches the home market.
Transformers: The Last Knight fell faster than expected, down 64% from its opening Friday to just $4.9 million. Because it was a Wednesday opening, it won’t bounce back as much on Saturday, leaving the film with just over $16 million over the weekend. It is by far the worst domestic box office performance in the franchise and if it weren’t for the international numbers, this would be a major box office flop.
On the other end of the spectrum, Wonder Woman already became the biggest domestic hit in the DCEU on Thursday. It added $4.4 million on Friday, putting it on pace to earn just over $16 million over the weekend. If it keeps up this powerful run, it will overtake Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and become the biggest domestic hit of the summer. (Spider-Man: Homecoming does have the potential to beat it.)
The House rounded out the top five with $3.4 million on Friday, which puts it on pace for about $9 million over the weekend. This is not a good start for a film that cost $40 million to make and its 15% positive reviews and B minus from CinemaScore will ensure short legs. Warner Bros. is going to lose money on this one.
Cars 3 landed in sixth place on Friday with $2.97 million, but will climb back into the top five by the end of the weekend with $10 million. This film is not showing the same legs Pixar films usually have, but its merchandising is so lucrative that its box office numbers are immaterial.
- Despicable Me 3 Comparisons
- Baby Driver Comparisons
- The House Comparisons
Filed under: Friday Estimates, Wonder Woman, Baby Driver, Despicable Me 3, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, The House, Cars 3, Transformers: The Last Knight, Transformers, DC Extended Universe