Swinging wildly back and forth like a pendulum, if recent weeks at the box office have told the story of sequel fatigue, and audiences even thumbing their noses at non-branded entertainment, Father’s Day weekend has given Hollywood hope that all is not lost. One big sequel swam to record-breaking numbers, while an original buddy comedy opened big as well, cementing the A-list status of its stars.
Disney continues an incredible 2016 with “Finding Dory” from their Pixar division. Arriving 13 years after “Finding Nemo” didn’t diminish the anticipation for the movie one bit, and perhaps even further whetted appetites, as the picture opened to an absolutely massive $136 million. It’s the best opening in history for an animated film, and the second best June opening ever. And the picture pocketed a further $50 million from international ticket sales, with big markets still to come. It’s not unreasonable to assume ‘Nemo’ could be heading to a billion dollars worldwide, and if so, that would be four movies, released in four consecutive months, that will hit that marker for Disney. It seems they just can’t miss these days (well, except for “Alice Through The Looking Glass“….)
READ MORE: ‘Finding Dory’ Sets Its Own Course, And Is A Worthy Successor To ‘Finding Nemo’ [Review]
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. had plenty to be happy about with the $34 million opening for “Central Intelligence.” The figures may not be career-best numbers for either Dwayne Johnson or Kevin Hart, but it’s right in the expected ballpark for both. For Johnson, the only non-franchise movie that opened better for him previously was last summer’s “San Andreas,” which certainly was selling more spectacle than this film. As for Hart, it’s only slightly behind what both “Ride Along” films did in their opening bows, with both legging out to decent domestic results. And the longtail game might be where the $50 million “Central Intelligence” becomes a winner, while both actors will continue to be sought to anchor these kinds of mid-budget flicks.
Elsewhere at the box office, “Warcraft” suffered a brutal -73% audience drop in its second weekend, earning a measly $6.5 million. So the movie is toast at home, but internationally the Duncan Jones-directed film is still killing it. Thanks to China, “Warcraft” is the highest grossing video game movie of all time and it’s grossed $377.6 million worldwide and should easily surpass $400 million. Can it hit $500M? Too early to tell, but it’s done absolutely gangbusters numbers in China– it’s opening weekend was higher than the entire gross of the “Batman V Superman” run)
Domestically, for “Warcraft,” you’d have to go back to last year’s “Fifty Shades Of Grey” to see a similar second-weekend drop, but that film opened bigger, and eventually earned over $160 million domestic, and spurred a sequel. Given the “Warcraft” grosses abroad, a sequel isn’t out of the question, but it’s performed nearly pitiful at home, so this will give pause to U.S. studios.
Otherwise, it was pretty quiet at the arthouse, though “Genius” and “De Palma” both got some nice boosts as they expanded in limited release. In box-office milestones, “X-Men: Apocalypse” has crossed the $500 million mark worldwide. That sounds great and all, but at home the picture is currently sitting at $146 million which is the second lowest grossing X-picture so far. Sure, it’s only been in theaters four weeks, but considering its trajectory and pace,’ Apocalypse’ probably won’t go higher than $170 million (generously) and will fall short of the reviled, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”
1. “Finding Dory” — $136.1 million
2. “Central Intelligence” — $34.5 million
3. “The Conjuring 2” — $15.5 million ($71.1 mil.)
4. “Now You See Me 2” — $9.6 million ($41.3 mil.)
5. “Warcraft” — $6.5 million ($37.7 mil.)
6. “X-Men: Apocalypse” — $5.2 million ($146 mil.)
7. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows” — $5.2 million ($71.9 mil.)
8. “Me Before You” — $4.1 million ($46.3 mil.)
9. “Alice Through The Looking Glass” — $3.6 million ($69.3 mil.)
10. “Captain America: Civil War” — $2.2 million ($401.2 mil.)