“Ghostbusters” Can Stop Ghosts, But Not “Pets”

By Kip Mooney • On • In News, Weekend Box Office Report News, Weekend Box Office Report 0

BOX OFFICE REPORT

July 15-17, 2016

(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 5

The Secret Life of Pets  $50.5 million
Ghostbusters $46.0 million
The Legend of Tarzan $11.1 million
Finding Dory $11.0 million
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates $7.5 million

Well, now that the uproar over the Ghostbusters remake has died down – because people actually saw it and made a determination instead of just making up their minds sight unseen – the reaction isn't as extreme as anyone expected. Reviews were mixed and while the opening was good, it wasn't anything earth-shattering. Still, the estimated $46 million is the highest opening ever for star Melissa McCarthy, who's been on a hot streak for several years now.

But that still wasn't enough to top The Secret Life of Pets, which dominated in its second weekend. It's going to be finish as one of the year's biggest movies, but it's still got a long way to go if it hopes to cross $300 million like six other movies have so far this year. The Legend of Tarzan finally crossed $100 million, but it's still got a heavy budge that it will hope to make up with international grosses.

Finding Dory officially passed Shrek 2 to become the biggest animated movie ever, and should pass the original Star Wars by next weekend to become one of the Top 10 movies ever. And Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates had a bad honeymoon phase, dropping 55 percent to only $7.5 million. It won't be a long marriage, that's for sure.

Outside the top 5:

  • This Weekend's Indie Champ: Cafe Society, Woody Allen's latest. It averaged a whopping $71,000 on each of its five screens. That's the best per theater average of 2016.
  • The Infiltrator, the umpteenth project about cocaine dealer Pablo Escobar, blew it. The Bryan Cranston thriller opened with only $5.2 million.
  • The Purge: Election Year is just a few bucks away from being the highest grossing film in the franchise.

Next week:

Star Trek Beyond will definitely be the No. 1 movie, but with so much time between films and the mostly negative fan reaction to Star Trek into Darkness, this one probably won't be as big. I'll guess $65 million, but less than $200 million by the time it's all said and done. Ice Age: Collision Course will take in about $35 million.

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

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