THE WEEKEND ACTUALS

	Film	Weekend	Opening Weekend	Current Gross
	The Secret Life of Pets	$50.83 million	$104.3 million	$203.4 million
	Ghostbusters	$46.02 million	$46.02 million	$46.02 million
	The Legend of Tarzan	$11.44 million	$38.52 million	$103.3 million
	Finding Dory	$11.28 million	$135 million	$445.7 million
	Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates	$7.65 million	$16.62 million	$31.48 million

Unfortunately for Sony Pictures, Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters made what it was expected to make, rather than meeting its stretch goal. With nearly any other film, this wouldn’t be a cause for concern. But with this reboot of the 1984 comedy classic, there are a few reasons to hesitate. The first is the film’s budget, which totaled $144 million, and so it will need to keep up its numbers in the coming weeks for Sony to break even, least of all make a profit. Secondly, while there is a sequel already being planned, it’s not a complete guarantee yet, and the studio is not only trying to have a successful film, but they’re also banking on re-starting a franchise. Lastly, there’s no doubt in my mind that everyone involved with this film wants to see it prove the naysayers wrong and while positive reviews help with that (it’s certified fresh at 73% on Rotten Tomatoes), it’s no secret that money talks in this world. This is the best opening weekend a team-up between Feig and Melissa McCarthy has garnered, but a lot of their films are considered successes by the revenue they made post-first weekend, and that’s what people will be looking at with this film. Internationally, Ghostbusters pulled in a respectable $19.1 million from the United Kingdom, Australia, and Brazil. People are undoubtedly hoping it picks up some slack in foreign markets.

Jumping back to first place, The Secret Life of Pets continued its winning streak, which proves this is the year of animation. It took in a little over $50 million for the weekend, dropping by about 51.3%. Its overall total is now $203.4 million, which is impressive given it’s only been out for 10 days (especially considering other films have been out for much longer and haven’t made that much). With its haul this past weekend, it just surpassed Disney’s 50th animated feature, Tangled, and is set to overtake Pixar’s Ratatouille, which made $206 million when all was said and done in 2007. Depending on how it performs in the coming weeks, it could very well place in the top 20 of all animated films (it’s currently in 32nd place).

Still, despite how well Illumination must be feeling with the success of Pets, it’s nowhere near the gross of Finding Dory, which has now secured its spot as the number one animated domestic release of all time. It’s so far made a little over $445 million, beating out the previous top contender: Shrek 2 at $441 million. With these results, Shrek the Third has been kicked out of top 10, leaving Disney to continue its domination. Seven of the top ten are Disney, with three belonging to Walt Disney Studios (The Lion King, Frozen, and Zootopia) and the other four being Pixar productions (Finding Dory, Toy Story 3, Finding Nemo, Inside Out). The final three films in the top ten belong to Dreamworks (the aforementioned Shrek 2) and Universal/Illumination (Despicable Me 2 and Minions).

Finding Dory, as predicted, ran neck-and-neck with Warner Bros.’ The Legend of Tarzan. The latter barely edged out Pixar’s second oceanic flick, taking in a total of $11.4 million over the weekend. With a budget of $180 million, it’s just surpassed that — but that’s due to its international takings. Worldwide, Tarzan has made $193 million, which does not look as impressive when nearly half of that ($90 million) has come from overseas. It begs the question: Do audiences care about seeing countless films about legendary figures? Tarzan argues no, and that could lead to interesting performances from Otto Bathurt’s Robin Hood: Origins and Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, both of which are set to come out next year. The last film about England’s hooded outlaw starring Russell Crowe made a domestic total of $105 million in 2010, while the most recent film about King Arthur starring Clive Owen made a dismal $51 million domestically in 2004 — neither cracked 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. Clearly, Bathurst and Ritchie are facing uphill battles, and Hollywood may need to rethink this genre.

Rounding out the top five was the quadruple lead film, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. It pulled in a respectable $7.65 million, bringing its domestic total to $31 million. It’s set to surpass one of Zac Efron’s latest comedies, Dirty Grandpa, which made a total of $35 million, but it’s still not close to approaching the totals of recent, similar comedies like Neighbors and its sequel, the 21 Jump Street franchise, or Central Intelligence, which found itself holding strong in the top ten by taking in $5.3 million. The remainder of the top ten consisted of newcomer The Infiltrator, making its predicted $5.3 million, and mainstays The Purge: Election Year ($6.1 million), The BFG ($3.7 million), and Independence Day: Resurgence ($3.5 million).

However, some of these top ten alums should find themselves finally kicked out this weekend when Paramount’s Star Trek Beyond, Fox’s Ice Age: Collision Course, and Warner Bros./New Line’s Lights Out makes their debuts in theaters. Beyond so far has a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, from a total of 32 reviews, and while fans may be apprehensive after Into Darkness, good word of mouth will get them back into theaters and aboard the USS Enterprise. And Ice Age’s fifth installment, Collision Course, has already made $127 million overseas. Still, this franchise has never done as well domestically as it does abroad, and with the terrible reviews it’s been receiving so far (16% on Rotten Tomatoes), it likely won’t be one of the bigger animated contenders of the year.

(Source: boxoffice.com, boxofficemojo.com. Starred figures are estimates. Figures represent numbers at time of writing, and may have changed.)

Anya Crittenton | Associate Editor