“DC League of Super Pets”, an animated adventure about the four-legged friends of legendary superheroes, opened first at the domestic box office with $23 million in 4,313 theaters.
Although the Warner Bros. movie sold enough tickets to dethrone Jordan Peele”Nope” on the North American charts, it’s a lackluster start given the film’s $90 million price tag. Sure, the Legion of Super-Pets aren’t as recognizable as Superman, Aquaman, or their other Justice League owners, but “DC League of Super-Pets” might have resonated a bit more with audiences given its affiliation with DC Comics and his high power voice cast in Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart.
“DC League of Super-Pets” didn’t make up much ground at the international box office, opening to $18.4 million in 63 markets. In total, the film has grossed $41.4 million worldwide.
In times of pandemic, “DC League of Super-Pets” is another kids’ movie that has struggled to wow in its box office debut. Movies aimed at parents with young children have been mixed, which is concerning because family audiences have always been a reliable source of income before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In terms of opening weekend revenue, “DC League of Super-Pets” came in behind Pixar’s “Lightyear,” which debuted with $51 million, and Universal’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” which opened with $107 million. But its start is in line with other pandemic-era family movies like “The Bad Guys” ($23.9 million), “Sing 2” ($22.3 million) and Disney’s “Charm” ($27 million). Still, it’s hard to imagine “DC League of Super-Pets” having someone at Warner Bros. pouring a celebratory glass of champagne; This time last year, the studio’s “Space Jam: A New Legacy” opened to $31 million while simultaneously playing on HBO Max.
It helps that aside from the positive reception from ticket buyers (it earned an “A-” CinemaScore), “DC League of Super-Pets” doesn’t have much competition on the horizon. He has a clear track until Sony’s “Lyle Lyle Crocodile” opens on October 7. Warner Bros. hopes “DC League of Super-Pets” enjoys a long life in theaters before reaching new audiences (and perhaps some regulars) on HBO Max.
“This is a moderate opening by the standards of animated series,” said David A. Gross, who runs the film consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Recently, several animated films have extended their runtimes to six weeks, generating healthy domestic multiples.”
Although several animated films have started slower than their respective studios would have liked, many have shown a lot of resilience at the box office, as Gross points out. For example, “The Bad Guys” and “Encanto” finished their theatrical runs with $96 million in North America. And “Sing 2” had especially long legs, grossing $162 million.
This weekend’s other national premiere, BJ Novak’s true crime-inspired dark comedy “Revenge”, barely cracked the top 10. The R-rated Focus Features film opened in line with expectations, grossing a lackluster $1.75 million from 998 theaters.
The successful “Revenge” attracted primarily male audiences (men made up 55% of ticket buyers). The film earned a “B+” CinemaScore. Novak, who also wrote the script, plays a New York City journalist and podcast host who travels to Texas to investigate the death of a girl he was only casually dating.
Despite the so-so start to the “DC League of Super-Pets,” last weekend’s champion “Nope” slipped to second place with $18.5 million from 3,807 spots, a 58% decrease. So far, the UFO thriller, starring Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer, has generated $80.5 million in North America. “Nope” has yet to open at the international box office.
Disney’s “Thor: Love and Thunder” ranked No. 3 with $13.1 million from 3,650 locations in its fourth weekend in theaters. Those ticket sales push the Marvel adventure past $300 million at the domestic box office, with its current tally sitting at $301 million. Internationally, the fourth “Thor” film has grossed $361 million, bringing its worldwide total to $662 million.
“Minions: The Rise of Gru” landed in fourth place with $10.8 million from 3,578 theaters and, despite opening in theaters five weeks ago, probably took some business away from “DC League of Super-Pets.” ” in the process. The latest “Despicable Me” spinoff has been one of the few box office success stories for kids in the pandemic, with ticket sales of $320 million in North America and $710 million worldwide.
Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick” rounded out the top five with $8.2 million in its 10th weekend of release. After two months on the big screen, Tom Cruise’s hit sequel has grossed $650 million at the domestic box office and managed to stay in the top five on the weekend charts since the weekend of Memorial Day.
Sometime soon, “Maverick” will overtake “Titanic” ($659 million) and “Jurassic World” ($653 million) to become the seventh-highest-grossing film in domestic box office history. With another $671 million from overseas audiences, “Top Gun: Maverick” has grossed $1.3 billion to date.
In sixth and seventh place, Sony’s “Where the Crawdads Sing” ($7.5 million at 3,526 locations in its third weekend, $53.5 million to date) and Baz Luhrmann’s musical biopic “Elvis” ($5 .8 million in 2,901 locations in its sixth weekend, $129 million to date) have been quietly making inroads in theaters. Both represent counter-programming wins during the summer blockbuster season.
On the other hand, A24’s multiverse adventure “Everything Everywhere All at Once” has cleared a big Box Office Milestone, crossing $100 million in global ticket sales. It is the first A24 film to reach that box office benchmark. The film, which was re-released in domestic theaters over the weekend, has become an unexpected success, grossing $68.9 million in the United States and another $31.1 million internationally.
At the special box office, Lena Dunham’s controversial coming-of-age story “Sharp Stick” grossed $18,000 from two theaters, which translates to $9,000 per location. Dunham wrote and directed the film, which centers on a 26-year-old woman who is socially and sexually stunted after undergoing a hysterectomy when she was a teenager. Utopia is releasing the film, which expands nationally beginning August 5.
Another independent title, IFC Films and Shudder’s “Resurrection,” grossed $92,700 from 97 locations, averaging $955 per theater. “Resurrection” will be released on video-on-demand on Friday, August 5, and will continue to run in theaters throughout the summer.
Written and directed by Andrew Semans, the psychological thriller stars Rebecca Hall as a woman whose carefully constructed life is turned upside down when an unwanted shadow from her past returns. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews, with most of the praise going to Hall’s performance. In vulture reviewcritic Bilge Ebiri warns: “Good luck sleeping after watching ‘Resurrection.’