DC League of Super-Pets finished atop the box office this weekend, but it shows that the summer movie season is starting to cool off as it debuted below its tracking numbers.
DC League of Super-Pets earned $23 million over the weekend, below the $25-30 million the film was tracking and the $30 million I predicted earlier in the week. Warners put a lot of marketing push into this film, which is why most believed it could exceed its initial tracking. Throw in Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart’s voice acting, and we had a movie that seemed destined for greater box office success. It’s hard to pinpoint why the film underperformed a bit, but it should be noted that it’s off to a pretty solid start for a piece of original animation on the market right now. There are some comparisons to Dreamworks Animation’s Bad Boys being made here, as that film opened to $23.95 million earlier this year and managed to take it to $96.6 million. It’s possible that DC League of Super-Pets will have similar legs or even better, as the target audience is out of school and more eager to catch the film during weekday screenings. Super-Pets also received an “A-” CinemaScore, indicating solid word-of-mouth. With an $89 million budget, DC League of Super-Pets also earned $18.4 million from 64 overseas markets for a worldwide start of $41.4 million.
Falling into second place, and mostly in line with my projections, is Nope, with $18.5 million. That’s down from 58%, which is pretty much the norm for the horror genre, and even more so when the reaction to one of their films is a bit more mixed. To date, Nope has grossed $80.5 million at the domestic box office, and a final gross of over $100 million is still very much in its sights.
In third place is Thor: Love and Thunder with $13 million, down 42% from the previous weekend. As expected, The Thor sequel is starting to stabilize a bit after suffering steeper drops in its second and third weekends. The good news is that Thor: Love and Thunder has crossed the $300 million mark with a current total of $301.5 million. Globally, the film also grossed a healthy $662.4 million at the global box office.
Minions: The Rise of Gru held steady against the presence of the DC League of Super-Pets with $10.8 million. That’s down 40%, which is pretty solid as it faced more kid-friendly competition this weekend. Minions: Rise of Gru is truly the animated blockbuster of the year, being the first animated film during the pandemic era to cross the $300 million mark. To date, Minions: Rise of Gru has grossed $320.4 million at the domestic box office.
Rounding out the top five was Top Gun: Maverick, with another solid hold to $8.2 million in earnings. That’s another modest 20% drop as the Top Gun sequel continues to be the movie of the summer. To date, Top Gun: Maverick has earned $650.1 million domestically and has cleared $1.3 billion at the global box office.
What do YOU think of this weekend’s box office results?
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