The Fourth of July is always a damper when it comes to the box office, as many families are travelling during the weekend. The fact that it falls on Tuesday this year was extra damaging. (Over a million people traveled through LAX on Saturday.) Things could turn around as many will be off on Monday.
At any rate, Universal’s ‘Despicable Me 3’ scored the #1 spot with $75.4 million. That falls in line with industry predictions, but Universal was hoping for something closer to $85M. But it only cost $80M to make and when licensing is factored in, this film is doing fine. Over five days, it has a shot at making $90M. But similar to ‘Smurfs: The Lost Village’ and ‘Cars 3’, this franchise is starting to slow down. But Universal is already moving ahead with tie-in/spin-off ‘Minions 2’, due in 2020.
In counter programming, the R-Rated Jamie Foxx action flick ‘Baby Driver’ managed to score pretty well with $21M by appealing strictly to adults, who weren’t busy with the kiddies. It may take in $30M over five days. What’s especially cool is that this film succeeded without being part of a franchise or a film expected to launch one. The film boasts an all-star cast. In addition to Foxx, the cast features Ansel Elgort, Jon Hamm, Jon Bernthal and Kevin Spacey.
‘Transformers: The Last Knight’ held in at #3, with $17M. Meanwhile, Warner Brothers’ ‘Wonder Woman’ is still going strong with $15.6M. That film is looking to wrap its theatrical run with approximately $380M domestically which is pretty… well, wonderful.
Finally, Disney’s ‘Cars 3’ added another $9.3M. But cynically speaking, as previously stated, these movies are basically made to sell toys and other licensed merchandise.
- Despicable Me 3 (Universal) – $75.4M
- Baby Driver (Paramount) – $21M
- Transformers: The Last Knight (Paramount) – $17M
- Wonder Woman (Warner Brothers) – $15.6M
- Cars 3 (Disney) – $9.5M
In the latest of a string of comedic flops, WB’s ‘The House’ starring Will Farrell and Amy Poehler… well, flopped.
Things could really turn around next week. Sony and Marvel’s collaboration, ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ is currently projected to open at $100M. As per the usual superhero movies, it’s trending especially strongly with young males, but like most Marvel movies, it has broad appeal, including families.
We’ll have to wait and see! Check back to see how it fares next week.
Source: Deadline
