Dunkirk conquers Emoji, Atomic Blonde at box office

LOS ANGELES — “The Emoji Movie” survived negative reviews but couldn’t conquer “Dunkirk,” which had enough fight left to conquer the box office for a second weekend in a row.

Down only 44 per cent from its first weekend, director Christopher Nolan’s Second World War film earned $28.1 million US to take first place, according to studio estimates on Sunday. “Dunkirk” has grossed $102.8 million domestically to date.

Sony Pictures Animation’s “The Emoji Movie” finished second with $25.7 million. The film featuring the voices of T.J. Miller and Anna Faris as anthropomorphized emojis got pummelled by critics. It’s currently resting at a dismal eight per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences still turned out.

“It’s great when the critics and audiences are in sync but in the end it comes down to: Has the film reached the intended audience?” said Adrian Smith, Sony’s president of domestic distribution. “Seeing these results, it clearly has.”

Sony is expecting the film, which cost an estimated $50 million to produce, to play well for the rest of the summer.

“Kids don’t care about reviews, and there is a severe lack of family films in the marketplace,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst for comScore.

But “The Emoji Movie” also fell at the box office throughout the weekend after a strong Friday when it placed No. 1, which Dergarabedian thinks could be due to negative word of mouth on social media. By contrast, the extremely wellreviewed “Dunkirk” rose throughout the weekend.

Also holding on quite well is Universal Pictures R-rated comedy “Girls Trip,” which fell a minuscule 36 per cent from its debut weekend to take third place with $20.1 million.

Even in weekend two, “Girls Trip” beat out the splashy new Charlize Theron actioner “Atomic Blonde,” distributed by Universal’s boutique label Focus Features. “Atomic Blonde” opened in fourth with $18.6 million.

Theron produced and stars in the film about a British spy on a mission in Berlin near the end of the Cold War. It cost an estimated $30 million to produce.

While reviews were generally positive, audiences gave the film a middling B CinemaScore, which could affect its word-of-mouth potential.

In fifth place was “SpiderMan: Homecoming” now in its fourth weekend. The new web-slinger added $13.5 million which bumped its domestic total to $278.4 million.

“Homecoming” has now officially passed both “Amazing Spider-Man” movies at the North American box office, although it is still lagging significantly behind the Tobey Maguire “Spider-Man” films.