Incredibles 2 has ‘staggering’ start
LOS ANGELES — The Pixar superhero movie Incredibles 2 made 14 years of anticipation worth the wait for Disney, as the follow-up to 2004’s The Incredibles smashed the record for highest animation debut of all time with about $183 million in ticket sales for U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to the measurement firm ComScore.
Warner Bros. debuted Tag in third place. It earned about $15 million, on par with analysts’ predictions of $13 million to $15 million.
Tag, released under Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema division, is an R-rated comedy about a group of friends who play an extreme version of the classic schoolyard game. The film received mixed reviews from audiences and critics, earning a B-plus on CinemaScore and 56 percent rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Featuring Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner, the film cost an estimated $28 million to make.
In fourth place: Disney’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, now in its fifth weekend. It added $10 million in earnings — a moderate 42 percent drop despite losing more than 1,100 locations — for a to-date total of about $194 million. The record numbers for Incredibles 2 alleviate some of the sting the studio is still feeling over Solo;
Rounding out the top five, Fox’s Deadpool 2, now in its sixth week, added $8.7 million for a cumulative $294.5 million.
Columbia’s Superfly remake opened at No. 6 with $6.8 million after debuting June 13 for a cumulative $9 million.
A modern update to the 1972 blaxploitation film, Superfly cost an estimated $16 million to make but failed to meet analysts’ predictions of $10 million to $12 million. The film earned a B-plus rating on CinemaScore and a 54 percent rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
A24’s Hereditary, the horror film starring Toni Collette that has sharply divided critics and moviegoers, was bumped from the top five to No. 7 in its second weekend. The low-budget film, written and directed by Ari Aster, added about $7 million in ticket sales (a 48 percent drop, respectable for the horror genre) to reach a cumulative $27 million.
Vertical Entertainment premiered Gotti to disappointing results. The film, directed by Kevin Connolly and starring John Travolta as the mobster, gets a 0 percent rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes and earned just $1.7 million across 503 locations.
In limited release, Focus Features’ breakout Mr. Rogers documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? earned $985,000 in 96 locations — now in its third weekend — for a total gross of $1.7 million.
This week, Universal premieres the action movie Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The film has already posted a $111 million opening in China as well as $173.6 million in 51 territories for an international total of $370 million to date.