USA TODAY International Edition
‘ Cars 3’ speeds to No. 1 at the box office
Wonder Woman fell to second place in its third weekend in theaters, but it’s still doing the heavy lifting for the otherwise lackluster summer box office.
While many worn- out franchises and franchise hopefuls continue to struggle to find a significant audience, smaller films such as Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyez on Me and shark thriller 47
Meters Down broke through the clutter.
The third installment in Disney and Pixar’s $ 1 billion Cars franchise easily took the top spot, but its estimated $ 53.5 million in earnings told a more complicated tale. Cars 3 had the worst opening in the animated series’ history:
Cars opened with $ 60.1 million and Cars 2 to $ 66.1 million.
It also was a disappointment compared with the top films this weekend in 2015 and 2016, comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian points out. A year ago, Finding Dory debuted with $ 135.1 million. In 2015, Jurassic
World raked in $ 106.6 million in its second weekend.
The G- rated Cars 3 earned generally positive reviews, but it will contend with Despicable Me 3, which opens in two weeks.
Wonder Woman was knocked down to second place with $ 40.8 million, bringing its domestic total to $ 274.6 million. Action/ horror holdover The Mummy, starring Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella, slid to fourth place in its second weekend with $ 13.9 million. Amid the doldrums, lowerprofile films were able to make a mark. All Eyez on Me, starring newcomer Demetrius Shipp Jr. as the slain rap star, earned $ 27.1 million to take third place. 47 Me
ters Down, exceeded low expectations, earning $ 11.5 million for fifth. A C on CinemaScore, however, could mean it’s dead in the water going forward. The raunchy R- rated comedy
Rough Night is also facing some rough waters ahead with its C- plus CinemaScore. The film about a bachelorette party weekend gone wrong, starring Scarlett Johansson and Kate McKinnon, took in $ 8.1 million against a $ 20 million production budget.