Animated ‘Bad Guys’ draws the weekend movie crowds

NEW YORK (AP) — On an unusually crowded weekend at

movie theaters that featured a pricey Viking epic and Nicolas Cage playing himself,

Dreamworks Animation’s “The Bad Guys” bested the field, signaling a continued resurgence for family moviegoing after a downturn during the pandemic.

“The Bad Guys,” released by Universal Pictures, debuted with $24 million in U.S. and Canada ticket sales, according to

studio estimates Sunday. That came despite steep competition for families from Paramount Pictures’ “Sonic The Hedgehog 2,” which stayed in second place with

$15.2 million its third week of release. It’s grossed $145.8 million domestically thus far.

The apparent health of family moviegoing is especially good

news for Hollywood as it heads into its lucrative summer season when films like Universal’s own “Minions: Rise of Gru”

and Walt Disney Co.’s “Lightyear” — the first Pixar film opening in theaters in two years — hope to approach pre-pandemic levels.

“There’s reason for being more than cautiously optimistic,”

said Jim Orr, head of distribution for Universal. “I think audiences this summer are going to be flooding

into theaters.”

While studios have been hesitant to program many films

against each other during the pandemic, the weekend saw a rarity: three new wide releases, all of them well-received, none of them sequels or remakes.

“The Bad Guys,” based on Aaron Blabey’s children’s graphic novel series about a gang of crooked animals with a Quentin Tarantino-for-kids tone, fared well with

critics (85% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (an “A” Cinemascore). With little family competition

until the release of “Lightyear” in midjune, “The Bad Guys”

should play well for weeks. Having first debuted overseas, the

animated film has already grossed $63.1

million internationally.

The weekend’s other new releases — Robert Eggers’ “The Northman” and the Cage-starring “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” — didn’t do as well but still fared reasonably solidly in their first weekend.

“Every weekend is a building block in the recovery, but I don’t

even want to call it a recovery. I think movie theaters are recovered. We’re pretty much there,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior

media analyst for Comscore. “Three

newcomers were all well-received, and all

of them found an audience.”