Finding Dory swallows the competition
It’s Dory’s ocean. The rest of the movies are just swimming in it.
The Pixar sequel Finding Dory led the box office for the third straight weekend, dwarfing The Legend of Tarzan and Steven Spielberg’s Roald Dahl adaption The BFG, both big-budget debuts that had hoped to dominate the July 4 holiday.
But modest enthusiasm for the high-profile new releases left the weekend to Dory again, which came in No. 1 with $41.9 million (U.S.), according to studio estimates Sunday. Disney expects the film to make about $50 million over the four-day holiday weekend. Final figures are to be released Tuesday.
Tarzan came the closest to dethroning Dory with $38.1 million. While that total was better than expected, it’s far from chest-thumping for a movie that cost Warner Bros. $180 million to make. Critics largely panned the David Yates- directed film, staring Alexander Skarsgard as the King of the Jungle and Margot Robbie as Jane. But audiences gave it a respectable A-minus CinemaScore.
The horror sequel The Purge: Election Year opened solidly, in line with previous Purge instalments.
The continued success of Dory, however, bit into the similarly family-friendly The BFG, which debuted weakly. The Spielberg film, starring Mark Rylance as the titular giant, cost about $140 million to make. Reviews were largely good but not glowing. Despite a red-carpet premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Spielberg’s first film for Disney didn’t click with audiences.
Here are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to comScore. 1. Finding Dory, $41.9 million 2. The Legend of Tarzan, $38.1 million
3. The Purge: Election Year, $30.9 million 4. The BFG, $19.6 million 5. Independence Day: Resurgence, $16.5 million