Universal scores a weekend trifecta
Although the box office has yet to fully recover from the pandemic, at least one studio has good reason to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend. Universal Pictures currently has the top three films at the domestic box office with “F9,” “The Boss Baby: Family Business” and “The Forever Purge,” according to studio estimates Sunday. It’s the first time that’s happened for Universal since 1989, when the studio had “Sea of Love,” “Parenthood” and “Uncle Buck” topping the charts, and the first time for any studio since 2005.
As expected, the “Fast & Furious” sequel “F9” maintained the top spot in its second weekend in North American theaters. The film added an estimated $24 million over the weekend and is projected to take in $32.7 million by the end of today, bringing its domestic total to $125.8 million. Worldwide, “F9” will likely surpass the $500 million mark today.
In second place, the animated “Boss Baby” sequel surpassed expectations, opening with $17.3 million for the weekend and $23.1 million including today. “The Boss Baby: Family Business” features Alex Baldwin voicing the worldly toddler. And in third place, the latest Blumhouse venture, “The Forever Purge,” is expected to gross $12.8 million in ticket sales through Sunday and $15.9 million over the fourday weekend.
Although the three films may share a studio name, they’re also all different genres with different audience bases: A PG-13 action pic, an R-rated horror and a PG-rated family film. Almost half of the audience for “The Boss Baby 2,” for example, was 12 and under, while 64% of the audience for “The Forever Purge” was in the coveted 18 to 34 range and also very ethnically diverse.
While it’s a bit unconventional for a major studio to open two big films on the same weekend, Universal’s head of domestic distribution Jim Orr said they simply saw an opportunity and have historically had great successes on the Fourth of July weekend.
“This weekend is just a great glimpse of what we do constantly. which is provide theatrical audiences with a diverse slate of quality films,” Orr said. “The results speak for themselves.”