Battle at the Box Office 6/10
Another weekend, another week of underperformance as Dark Phoenix cratered the X-Men franchise and Secret Life of Pets 2, while it won the box office, was still nowhere near its predecessor.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 took in $47.1 million, which is over $57 million less than the first movie made back in 2016. It’s also the third lowest opening in Illumination Animation history, only beating Hop and Sing. Worldwide, the move made another $49 million, for a global total of $94 million which, again, is less than just the domestic opening of the first movie.
The big news of the weekend, however, was the utter failure of Dark Phoenix. The lame duck of a movie made only $33 million, the lowest opening ever for the X-Men franchise, $20 million below the previous worst opening, The Wolverine. It’s also below the lowest performing MCU opening, The Incredible Hulk, which had just over $55 million for its opening. The film is estimated to have cost possibly over $200 million due to massive, lengthy reshoots and will probably lose Disney/Fox over $100 million. Worldwide, the movie took in $103 million, for a total so far of $136 million.
Aladdin dropped to third place but it’s been performing above expectations and continues to be strong week to week, which may have possibly contributed to Secret Life of Pets 2’s underperformance. The movie took in another $24.5 million, bringing it to over $232.4 million domestic and over $607 million worldwide.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters continues to disappoint, dropping almost 70% from last week and making another $15.5 million. It has $78.6 million so far for its domestic total and just over $294 million for its worldwide total. Compared to its predecessor, Godzilla 2014 had a $45 million second weekend, coming off its $117.3 million opening.
Rocketman rounded out the top 5 with another $14 million. It has made just over $50 million domestic for its two weeks out and just over $101 million worldwide.
The Per Theater average went to the comedy Late Night, which opened in 4 theaters and took in $62,414 at each one.