Box-Office Weekend: Secret Life of Pets Sequel Leads Disappointing Box Office

While the top two film’s over the box-office weekend were new releases, they both proved to be disappointments, of sorts. Although the animated family film The Secret Life of Pets 2 finished on top of the box-office weekend with $47.1 million, it failed to make anywhere near what its predecessor had made during its opening weekend just a few years earlier. Elsewhere, the latest offering in the X-Men series, Dark Phoenix, opened with $33 million, which gives it the lowest opening of any film in the franchise to date (as well as it being the worst reviewed film of the series).

The live-action reinterpretation of Aladdin made $24.5 million in its third week of release to give it a total haul (so far, at least) of $232.4 million, which was good enough to land it squarely in third place. Dropping to a disappointing fourth place was Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which managed only $15.5 million in its second week, giving the film a two-week total of $78.6 million. Fifth place belonged to the Elton John biopic Rocketman, which also dropped considerably, bringing in $14 million to give it a two-week total of $50.5 million.

The horror film Ma, starring Octavia Spencer, which finished in sixth place, also earned far less than it did during its opening last week, as it managed only $7.8 this weekend, to give it a cumulative total of $32.8 million. The latest installment in the John Wick franchise, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, finished in seventh place in its fourth week of release with $7.4 million to bring its total earnings to $138.7 million.

Meanwhile, Avengers: Endgame inched ever closer to the $1 billion mark, finishing in eighth place with $4.8 million to give it a seven-week tally of $824.4 million. With a weekend take of $3 million, Pokémon Detective Pikachu finished firmly in ninth place, giving the film a five-week total of $137.4 million. Finally, the comedy Booksmart, from director Olivia Wilde, added another $1.6 million to give it a three-week tally of $17.8 million.

A few films departed the top ten this week. These were: A Dog’s Journey, which left the top ten earning just over $21 million after four weeks in release; Brightburn, which made an even less impressive $16.4 million over three weeks in release; and, The Hustle, which brought in $34.5 million in five weeks of release.

Next week will, yet again, more than likely see another shake up of the weekend box office as films like Sony’s Men in Black International, the new Shaft from Warner Bros., and Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die all make their debuts.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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