This undated file image released by Disney shows the character Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, in a scene from “Finding Dory“.
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The Disney-Pixar film raked in an estimated $50.2 million over the four-day Fourth of July weekend, pushing its domestic earnings to nearly $381 million and making it the fifth-highest-grossing North American animated release of all time, tying the total run of “Dory” predecessor “Finding Nemo”.
“The Purge: Election Year”, the third installment in the horror-film franchise, collected $34.8 million in third place and became one of the few sequels this summer to outperform its predecessor.
Analyst Paul Dergarabedian at comScore called that “a very strong weekend”.
Alexander Skarsgard appears in “The Legend of Tarzan”.
The estimates, which covered Friday-Sunday, were posted in the middle of the US Independence Day weekend, with figures that incorporate the Monday holiday set to follow.
“The Purge” cost about $10 million to make and was released by Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures.
That would bring the film’s domestic gross to a total of $380.5 million and make it the sixth highest grossing animated feature in history.
In the case of The BFG, the movie was supposed to be a return for Steven Spielberg to a more family friendly film. After Monday’s figures are counted (it’s a U.S. holiday), the film could rake in $50.5 million for the four-day weekend. The Disney animation remains unmoved at the peak with an estimated $41.9 million (42.6% decrease), bringing its total domestic income to $372.2 million so far.
Ice Age: Collision Course, the fifth installment in the Ice Age series, brought in $1.6 million over the weekend to bring its cume to nearly $4 million in its first week. The BFG is the only new release to have a positive Rotten Tomatoes rating, with a solid 71% Fresh, with The Legend of Tarzan scoring just 35% and The Purge: Election Year getting 54%.
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Tarzan came the closest to dethroning Dory with $38.1 million. With a production budget of $140 million and a spendy marketing campaign, this film will go down as a failure and a write-down for Disney. Including Monday the animation made $51.4 million over the 4th of July frame, pushing its domestic total to $381.8 million after 18 days. That’s slightly below the first Purge’s $34.1 million start but above the $29.8 million that The Purge: Anarchy opened with in 2014 and a strong start for the modestly-budgeted movie. Costing $140 million to make, this Steven Spielberg film could end up being a huge financial flop.
