Overseas, “The Secret Life of Pets” earned a net of $50.8 million summing a worldwide total of $254 million.
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Watch a film clip from “Ghostbusters”, starring Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Kate McKinnon. Sony, noting it was the best opening for a live-action comedy in more than a year, called the result “a triumph”.
“The Ghostbusters world is alive and well”, Bruer told The Wrap. “We’ve restarted a successful brand for us”, he said. That decline may be on the steeper end for an animated movie, but Illumination Entertainment films usually see large opening weekends followed by less-than-stellar second weekend holds. It was rumoured a year ago that Sony were developing a parallel film with a crew of ghostbusting men, but Ivan Reitman, who directed the 1984 original and now oversees the franchise, denies it is being made.
The Ghostbusters crew may have rooted out New York’s supernatural but failed to overpower the city’s furry critters, who topped the box office once again. Unfortunately, the true-story drug drama was seemingly not able to infiltrate too many people’s wallets, as it could only muster up $5.287 million.
As for notable limited releases, “Cafe Society”, a partnership between Lionsgate and Amazon Studios, grossed $355,000 on five screens in NY and Los Angeles. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to comScore.
Sony’s “Ghostbusters” was second with 46 million dollars from 3,963 locations this weekend.
The Legend of Tarzan dropped a place to number three over the weekend after taking $11.1m (£8.4m). Finding Dory swam downstream to fourth with $11 million. From 1,600 locations, it debuted to $5.2 million, which was only enough to land in the #8 spot. “Independence Day: Resurgence”, $3.5 million ($16.2 million international).
After five weeks, Disney/Pixar’s ‘Finding Dory’ has seized the record as the (domestic) highest-grossing animated release of all time.
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Given the 144 million budget of Ghostbusters, these figures mean there’s still a long way to go to recoup the cost, and even further to stand any chance of a sequel. However, the Jaume Collet-Sera directed thriller only has a production budget of $17 million, which means that it’s current domestic total of $51.3 million is already a huge success. Sliding 55% week-over-week, it scored $7.5 million. “Big Fish and Chinese Flowering Crabapple”, $14.3 million. 9.
