The new Ghostbusters took care of ectoplasmic enemies, but couldn’t hold off a kid-friendly bunch of dogs, cats and rabbits.
The animated hit The Secret Life of Pets clamped tight for a second consecutive No. 1 finish at the box office with $50.6 million for the weekend, running its 10-day total to $203.2 million. It was enough to outdo director Paul Feig’s high-profile Ghostbusters reboot, which made its debut with $46 million, according to studio estimates from comScore.
Everything continues to come together for the critter-laden cartoon, says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. "Anyone who has a dog or a cat or a pet can relate to it, and it’s just a really fun movie."
Ghostbusters, though, has been weathering Internet backlash for updating the 1984 classic, and some bloggers and fanboys took offense to the reboot becoming a female-centric affair starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon. While reviews were mixed, they skewed positive — Ghostbusters has a 73% "fresh" rating on aggregate site RottenTomatoes.com — and audiences gave it a B-plus at CinemaScore.
Overall, Dergarabedian counts it as a "solid" opening for one of the year's more controversial films. "At least people are talking about the movies, and sometimes that’s a victory in itself."
The ghost-filled comedy took the lead Friday but Pets came on strong Saturday — usually a "huge" day for family outings in theaters, adds Dergarabedian.
The Legend of Tarzan continued its swing through cinemas, coming in third with $11.1 million and scooting past the $100 million mark domestically.
Finding Dory was fourth with $11 million. More impressive for the Pixar fish tale: The sequel's $445.5 million haul makes it the highest-grossing animated film ever, surpassing Shrek 2’s $436.7 million.
The bawdy comedy Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates rounded out the top five with $7.5 million.
In limited release, director Woody Allen's new comedy Café Society had an impressive outing, scoring $355,000 in five theaters. Dergarabedian says it's a big number for the 1930s period film with Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart and Blake Lively. "They were filling theaters," he says. "The Woodman’s still a draw."
Final figures are expected Monday.
