This weekend, when the animated DC League of Super-Pets premiered in theaters across North America, the summer box office began to wind down.
According to studio estimates released on Sunday, the superhero spinoff about Superman's dog brought in $23 million from 4,314 locations. Even if it was a little less than anticipated, it was still enough to win the competition!
DC League of Super-Pets' $25 million opening was lower than average for animated films this summer, according to analysts' projections. For the $200 million Disney/Pixar film, Lightyear's $50.6 million in June was viewed as dismal. Then, in the first three days of July, Universal's Minions: The Rise of Gru made $107 million.
Super-Pets, though, is a lot stronger than Paramount's Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank's $6.3 million opening many weeks ago and comparable to Universal's The Bad Guys, which made almost $97 million domestically after a $23 million opening.
The publication of DC League of Super-Pets in the middle of the summer was not planned. Super-Pets was originally scheduled for May, while Warner Bros.' other Dwayne Johnson superhero film, Black Adam, was scheduled to open this weekend. Black Adam had to be delayed until October due to postproduction issues brought on by a backlog at VFX studios. A family-friendly title with an all-star voice cast, including Kevin Hart, John Krasinski, Keanu Reeves, and Kate McKinnon as an evil guinea pig, took the prime date's place instead of giving it up.
Super-Pets still has a few weeks of summer vacation left with little real competition, and it is hoped that favorable audience response this weekend will help it develop steadily going forward. Additionally, it has already generated $41.4 million in worldwide revenue, $18.4 million of which came from foreign screenings.
"The interest is red hot," Goldstein said. "Young family movies play for a long time. Given our CinemaScore of A- and word of mouth, we're going to be around for a while."
With $10.9 million, Minions: The Rise of Gru remained in fourth place on its fifth weekend. It has now brought in $710.4 million globally.
As August approaches, the domestic box office is slowing down, which is not unusual. And blockbuster movies are still scheduled to open in theaters this next weekend.
The DC Comics superhero team Legion of Super-Pets serves as the inspiration for Warner Animation Group's planned American 3D computer-animated superhero comedy film DC League of Super-Pets.
Krypto, the dog of Superman, leads a group of superpowered shelter animals to rescue the Justice League when Lex Luthor (Marc Maron) kidnaps them. The gang consists of a hound named Ace (Kevin Hart), who obtains superhuman strength and invincibility; a pig named PB (Vanessa Bayer); a turtle named Merton (Natasha Lyonne); who can grow to huge size; and a squirrel named Chip (Diego Luna), who develops electric superpowers.