{"id":48791,"date":"2016-07-03T10:26:13","date_gmt":"2016-07-03T17:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=48791"},"modified":"2016-07-03T14:20:46","modified_gmt":"2016-07-03T21:20:46","slug":"box-office-tarzan-leads-a-pack-of-also-rans-behind-dory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2016\/07\/box-office-tarzan-leads-a-pack-of-also-rans-behind-dory.html","title":{"rendered":"Box office: Tarzan<\/i> leads a pack of also-rans behind Dory<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"legendoftarzan-a\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A Pixar cartoon just kept swimming at the top of the box office this week<\/a>, while three new releases had openings that ranged from decent to disappointing.<\/p>\n

The Legend of Tarzan<\/b><\/i> earned an estimated $38.1 million between Thursday and Sunday, which is either good or not-so-good depending on how you spin it.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, it\u2019s a record for a Tarzan movie<\/a> (beating the $34.2 million that Disney\u2019s animated Tarzan<\/i> opened to in 1999), but it\u2019s also not as good as the studio might have hoped for a film that reportedly cost $180 million to produce.<\/p>\n

The Legend of Tarzan<\/i> has earned another $18.8 million overseas.<\/p>\n

The Purge: Election Day<\/b><\/i>, for its part, earned $30.9 million, which is right between the first-weekend grosses of the first two films in the series<\/a> \u2014 and like those films, it cost only $10 million or less to produce, so it\u2019s already in the black.<\/p>\n

The BFG<\/b><\/i> \u2014 the first film Steven Spielberg has ever directed for Disney \u2014 fared worst of all, earning only $19.6 million on a $140 million budget.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s actually one of Spielberg\u2019s better openings<\/a> of the past decade \u2014 but most of his recent films cost a lot less to produce. The only other recent films of his that were similarly expensive are 2008\u2019s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull<\/a><\/i>, which is one of his biggest hits, and 2011\u2019s The Adventures of Tintin<\/a><\/i>, which was a box-office disappointment in North America but did fairly well overseas.<\/p>\n

Presumably Disney is hoping that The BFG<\/i>, which is based on a popular kids\u2019 book by British author Roald Dahl, will find a similarly large audience overseas.<\/p>\n

Once again, the big winner this week was the Pixar sequel Finding Dory<\/b><\/i>, which set another record by earning $41.9 million \u2014 the most that any animated film has earned in its third weekend<\/a> (beating the $37.9 million that Shrek 2<\/i> earned in 2004).<\/p>\n

Finding Dory<\/i> has grossed $372.3 million so far in North America and has earned another $166 million overseas, for a global total of $538.3 million.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in other box-office news\u2026<\/p>\n

Independence Day: Resurgence<\/b><\/i> earned $16.5 million \u2014 a drop of 59.8% since its underwhelming opening last week \u2014 and raised its domestic cume to $72.7 million. The film has earned another $177.1 million overseas for a global total of $249.7 million.<\/p>\n

Central Intelligence<\/b><\/i> earned $12.3 million and ranked sixth in its third week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $91.8 million. The film has earned another $30.3 million overseas for a global total of $122.1 million.<\/p>\n

The Shallows<\/b><\/i> earned $9 million and ranked seventh in its second week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $35.3 million. The film does not appear to have been released overseas yet.<\/p>\n

Free State of Jones<\/b><\/i> earned $4.1 million and ranked eighth in its second week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $15.2 million. The film does not appear to have been released overseas yet.<\/p>\n

The Conjuring 2<\/i><\/b> earned $3.9 million and ranked ninth in its fourth week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $95.3 million. The film has earned another $178.8 million overseas for a global total of $274.1 million.<\/p>\n

And Now You See Me 2<\/b><\/i> earned $2.9 million and ranked tenth in its fourth week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $58.7 million. The film has earned another $155.6 million overseas for a global total of $214.3 million.<\/p>\n

Now for a bit of extra data on the year\u2019s top-grossing animated films<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In North America, Finding Dory<\/i> now ranks sixth (and Zootopia<\/i> now ranks ninth):<\/p>\n