Game Of Box Offices: “The Secret Life Of Pets 2” chases off “Godzilla: King Of The Monsters”

The good news over the weekend was “The Secret Life Of Pets 2” taking the crown as expected. The bad news was it opened about $22 million less than its projection, opening at $46.6 million. Seeing as the original animated film opened to $104 million, this was a huge disappointment. Disappointing more was the final installment in Fox’s X-Men saga titled “Dark Phoenix.” It’s projection was aiming for a $50 million, yet it opened about $18 million shy of that number, landing at $32.8 million and the #2 spot. Neither of those were enough to grab the POPCORN AWARD, which went to the debut of the comedy written by Mindy Kaling titled “Late Night,” which opened at #17 with just under $250,000 and a per theater average of $61,576 in 4 theaters. Bollywood film “Bharat” surprised in its debut, landing at #12 with $1.2 million while “The Last Black Man In San Francisco” opened at #18 and the documentary “Pavarotti” opened at #25. Earning the GOLDEN PERCENTAGE AWARD was “The Tomorrow Man,” starring John Lithgow, in its third weekend, jumping up 15 spots and increasing by +495.5%, also earning it the only ROCKET of the week.

Two other films increased enough to land on the List this weekend, including Kenneth Branagh’s “All Is True” and the documentary “Echo In The Canyon,” landing at #19 and #20 respectively. A24’s “The Souvenir” also increased, working its way up the List to #22. For the second straight weekend, the documentary “The Biggest Little Farm” stayed at the #15 position. “A Dog’s Journey” also stayed put at #11, in its fourth weekend. The rest of the List saw a decrease, however “Aladdin” was able to overcome “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” which was king last weekend. With all the debuts and films moving up the List this weekend, nine films fell completely off the List this week. Disneynature’s “Penguins,” “The White Crow,” and “The Curse of La Llorona” were the three films that were predicted to fall off and did. But they were joined by Disney’s “Dumbo,” which fell 13 spots and would have earned it a BOMB had it not fallen off the List, “Long Shot,” which fell 11 spots, also technically earning it a BOMB, and “Uglydolls,” which also fell 11 spots and earned it a technical off-the-List BOMB. “Poms” fell from #19 to #30, also earning it an off-the-List BOMB in its fifth weekend. “Breakthrough” was one of the only films to fall off that just missed the BOMB mark of a ten or more spot decrease. Also absent this weekend was Fathom Event’s one weekend only re-release of “Saving Private Ryan.”

The only hope for taking the crown next weekend is the sequel “Men In Black International” which hopes to earn $39 million in its opening weekend and even that’s over $10 million lower than the previous three installments. Also opening is the third attempt at “Shaft,” this interation also starring Samuel L. Jackson, who starred in the last version, and Richard Roundtree, who was the star of the original. This latest “Shaft” is looking for a $23 million opening. That’s right around where the last version hit at the Box Office in 2000. Other films that could make a splash this weekend are Jim Jarmusch’s “The Dead Don’t Die” and the Sienna Miller led “American Woman,” although no projections were available. Making way for these releases will likely be the final drop of “Captain Marvel,” which hits home video over the week. “Pavarotti” does not have a ton of word-of-mouth behind it at the moment, so it is possible that could drop off from the last position. And “Shazam!” fell seven spots this weekend, signalling it could be the end of the line for that film as well. The two surprises of “Echo In The Canyon” and “All Is True” could also fall prey to being a one hit wonder on the List.

BOX OFFICE KING: “The Secret Life Of Pets 2”
BOX OFFICE QUEEN: “Dark Phoenix”
POPCORN AWARD*: “Late Night”
GOLDEN PERCENTAGE AWARD**: “The Tomorrow Man”

#	Title	Weekend	Total	Budget	Week	LW	CH
1	The Secret Life Of Pets 2 (Uni)	$46,652,680	($47,577,680)	$80m	1st	N
2	Dark Phoenix (Fox)	$32,828,348	($32,828,348)	$200m*	1st	N
3	Aladdin (2019) (BV)	$24,680,968	($232,566,894)	$183m	3rd	#2
4	Godzilla: King of the Monsters (WB)	$15,450,407	($78,507,504)	$170m	2nd	#1
5	Rocketman (Par)	$13,816,016	($50,314,772)	$40m	2nd	#3
6	Ma (2019) (Uni)	$7,827,690	($32,775,765)	$5m	2nd	#4
7	John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (LG/S)	$7,416,698	($138,679,696)	$55m*	4th	#5
8	Avengers: Endgame (BV)	$4,870,963	($824,436,903)	$356m*	7th	#6
9	Pokemon Detective Pikachu (WB)	$3,188,152	($137,609,871)	$150m	5th	#7
10	Booksmart (UAR)	$1,595,903	($17,833,316)	$6m*	3rd	#8
11	A Dog’s Journey (Uni)	$1,326,445	($21,007,265)	$22m*	4th	#11
12	Bharat (VPD)	$1,252,301	($1,834,952)	$14.3m*	1st	N
13	Brightburn (SGem)	$571,438	($16,397,834)	$6m	3rd	#9
14	The Hustle (UAR)	$485,210	($34,498,565)	$21m*	5th	#10
15	The Biggest Little Farm (Neon)	$382,970	($2,487,374)	**	5th	#15
16	The Intruder (2019) (SGem)	$315,446	($34,951,626)	$8m	6th	#12
17	Late Night (Amazon)	$246,305	($246,305)	$4m*	1st	N
18	The Last Black Man in San Francisco (A24)	$235,272	($235,272)	**	1st	N
19	All Is True (SPC)	$226,606	($741,653)	**	5th	#27
20	Echo in the Canyon (Grwh)	$202,335	($498,079)	**	3rd	#26
21	Shazam! (WB)	$174,657	($139,539,187)	$100m	10th	#14
22	The Souvenir (A24)	$164,685	($691,375)	**	4th	#23
23	Captain Marvel (BV)	$164,473	($426,438,528)	$152m*	14th	#20
24	The Tomorrow Man (BST)	$145,790	($217,035)	**	3rd	#39
25	Pavarotti (CBS)	$144,032	($144,032)	**	1st	N

<<<ALL DOMESTIC NUMBERS FROM BOX OFFICE MOJO>>>>

OFF THE CHARTS THIS WEEK

(OFFICIALLY CLOSED)

*POPCORN AWARD goes to the highest per theater average within the Top 25 List
**GOLDEN PERCENTAGE AWARD goes to the highest increase within the Top 25 List