The summer movie season continues and there was a fair amount of activity this past weekend as four titles went into wide release, led by Pixar’s Cars 3. The third installment in the animated franchise took the number one spot, overtaking Wonder Woman, which has led the box office for the past two weeks. While the opening for Cars 3 was respectable – pulling in $53.5 million in it first three days of release – notably, the picture opened less than the first two in the franchise and came in as Pixar’s third lowest grossing opening weekend take in the history of the animation titan.
The first Cars (2006) opened to $60 million on its way to a $244 million domestic gross, while Cars 2 (2011) opened to $66 million on its way to a final domestic gross of $191 million. Significantly, the Cars feature rake in most of their coin from its merchandising arm – reportedly, sales have earned $10 worldwide on this end.
More interestingly are the stories behind the second and third ranked titles. After two weeks at the top, Wonder Woman earned an estimated $40 million in its third weekend of release, easing a mere 30% from last weekend’s gross. The Warner Bros./DC Comics adaptation of the comic classic has now earned $274 million at the North American box office and is now the third highest grossing movie of the year. Significantly, the film is the second highest third week grosser in Warner Bros. history – raking in just short of the $42 million earned by The Dark Knight (2008) in its third weekend. At this point in its release, Wonder Woman is clicking ahead of other DC Universe titles Man of Steel (2013) and Suicide Squad (2016) despite opening lower than both of them initially.
Also notable is the $27 million earned for new release All Eyez on Me, Lionsgate’s biopic of rap icon Tupac Shakur. Despite earning mixed reviews, the film opened to a larger audience than originally expected. The film’s take was bolstered by a $12 million gross on its opening day – All Eyez on Me was released on what would have been Shakur’s 46th birthday. However, there have been some notable critics of the picture, including actress Jada Pinkett Smith, who commented that the film wrongly characterized her friendship with the late rapper.
The two other wide openers were the shark thriller 47 Meters Down and the Scarlett Johansson-led comedy Rough Night. Both stumbled out of the gate to the tune of $11.5 million and $8 million opening grosses, respectively.
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