Pets can be pretty expensive. You gotta buy ’em food. Take ’em to the vet. Replace the furniture they’ve scratched or gnawed on. And if you’ve got a dog like mine, maybe fork over some cash for the local mailman’s counseling sessions. It’s not often that pets make money. But few of us have pets like Universal Pictures.
The Secret Life of Pets made a lot of noise at the box office this weekend, yapping and mewing its way to a $103.2 million estimated weekend debut. It took first place, of course: In fact, it dug up five times what it nearest competitor made—a haul so huge that some might accuse it of (ahem) petty larceny.
But Secret Life wasn’t the only animated flick to make a few waves. Sure, Finding Dory may have slipped from its regular first-place perch to third (behind Secret Life and The Legend of Tarzan, which finished second with $20.6 million). But the $20.4 million the forgetful fish forgathered with its flippers brought the Pixar flick’s total earnings to just under $422.6 million. That’s enough to push Dory past Captain America: Civil War as the highest-grossing movie of 2016. And as we know, Dory’s not done yet: She just keeps swimming.
The R-rated comedy Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates just couldn’t compete with the weekend’s PG-rated family-friendly onslaught. It earned just $16.6 million for a fourth-place finish. Sure, Mike and Dave did manage to surpass 20th Century Fox’s modest opening weekend expectations. But given the movie had an estimated $33 million budget, not to mention marketing costs, the movie’s sequel might very well be Mike and Dave Need a Loan.
The Purge: Election Year wrapped up the Top Five with $11.7 million.
Final figures update: 1. The Secret Life of Pets, $104.4 million; 2. The Legend of Tarzan, $21 million; 3. Finding Dory, $20.8 million; 4. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, $16.6 million; 5. The Purge: Election Year, $12.4 million.
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