As the headline implies, it was a weekend of “Almost there!” for a few big summer releases. In non- Wonder Woman (which is near $750 million worldwide, by the way) holdover news, Universal/Comcast Corp.’s Despicable Me 3 earned another $33.999 million (-53%) in its second weekend, ending day ten with… ha!… almost $150m domestic ($149.189m). That’s a drop right between Minions (-57%) and The Secret Life of Pets (-51%), albeit with much larger numbers. Still, if this keeps up in terms of legs, Despicable Me 3 should end its run with between and $232m and $271m domestic.
That’s still over/under 3x its $80m production budget. Oh, and the Illumination animated sequel has already earned $447.6m worldwide, including a record-setting $66m opening weekend in China. Oh, and Illumination has now earned over $5 billion at the worldwide box office since 2010, specifically with Despicable Me ($546m), Hop ($188.7m), Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax ($350.8m), Despicable Me 2 ($975.8m), Minions ($1.167b), The Secret Life of Pets ($876.5m) and Sing ($633.2m).
Sony’s Baby Driver held up well in weekend two, earning $12.75 million (-38%) for a $56.883m 12-day total. The acclaimed/buzzy action comedy is already Edgar Wright’s biggest domestic grosser and it will soon pass Hot Fuzz ($80m) to be his biggest global grosser as well. The film should hang in there at least until Atomic Blonde steals its R-rated action thunder in two weeks. But otherwise, it looks like the Ansel Elgort/Lily James/Kevin Spacey/Jon Hamm/Jamie Foxx vehicle should end its run with $85-$90m domestic unless it really hangs in there.
I did a whole separate Wonder Woman post, but in case you missed it, the film earned $10.135 million (-35%) for a $368.786m 38-day total and a $745m worldwide cume. So yeah, it didn’t blink despite facing off against Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Paramount/Viacom Inc.’s Transformers: The Last Knight earned another $6.3 million (-63%) in its third domestic weekend, bringing the $217m-budgeted Michael Bay sequel’s domestic total to $118.91m in 19 days. That’s not good at all, and it may fall under the domestic grosses of Bad Boys II ($138m in 2003) and The Rock ($134m in 1996), to say nothing of Pearl Harbor ($198m in 2001) or Armageddon ($200m in 1998). Still, the film has earned $375.7m overseas, including $218.3m in China thus far for a $494.61m worldwide cume.
It’s going to best the $553 million worldwide gross of Armageddon (19 years ago and in 2D) so that all five of Bay’s biggest global grossers remain Transformers films. It might not get much farther than that. It opens in Brazil and Mexico on July 20 and July 21, while it debuts in Japan and Spain on August 4. $600m worldwide is no longer a guarantee. This is something of a shocker and may be a wake-up call for studios counting on overseas bucks to revive past-their-prime franchises. But, for what it’s worth, Baywatch crossed $101m overseas for a $159.2m worldwide cume, meaning if it had cost $45m instead of $69m it would arguably be a hit.
Walt Disney and Pixar’s Cars 3 earned another $5.636 million (-42%) in weekend four for a $133.733m 24-day domestic total. At a glance, it’s looking like an over/under $150m domestic total for the $200m+ animated sequel, which would make it Pixar’s second-lowest domestic grosser behind The Good Dinosaur . In slightly better news, it is slowly expanding and has earned $193.7m worldwide and it’ll expand into five new territories next weekend.
Warner Bros.’ The House earned $4.815 million (-45%) in its second weekend, bringing the $40m comedy’s ten-day total to just $18.63m. So yeah, it’ll end up at $25-$30m domestic, which will be Will Ferrell’s lowest-grossing mainstream studio starring vehicle ever. It has earned $5m overseas, for what that’s worth. I’m not going to proclaim that the film is an unfairly dismissed masterpiece, but it is somewhat entertaining and deserved better than this.
In better news, Amazon and Lionsgate’s The Big Sick added 255 theaters and earned $3.65 million (+121%). The terrific romantic comedy/family melodrama earned a solid $11,196 per-location average for a $6.92m 17-day total. This one goes wide next weekend. War for the Planet of the Apes is good, but as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler once said, #YouCanSeeThemBoth. This could be one of the bigger Sundance sensations in the summer since Little Miss Sunshine back in 2006.
In more summer sleeper news, 47 Meters Down earned $2.768 million (-39%) in its fourth weekend for a terrific $38.462m domestic total. This is a huge win for all involved. The Beguiled expanded to 941 theaters and earned another $2.086m (-34%) in its third weekend. That gives Sofia Coppola’s southern gothic drama $7.435m 10-day total. So, yeah, it’s going to be (at least) her third-biggest domestic grosser behind Lost in Translation ($44.5m in 2003) and Marie Antoinette ($15.9m in 2006).
Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales earned another $1.2 million (-52%) in its seventh weekend for a $168.8m domestic cume. It also earned another $9.9m overseas for a new $734m worldwide total. Universal’s The Mummy earned another $1.16m (-61%) in its fifth weekend for a new $77.9m domestic cume. Still, the $125m Tom Cruise actioner has earned $306.6m overseas for a $383.6m worldwide total, officially passing the $376m worldwide cume of Edge of Tomorrow . Finally, The Little Hours expanded to 37 screens and earned $193,750 over the weekend for a new $282k ten-day cume. It’ll expand to 100 screens next weekend, presumably at a theater near me.
Speaking of next weekend, it’ll offer the debut of War for the Planet of the Apes and Broad Green’s horror fantasy Wish Upon along with the wide release-expansion of The Big Sick .
If you like what you're reading, follow @ScottMendelson on Twitter, and "like" The Ticket Booth on Facebook. Also, check out my archives for older work HERE.
