Dory swims victory lap for the win

A cantankerous octopus (Ed O’Neill) is the first to greet Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) when she finds herself in the Marine Life Institute in Disney Pixar’s Finding Dory. It came in first at last weekend’s box office and made about $135 million.
A cantankerous octopus (Ed O’Neill) is the first to greet Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) when she finds herself in the Marine Life Institute in Disney Pixar’s Finding Dory. It came in first at last weekend’s box office and made about $135 million.

LOS ANGELES -- The prescription for an ailing U.S. box office came last weekend in the form of the forgetful blue fish of Pixar's Finding Dory. Pulling in about $135 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, the picture became the highest-debuting animated film of all time, boosting a sluggish summer moviegoing season.

Such a powerful opening is welcome news for cinemas suffering from a lackluster summer so far, with movies such as Universal's Warcraft and Neighbors 2 faltering with fans and critics domestically. Prior to last weekend, summer ticket sales were down 22 percent industrywide compared with the same time a year ago.

Finding Dory performed well on Imax screens throughout the country. At just 211 locations, it pulled $5 million, or a strong per screen average of about $24,000.

Released 13 years ago, Nemo was a massive hit. The computer-animated movie opened to $70 million and ended its original domestic run with $339 million. Including international box office and a 2012 re-release, the film's worldwide box-office total stands at $937 million.

The film's performance dispels some industry fears that audiences are tired of sequels, a condition that has jokingly been diagnosed as sequel-itis. This concern was stoked by a rash of movies that monumentally failed to live up to the originals, including Disney's Alice Through the Looking Glass, Fox's X-Men: Apocalypse and Paramount's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

Dory pulled in an estimated $50 million from the international marketplace. The film marks Pixar's biggest opening ever in China ($17.5 million), behind Zootopia, and the biggest Disney-Pixar opening weekend ever in Australia ($7.6 million). It will continue its international rollout in France and Spain this weekend before expanding across the globe throughout the summer and fall.

The picture has grossed a global total of $186.2 million in its first weekend.

Warner Bros.' Central Intelligence also had a stellar debut, pulling in about $35.5 million in sales, well surpassing analysts' expectations of $30 million. Such a performance further solidifies the box-office power of its stars, comedian Kevin Hart and former wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

"Without a question, it was a real home run for us," said Jeff Goldstein, the studio's distribution chief. "We're thrilled with both Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart."

Central Intelligence, with a $50 million price tag co-financed by Warner Bros. and Universal, pulled in audiences nearly evenly split between men and women but overwhelming young, with 59 percent younger than 35. Goldstein noted that such a turnout was because of the leading men's chemistry and connection with their fan bases via social media.

Pulling up the rear of the weekend box office's top five was The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Case (about $15 million), Now You See Me 2 ($9.4 million) and Warcraft ($7.2 million).

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore:

  1. Finding Dory, Disney, $135,060,273, 4,305 locations, $31,373 average, $135,060,273, 1 week.

  2. Central Intelligence, Warner Bros., $35,535,250, 3,508 locations, $10,130 average, $35,535,250, 1 week.

  3. The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Case, Warner Bros., $14,880,050, 3,356 locations, $4,434 average, $71,055,136, 2 weeks.

  4. Now You See Me 2, Lionsgate, $9,373,379, 3,232 locations, $2,900 average, $41,085,908, 2 weeks.

  5. Warcraft, Universal, $7,241,430, 3,406 locations, $2,126 average, $38,432,955, 2 weeks.

  6. X-Men: Apocalypse, 20th Century Fox, $5,309,290, 2,632 locations, $2,017 average, $146,157,126, 4 weeks.

  7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Paramount, $5,251,531, 3,086 locations, $1,702 average, $71,981,105, 3 weeks.

  8. Alice Through the Looking Glass, Disney, $4,290,760, 1,880 locations, $2,282 average, $69,993,684, 4 weeks.

  9. Me Before You, Warner Bros., $3,911,175, 2,645 locations, $1,479 average, $46,112,029, 3 weeks.

  10. Captain America: Civil War, Disney, $2,331,622, 1,434 locations, $1,626 average, $401,312,591, 7 weeks.

  11. The Angry Birds Movie, Columbia, $1,693,096, 2,021 locations, $838 average, $103,183,943, 5 weeks.

  12. The Jungle Book, Disney, $1,488,657, 953 locations, $1,562 average, $355,909,308, 10 weeks.

  13. Zootopia, Disney, $947,753, 305 locations, $3,107 average, $339,507,242, 16 weeks.

  14. The Nice Guys, Warner Bros., $822,340, 522 locations, $1,575 average, $34,186,436, 5 weeks.

  15. Love & Friendship, Roadside Attractions, $734,679, 497 locations, $1,478 average, $10,930,503, 6 weeks.

  16. The Lobster, A24, $602,175, 319 locations, $1,888 average, $6,644,691, 6 weeks.

  17. Gentleman, AIM Distribution, $465,302, 125 locations, $3,722 average, $465,302, 1 week.

  18. Maggie's Plan, Sony Pictures Classics, $430,521, 335 locations, $1,285 average, $1,766,740, 5 weeks.

  19. Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Universal, $352,005, 464 locations, $759 average, $54,542,870, 5 weeks.

  20. Genius, Roadside Attractions, $297,146, 134 locations, $2,218 average, $433,696, 2 weeks.

MovieStyle on 06/24/2016

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