Dunkirk, Warner Bros.' World War II epic, led the U.S. box office for a second weekend after Columbia's The Emoji Movie was almost universally panned by critics.
Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who created the Dark Knight series, Dunkirk collected about $27 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, ComScore Inc. said Sunday. The Emoji Movie placed second with $24.5 million.
The second weekend win is a boost for Time Warner Inc.'s film division, which is basking in rave reviews and Oscar buzz for Dunkirk. The studio's sales this year are up 9 percent, buoyed by the summer superhero feature Wonder Woman. Later this year, Warner Bros. is releasing a highly anticipated sequel to Blade Runner and a new DC Comics movie.
"This is an exceptional hold for a second week," said Jeff Goldstein, head of domestic distribution at Warner Bros.
Dunkirk fell 44 percent from its debut last weekend, and raised its total to $101.3 million through Sunday, according to Warner Bros. Typically, film sales drop by 60 percent or more in the second weekend. About a quarter of the domestic ticket sales were from Imax Corp. screenings.
The Emoji Movie explores a hidden world inside smartphones. Set in the city of Textopolis, the film features the emoji Gene, who's trying to fit in with others that just have one expression. Comedian T.J. Miller provides the voice of Gene. Anna Faris and James Corden are among the other well-known voices in the movie.
The film cost $50 million to make, not including marketing costs, and was forecast to generate $22 million on its debut by researcher Box Office Mojo.
Critics hated it, with just 8 percent of reviews being positive, according to aggregator RottenTomatoes.com. None of the movie's initial 22 reviews were positive on July 27 and analysts at BoxOfficePro.com said they lowered their estimates to $26.9 million from $30 million, predicting it would come up short against Dunkirk, which they said would top the box office with $28.5 million.
"Though Emoji was No. 1 on Friday, Dunkirk by virtue of its stellar reviews, enjoyed a spectacular uptick on Saturday while Emoji saw its fortunes fall almost simultaneously," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore Inc. "Reviews and social media sentiment have an impact like never before and while they can be your best friend, they also have the power to bring down a movie very quickly."
The other new release of the weekend, Atomic Blonde, placed fourth with about $18.3 million.The decidedly R-rated action thriller starring Charlize Theron as a lethal spy was met with raves when it debuted at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March. Now the film's wide release is testing audiences' appetite for the stylish picture that's billed as a female twist on James Bond and John Wick movies.
And audiences seem pleased, giving the picture a B CinemaScore. Critics have also generally favored the Sierra/Affinity-financed film, as it has a 75 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating.
Coming in third was Universal's Girls Trip, with about $20 million. It has grossed $65 million domestically.
Rounding out this week's top five was Columbia's Spider-Man: Homecoming, with $13.3 million in its fourth week. It has pulled in about $278 million domestically, plus more than $355 million overseas.
Today, Columbia releases The Dark Tower, starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, and Aviron releases its Halle Berry-led thriller Kidnap. Also, Fox Searchlight will release the documentary Step in limited engagements.
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:
Dunkirk, Warner Bros., $26,611,130, 3,748 locations, $7,100 average, $101,317,350, two weeks.
Emoji Movie, The, Columbia, $24,531,923, 4,075 locations, $6,020 average, $24,531,923, one week.
Girls Trip, Universal, $19,646,305, 2,648 locations, $7,419 average, $65,085,525, two weeks.
Atomic Blonde, Focus Features, $18,286,420, 3,304 locations, $5,535 average, $18,286,420, one week.
Spider-Man: Homecoming, Columbia, $13,261,372, 3,625 locations, $3,658 average, $278,168,177, four weeks.
War For The Planet Of The Apes, 20th Century Fox, $10,472,252, 3,374 locations, $3,104 average, $118,784,881, three weeks.
Despicable Me 3, Universal, $7,592,560, 3,030 locations, $2,506 average, $230,292,465, five weeks.
Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, STX Entertainment, $6,360,085, 3,553 locations, $1,790 average, $30,186,232, two weeks.
Baby Driver, Columbia, $3,971,018, 1,961 locations, $2,025 average, $91,967,206, five weeks.
Wonder Woman, Warner Bros., $3,340,667, 1,651 locations, $2,023 average, $395,244,373, nine weeks.
The Big Sick, Lionsgate, $3,177,951, 1,589 locations, $2,000 average, $30,222,605, six weeks.
Cars 3, Disney, $956,031, 861 locations, $1,110 average, $146,384,124, seven weeks.
Wish Upon, Broad Green Pictures, $950,553, 907 locations, $1,048 average, $12,929,464, three weeks.
Transformers: The Last Knight, Paramount, $557,519, 538 locations, $1,036 average, $128,791,998, six weeks.
De Pere en Flic 2, Entertainment One Films, $396,580, 90 locations, $4,406 average, $3,675,644, three weeks.
A Ghost Story, A24, $368,289, 329 locations, $1,119 average, $927,508, four weeks.
Fidaa, BlueSky Cinemas, $350,788, 102 locations, $3,439 average, $1,306,243, two weeks.
Detroit, Annapurna Pictures, $350,190, 20 locations, $17,510 average, $350,190, one week.
Maudie, Sony Pictures Classics, $331,974, 228 locations, $1,456 average, $4,650,614, seven weeks.
Mubarakan, Sony Pictures Releasing International, $310,162, 128 locations, $2,423 average, $310,162, one week.
MovieStyle on 08/04/2017