Universal/Amblin Entertainment’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom stomped to an estimated $18.4 million yesterday, making it the second-best take for a live-action movie in June on a Tuesday, filing behind Jurassic World‘s $24.3M and ahead of Warner Bros’ Wonder Woman at $14.3M.
This weekend the J.A. Bayona-directed movie is poised to make $60M in its second frame, off 60%, but know that the dinosaurs will continue to own the box office through July 4 — until Disney/Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp arrives the following night July 5. Through five days, Fallen Kingdom has amassed $181.2M stateside.
Technically, Fallen Kingdom‘s Tuesday is the fourth best for the month, those titles ahead of it being largely animated pics. June’s top films on a Tuesday include Incredibles 2 ($27M last week on June 19), Jurassic World ($24.3M, June 16, 2015), and Finding Dory ($23.1M, June 21, 2016).
Last weekend, Fallen Kingdom came in $2M shy of Universal’s Sunday estimate of $150M, with $148M. Nonetheless, that marked the second-best domestic opening for the studio after Jurassic World‘s $208.8M, and ahead of Furious 7‘s $147.1M. The dinos’ opening also repped the second time during a non-holiday period that two movies have opened back-to-back at $100M-plus. There’s a halo effect from that for exhibitors, who reap the upside in concessions; they could care less that Fallen Kingdom opened 29% less than Jurassic World‘s huge $208.8M, currently the fourth best opening of all-time at the U.S./Canada box office.
Also this weekend, Lionsgate has the PG-13 comedy Uncle Drew at 2,700 theaters. Based on the 2012 Pepsi digital series which counts north of 150M views, the Charles Stone III-directed pic is looking to open between $11M-$15M. Tiffany Haddish, last year’s summer comedy queen with Girls Trip, is part of this ensemble cast that includes NBA all-star Kyrie Irving as Uncle Drew with Lil Rel Howery, Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, Nate Robinson, Lisa Leslie, Erica Ash and Nick Kroll.
Logline: After draining his life savings to enter a team in the Rucker Classic street ball tournament in Harlem, Dax (Howery) is dealt a series of unfortunate setbacks, including losing his team to his longtime rival (Kroll). Desperate to win the tournament and the cash prize, Dax stumbles upon the man, the myth, the legend Uncle Drew, and convinces him to return to the court one more time. The two men embark on a road trip to round up Drew’s old basketball squad (O’Neal, Webber, Miller, Robinson, and Lisa Leslie) and prove that a group of seniors can still win the big one. Rotten Tomatoes is at 50% rotten for the film, but it should be critic-proof, especially if audiences love it. Trailers at CinemaCon received plenty of laughs.
Sony is distributing Black Label Media’s sequel Sicario: Day of the Soldado, a sequel to 2015’s triple Oscar nominee and Cannes Film Festival pic Sicario. The sequel doesn’t star the first title’s Emily Blunt but headlines the original pic’s Josh Brolin as U.S. border federal agent Matt Graver and Benicio Del Toro as enigmatic assassin Alejandro as they square off with a cartel kingpin. Those 39 critics who have seen the movie have enjoyed it at 72% fresh, even though it’s not directed by the original pic’s helmer Denis Villeneuve (who has given thumbs up to the follow-up) but rather Italian director Stefano Sollima. The original’s screenwriter Taylor Sheridan penned the sequel’s script in full. Opening weekend forecast for this $35M production is $12M at 2,500-plus theaters, which is what the 2015 title launched to when it went wide via Lionsgate. Final domestic on Sicario was $46.9M domestic, $84.8M worldwide off a $30M production cost. Thursday shows start at 7 PM.
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