Latest in The Secret Life Of Pets 2

When it comes to evaluating the financial performance of top movies, it isn't about what a film grosses at the box office. The true tale is told when production budgets, P&A, talent participations and other costs collide with box office grosses and ancillary revenues from VOD to DVD and TV. To get close to that mysteri…

As the voice of everybody's favorite talking Jack Russell terrier Max in The Secret Life of Pets 2, Patton Oswalt not only brought his own unique, edgy humor and laugh-out-loud sardonic tone, but he was also stepping into Max's paws following Louis C.K.'s removal from the role—a situation Oswalt graciously doesn't…

4th Update Sunday AM writethru, after Friday midday and Saturday AM updates If you’re a rival major studio in the Disney-Fox era and you want to continue to play around with franchises, you have to make a movie that’s so outstanding, there’s no question in any person’s mind that they should go to the cinema. The…

SUNDAY AM WRITETHRU after Saturday 7:24 AM post: Here’s a trend: three franchise films in a row this summer —Godzilla: King of the Monsters, The Secret Life of Pets 2, and Dark Phoenix — opened to roughly half of what their previous films did. And we may have a fourth title next weekend, if Men in Black International…

Illumination/Universal’s The Secret Life of Pets 2 might win over U.S./Canada this weekend with a projected $60M, but Disney/Fox’s Dark Phoenix is expected to take over the world with at least a $170M global day-and-date launch. In what is the last Fox/Marvel X-Men movie before Disney’s MCU likely reboots the mutant…

Illumination knows how to do it, and they’ve done it again with my favorite animated franchise. In fact, I would say The Secret Life of Pets 2 even tops the first one in laughs, heart and gorgeous animation. I am at a loss as to why this outfit doesn’t get the same critical love as a Pixar or DreamWorks Animation as…

SUNDAY UPDATE, writethru: Warner Bros/Legendary’s Godzilla: King Of The Monsters has come in with a $130M opening weekend launch at the international box office. As we noted yesterday, this is far lower than what the industry was seeing ahead of the debut. The continuation of Legendary’s modern monster series is the…

UPDATE, TUESDAY AM writethru with actuals: Disney’s live-action take on the classic 1992 animated Aladdin flew slightly higher at the international box office compared to Sunday’s estimates, with a $122M start. That lands the Will Smith-starrer right at the top end of industry predictions with a better-than-expected…

In the weekend showdown on June 7-9 between Illumination/Universal’s The Secret Life of Pets 2 and Fox/Disney’s X-Men finale Dark Phoenix, the household critters are poised to beat the mutants in their openings, $63M+ to $50M. Some B.O. analysts think Pets 2 could even do more, maybe as high as $70M. The first 2016…

For the most part, between the STX and Warner Bros sessions so far, it hasn’t been a star-heavy year at CinemaCon. However, any studio looking to send electricity through the Coliseum at Caesars Palace can always rely on Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish, who were on hand Wednesday during Universal’s presentation to…

Back in 2016, pet owners got a sneak peek at what their precious animals did while their humans were out with The Secret Life of Pets. And plenty of folks were interested in finding out, as the film opened to a massive $104.4 million en route to a $368.4 million domestic gross. It also made more than a half-billion…

Another Hollywood employer of Louis C.K. is cutting ties after the comedian/actor/voiceover artist was accused of and admitted to inappropriate sexual conduct with five women: Universal Pictures and Illumination have ended their relationship with Louis C.K. as a voice over artist on animated film The Secret Life of Pet…