Box Office: ‘Dog Man’ Shows Bite With $36 Million Opening Weekend

by

In its opening weekend, the movie called “Dog Man” had a fantastic start at the U.S. box office, earning an impressive $36 million from 3,885 theaters across North America.

The animated dog-themed crime-fighting movie from Universal and DreamWorks Animation, which is part of the “Captain Underpants” universe, had a successful debut, surpassing predictions due to strong word-of-mouth and high anticipation for family-friendly films. Cinema audiences gave the film an ‘A’ rating, suggesting a prolonged run in cinemas.

In a recent release, Warner Bros. and New Line’s adult-oriented, satirical sci-fi thriller titled “Companion” premiered at the second position, generating $9.3 million from 3,285 cinemas. Considering its budget of around $10 million (excluding advertising expenses), these earnings are quite robust. With an impressive 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a “B+” grade from CinemaScore, movie analysts predict that this film might turn into a surprise hit in late January or early February. The lead roles in “Companion” are played by Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid, who portray the tale of a group of friends whose peaceful weekend retreat takes a dramatic turn when they discover one of their guests is actually a companion robot, leading to mayhem.

The movie titled “Dog Man” didn’t make much impact at international box offices, earning $4.2 million across 29 countries, adding up to a global total of $40.6 million. Despite this relatively low foreign revenue, it’s still doing well due to its $40 million production budget. The film should be able to maintain its theatrical run even with less money coming in from overseas than anticipated. It is important to note that “Dog Man” is not related to Universal’s horror film “Wolf Man,” which was released earlier this year. Instead, it is adapted from Dav Pilkey’s popular children’s graphic novel series, “Captain Underpants.” The voice cast includes Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery and Isla Fisher, and the story revolves around a human police officer who becomes one with his dog after they are both injured while on duty.

Exhibitors frequently voice concerns about the scarcity of family-focused films in the industry, and it seems that this weekend’s box office figures reflect a strong demand for such movies on the silver screen. In its seventh week of screening, Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” earned the third spot with $6.6 million from 3,180 cinemas. Despite a moderate opening in December, this Pride Lands prequel has managed to maintain its presence in theaters, accumulating $230 million in North America and $630 million worldwide.

Simultaneously, not quite making it into the top five spots, “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” from Paramount and Disney’s “Moana 2” earned sixth and seventh place with approximately $3.2 million and $2.9 million respectively. Since its Christmas release, “Sonic 3” has accumulated a domestic total of $230.5 million. The North American earnings for the “Moana” sequel, which debuted before Thanksgiving, have reached an impressive $453 million, and it has grossed over $1 billion worldwide.

In other cinemas, Sony’s R-rated buddy comedy “One of Them Days” featuring Keke Palmer and SZA dropped to fourth position, earning $6.3 million from 2,306 theaters. This is a modest decrease of just 21% compared to its previous weekend earnings. With favorable audience feedback, the film, which cost $14 million to produce, has accumulated a total of $34.7 million after three weeks in theatres.

Over the weekend past, the action thriller “Flight Risk,” starring Mark Wahlberg as a troubled pilot and directed by Mel Gibson, dropped to fifth place with earnings of $5.3 million from 3,161 screens. Compared to its opening weekend’s $12 million, ticket sales fell by about half, resulting in a total domestic gross of approximately $20.6 million.

To date, the overall box office revenue has been on an upward trend, with ticket sales increasing by 12.3% compared to the same time last year, and also rising by 3.5% from 2023. As reported by Comscore, this is promising news for Hollywood as they anticipate that 2025 could mark a recovery following the impact of the pandemic and two labor disputes on box office earnings. Despite being early in the year, there’s optimism that 2025 will bring better fortunes for the movie industry.

Read More

2025-02-02 18:46