Warner Bros.’ “DC League of Super-Pets” is opening beneath pre-weekend box office projections with $9.3 million grossed from 4,314 theaters on opening day, with projections now set for a $22.5 million opening weekend.
Prior to release, the animated superhero film starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart had been projected for a $25-30 million opening, just below the $31 million earned by Warner Bros.’ 2021 animated film “Space Jam: A New Legacy.” Instead, “Super-Pets” is opening just below the $23.9 million opening recorded by Universal/DreamWorks’ “The Bad Guys” earlier this year.
“The Bad Guys” went on to gross $96.6 million domestically and $245 million worldwide against a $70 million budget. With an A- CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 71% critics and 88% audience, “DC League of Super-Pets” may have a chance to turn a profit against its $90 million budget. But it will need to leg out during the usually sluggish August period and get some strong numbers from overseas markets.
In second this weekend is Universal/Monkeypaw’s “Nope,” which as expected has taken a stiff drop of 57% in its second weekend to $19 million. With an $81 million estimated domestic total after 10 days, “Nope” is still just ahead of the $78 million grossed in the first two weekends of Jordan Peele’s debut film “Get Out,” but that will change as “Nope” isn’t showing the same kind of legs.
Elsewhere in the Top 5, Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Love and Thunder” and Paramount/Skydance’s “Top Gun: Maverick” are about to hit more box office milestones. “Love and Thunder,” with $13 million in its fourth weekend, will pass the $300 million domestic mark; while “Maverick,” still in the Top 5 with $8.8 million in its tenth weekend, will reach $650 million domestic and have a strong chance at $700 million with an Imax re-release coming in two weeks.