“The Secret Life of Pets” is barking up the right tree with moviegoers, earning $38.3 million on Friday fromย 4,370 screens.
Once the weekend is through, Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures’ animated original should easily dethrone Disney-Pixar’s “Finding Dory,” which made $6.3 million on Friday.
The studio initially expected “Pets”ย to open north of its “Despicable Me” numbers from 2010 ($56.4 million), but Friday’s grossesย have experts now putting its debutย weekendย somewhere north of $80 million.
The lead character in “Secret Life of Pets” is a terrier named Max, voiced by Louis C.K., who embarksย on an odyssey through New York City with his newly adopted roommate Duke — a massive furry brown dog voiced by Eric Stonestreet.