Box office: Dog Man is the year's first big hit
The Captain Underpants spin-off is currently on track to make at least as much in its opening weekend as the bigger-budgeted The Wild Robot and Mufasa: The Lion King made in theirs.
The big news this week is that Dog Man—an animated movie based on the popular Dav Pilkey books about a half-dog, half-human cop—grossed an estimated $36 million in its first three days. That was at the very high end of expectations going into the weekend, maybe even beyond said expectations. It was also …
… enough to make Dog Man already the top-grossing film released so far this year. (Den of Thieves 2: Pantera and One of Them Days are currently virtually tied for second place with about $34.5 million each.)
… the best opening of any film since Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in mid-December.
… a smidge better than the openings for last year’s The Wild Robot and Mufasa: The Lion King, and at only a fraction of the cost (Dog Man budget: $40 million; The Wild Robot budget: $78 million; Mufasa budget: $200 million).
… the best opening of any animated film since 2020’s Onward that wasn’t a sequel or reboot of some sort (though admittedly Dog Man takes place in the same universe as 2017’s Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, so the movie’s setting isn’t new to the big screen, even if its title character is).1
Meanwhile, there were a few other highlights this week:
Mufasa: The Lion King, which has been behind Sonic the Hedgehog 3 ever since the two films opened on December 20, has now nearly caught up to that film.
Flight Risk had the steepest second-weekend drop of any film directed by Mel Gibson, and is nearly tied with 1993’s The Man without a Face for the lowest second-weekend gross of any film he directed even before you adjust for inflation.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 has now passed 2019’s Pokémon: Detective Pikachu to become the top-grossing live-action video-game movie worldwide.
And now, a few more stats and facts re: this week’s top ten, title by title:
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