The Secret Life of Pets 2 took the weekend box office race, and it wasn’t even a close battle. Via Deadline, Universal’s animated sequel brought in $47.1 million. More tellingly, The Secret Life of Pets 2 defeated the final X-Men movie from 20th Century Fox. Despite a $50 million projected opening, Dark Phoenix landed at number 2 with only $33 million. That’s by far the lowest opening weekend for any of the X-Men related films to date.
As noted by Deadline, there have been many under-performing sequels this summer. Secret Life of Pets 2 dropped 55% compared to the original’s $104 million opening. As for Dark Phoenix, it was down around 51% from X-Men: Apocalypse‘s $65 million opening in 2016. While Aladdin held steady at #3 with $24.5 million, Godzilla: King of the Monsters dropped to fourth place with $15.5 million. The Elton John biopic, Rocketman, came in at number 5 with $14 million.
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In the sixth slot, Universal and Blumhouse’s Ma pulled in $7.8 million. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum was close behind at #7 with $7.4 million. The summer’s biggest hit, Avengers: Endgame, had $4.8 million and the eighth slot in its seventh weekend. Currently, Endgame‘s domestic total stands at $824.3 million. However, its momentum is almost completely depleted, and it may fall out of the top ten next weekend or the weekend thereafter.
Detective Pikachu came in at number 9 with $3.3 million, while Booksmart closed out the top ten with $1.6 million. Next weekend, Men in Black: International will hit theaters with a projected $40 million opening. Unless MiB: I can beat those numbers, it will also mark a low point for the franchise.
What do you think about this week’s box office results? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: X-Men: Grand Design Vol. 1
