It was expected to be huge and it did not disappoint. Thirteen years after the original Finding Nemo, Dory arrived in theaters with a record breaking haul of 136 million over the weekend, the biggest opening ever for an animated film. Nemo has become such a classic of the Pixar filmography over the years that the long gap didn't seem to hurt it at all. It easily beat out Shrek the Third by about 15 million, which had held that record since 2007.
In second place was Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson's Central Intelligence, which actually surpassed its own expectations, opening with 34 million on top of fairly decent reviews, at least for a Kevin Hart movie. Both new releases earned Cinemascores of "A" and "A-," which will allow them to hold up over the coming weeks against films like Independence Day, The BFG and The Secret Life of Pets. Rounding out the top five were three films that tumbled big from their openings last week, as The Conjuring 2, Now You See Me 2 and Warcraft all plummeted dramatically.
Top 5:
- Finding Dory- 136 million
- Central Intelligence- 34.5 million
- The Conjuring 2- 15.6 million
- Now You See Me 2- 9.6 million
- Warcraft- 6.5 million
Obviously, the mega popular overseas Warcraft hasn't caught on even a little bit here, despite becoming a global phenomenon everywhere else. And next weekend it's the release of Independence Day: Resurgence, along with the Blake Lively vs a shark movie The Shallows and Matthew McConaughey's Civil War-era drama Free State of Jones. I have a feeling Dory can hold up against Resurgence, which isn't generating a lot of buzz recently, surprisingly enough.
