Box office: “DC League of Super-Pets” inaugural projects $22 million

Even the superhero dogs hit the top of the box office.

The animated comedy DC League of Super-Pets is poised to top the domestic charts when it opens and forecast a $22 million debut. The film earned $9.3 million from 4,314 theaters on opening day, a number that includes $2.2 million from Thursday’s preview ticket sales.

That’s enough for a Warner Bros. release to claim first place at the box office, but it’s nowhere near the strongest opening for an animated film this summer. Disney’s Lightyear grossed $50.2 million when it opened in June – a figure considered underwhelming for the spin-off Toy Story, which had a $200 million production budget. In July, Universal’s Minions: The Rise of Gru set a new bar for family movie box office expectations in a post-COVID-19 world, earning a whopping $107 million over three days.

“Super-Pets” comes in lower than those two summer releases. The film cost $90 million to produce, so it will hope to continue to attract family audiences before school starts again this fall.

Based on DC Comics’ Legion of Super-Pets, a team of furry friends of superheroes, DC League of Super-Pets features a star-studded cast including Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Kate McKinnon, John Krasinski, Vanessa Bayer, Natasha Lyonne, Diego Luna, Thomas Middleditch, Ben Schwartz and Keanu Reeves.

diversity‘s Owen Gleiberman gave “Super-Pets” a positive review, writing that “in its spirited and light-heartedly conventional and sympathetic vein, the film defies the superhero fantasy. His joke is that a mangy gang of animals performing fancy CGI stunt magic tricks is essentially what any comic book movie is.”

“Super Pets” garnered a 60% positive approval rating from top critics on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. The film also received an “A-” rating from research firm Cinema Score, indicating resounding approval from general audiences.

Universal’s “Nope” has solid competition for first place at the box office and is forecast to gross $19 million in its second weekend.

That would mean a 57% drop for Jordan Peele’s new thriller, slightly above original projections for a 60% drop. However, it is a steeper pull than its previous two features. Peele’s 2017 breakout “Get Out” fell nearly 15.4% on its second appearance, while its 2019 follow-up “Us” saw a 53.3% slump.

Audiences don’t take “Nope” as hard as Peele’s earlier work. Even so, the universal thriller is set to take its domestic gross to over $80 million by Sunday, an impressive haul for an original film that has nothing to promote but an eerie presence and the names involved in the production. “Nope” has already recouped its $68 million production budget (although that doesn’t include marketing and distribution costs). The film begins its worldwide rollout in August.

There’s more to come…