Box Office Ramblings: ‘Finding Dory’ Swims Past The Competition


Finding Dory had a strong start. During its opening weekend last week, the film grossed $136.1 million at the box office, drowning the competition. And it had some stiff competition (or game, if we’re trying to keep the nautical theme here). With films like Central Intelligence (starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Kevin Hart), The Conjuring 2 (starring Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson), Now You See Me 2 (starring Jesse Eisenberg and Mark Ruffalo), Warcraft (starring Travis Fimmel and Paula Patton), and others, Finding Dory intended to prove it was not lost in a sea of films like the film’s protagonist. And it certainly was not — Dory (voiced by Ellen Degeneres) has found her way.

As previously reported here on the Inquisitr, Finding Dory is doing exceptionally well.

“A box office record has been achieved this weekend by the debut performance of the Disney and Pixar hit sequel, Finding Dory. Although it did not open up to the biggest numbers of all time, it did pull out a major victory over all of its competition and put up the strongest numbers ever for an animated film.”

Aside from glowing praise of the film, it seems fans and critics alike are enjoying the sequel as well: Finding Dory currently holds a 94 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a 77 on Metacritic. Though the Metacritic score isn’t too great, that’s still pretty impressive for a sequel to a film that released more than 10 years ago. With a budget of approximately $200 million, Finding Dory has grossed, as of June 24, an estimated $236.5 million; at the rate it is going, according to Forbes, Finding Dory is on track to be in the top-15 highest grossing animated films.

Comparatively, Warcraft is a sinking, burning ship. A writer at Rolling Stone wrote a piece on how Warcraft failed. With a budget of roughly $160 million, the film only grossed just about $30 million in its opening weekend. Worldwide, Warcraft accumulated $382 million. Now that sounds promising, until you realize that less than 15 percent of those earnings are domestic. Without the foreign film market, it would be sitting at a measly $42 million. Warcraft currently holds a 30 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a 32 on Metacritic. Clearly, this film, with all of the power and money and gusto behind it, is not doing so hot.

Elsewhere, Independence Day: Resurgence is currently a surging failure. With an estimated budget of $165 million, the film only grossed around $16.8 million in its first day of release. Now, there’s still hope for Resurgence— this weekend is its opening weekend — but, if it keeps chugging along at this pace, this sequel may be one of the most disappointing in recent history. Resurgence currently holds a 33 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a 32 on Metacritic. It seems things may not bode too well for Independence Day. Only time will tell.

With the financial success of animated films like Big Hero 6, Zootopia, and Finding Dory, evidently there is an audience for these charming films. Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures have hit a gold mine. We’ll see if Universal Studios’ The Secret Life of Pets manages to captivate the same audience.

If you haven’t seen Finding Dory you are apparently in the minority. If you have seen it, feel free to comment your thoughts on its success below.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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