THREE new releases helped fuel the North American box office this weekend, with Universal's animated action-comedy The Bad Guys on top with an estimated US$24 million take, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.
Bad Guys, a sort of animal-eye version of Oceans 11, follows the exploits of a wickedly clever gang of creatures. Produced by DreamWorks Animation, the film has a voice cast including Sam Rockwell, Craig Robinson, Awkwafina, Marc Maron, Anthony Ramos and Lilly Singh.
Overall, this was a good weekend for family-geared films – hit harder by the Covid effect than films targeting other demographics – with Paramount's Sonic the Hedgehog 2 again placing second, at US$15.2 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period.
"Family moviegoing was certainly rocked by the pandemic, but families are returning now," said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. "We're still far from pre-pandemic levels... but this is a good start."
Third spot went to Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore from Warner Bros, at US$14 million, a fairly sharp drop from last weekend's US$43 million opening for the Wizarding World film.
New releases claimed the next two spots.
The Northman from Focus Features took in US$12 million. It tells the blood-soaked story of a Viking (played by a ripped Alexander Skarsgard) who seeks revenge on the man who killed his parents and usurped his father's throne.
Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, Bjork, Anya Taylor-Joy and Willem Dafoe round out the ensemble cast.
And in fifth was Lionsgate's very meta film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, at US$7.2 million. Nicolas Cage plays, none too seriously, a man named Nick Cage. – AFP, April 25, 2022
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