Pets' Keeps Its Top Spot at Box Office, Besting 'Ghostbusters'

The reboot of "Ghostbusters" starring Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig as its namesake paranormal-activity investigators opened in second place to an estimated $46 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend, a performance that leaves a long road to profitability.

Few movies of the summer have come into theaters with more buzz than "Ghostbusters," which replaced the 1984 cast with a female foursome that also included "Saturday Night Live" cast members Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon. The film is among the most high-profile projects this year for its studio, Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Loyalists to the original movie and its all-male cast of ghost catchers rebelled against the female-led reboot in forums across the internet, causing a separate outcry to emerge in defense of the project. "The controversy and all the attention helped us get out there," said Josh Greenstein, Sony's president of world-wide marketing and distribution.

The $46 million opening is solid for a comedy, but the movie's $144 million production budget put Sony in need of a more impressive debut. Mr. Greenstein said he expects the movie to avoid any steep drop-offs in attendance in the weeks to come, repeating the pattern of other movies helmed by "Ghostbusters" director Paul Feig.

The original "Ghostbusters," starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd, grossed a massive $229 million when it opened 32 years ago. Adjusted for inflation, it is the 34th highest-grossing movie of all time, according to Box Office Mojo. A sequel followed in 1989, with less impressive results.

Sony will move forward with plans to produce sequels to the rebooted franchise, said Mr. Greenstein. "We've restarted a successful brand for us," he said.

The movie will need strong word-of-mouth and overseas sales to become profitable, and international audiences are less familiar with the franchise. Critics generally liked the movie, and opening-weekend audiences gave it a "B+" grade, according to market-research firm CinemaScore.

The animated talking-animals movie "The Secret Life of Pets" held the top spot at the box office, adding $50.6 million to its haul for a two-week total of $203.2 million. The movie, produced by Illumination Entertainment and released by Comcast Corp.'s Universal Pictures, is a hit given its $75 million budget.

"Pets" and the talking-fish sequel "Finding Dory" have provided some oxygen to what has been a so-so summer in Hollywood. Walt Disney Co.'s "Dory" took in $11 million, putting it in fourth place; its cumulative gross of $445.5 million now makes it the highest-grossing animated film of all time.

The weekend's other new wide release, "The Infiltrator," starring Bryan Cranston as a federal agent going undercover to investigate Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, opened with $6.7 million in eighth place. The Broad Green Pictures release was shown in 1,600 theaters, a smaller footprint than the usual nationwide opening.

So far this year, domestic box-office receipts are up 2.3%, according to comScore. A bright spot for theater owners: Pre-release surveys indicated this week that "Suicide Squad," the supervillain mashup from Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros., should be a massive hit when it opens on Aug. 5.

Write to Erich Schwartzel at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 18, 2016 00:45 ET (04:45 GMT)

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