Weekend Box Office Report: July 1-3, 2016

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Finding Dory just keeps swimming at #1!

For a third weekend in a row, Pixar's FINDING DORY overcame all challengers and floated to the top of the box office on this holiday weekend with an estimated $41.9 million!

With a current $372.2 million domestic total, the return of Ellen DeGeneres' forgetful fish has surpassed the $339.7 million finish of the original FINDING NEMO, not to mention the $356 million domestic total of last summer's INSIDE OUT. If it can make it to the $415 million domestic total of TOY STORY 3 (which is almost guaranteed), it will become Pixar's highest-grossing release.

FINDING DORY is also up to a global total of $538 million (and it still hasn't seen release in all international territories yet). All combined, Pixar's movies have now made over $10 billion worldwide.

Opening in second place was THE LEGEND OF TARZAN with $38.1 million. Alexander Skarsgard is the latest chiseled version of Edgar Rice Burroughs' lord of the jungle in an adaptation that cost a reported $180 million to produce. TARZAN made an additional $18.8 million overseas.

The PG-13 adventure from four-time HARRY POTTER director David Yates also features Margot Robbie, Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz. Critics didn't really feel like swinging with this rendition of the classic character with an average 35% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In third place was the new sequel THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR with an opening of $30.8 million. The third release in the R-rated crime spree series came in between the surprise $34 million start of the 2013 original THE PURGE and the $29.8 million opening of the follow-up THE PURGE: ANARCHY in 2014.

Like the previous two movies, the wisely timed THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR from Blumhouse and Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes company was made on a modest budget (a reported $10 million) and will end up grossing a multiple of its cost — THE PURGE: ANARCHY finished with $111 million worldwide on a $9 million production cost. Critics were divided on the virtue of ELECTION YEAR's cathartic violence with 54% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Opening in fourth was the the family fable THE BFG with $19.5 million. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Roald Dahl's book cost a reported $140 million to upsize Oscar-winner Mark Rylance. The PG-rated giant adventure from Disney (Spielberg's first movie with the company) captured the imaginations of many critics with 71% on Rotten Tomatoes.

INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE descended to fifth place with $16.5 million. Despite its second weekend coinciding with the titular holiday, the sequel lost nearly 60% from its second-place opening last week. Director Roland Emmerich's latest landmark-demolishing invasion is at a 10-day domestic total of $72 million and has made almost $250 million worldwide.

The Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson/Kevin Hart team-up CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE placed sixth with $12.3 million on its third weekend of release. The action-comedy is now at a worldwide total of $122 million on a reported production cost of $50 million.

While people headed to the beach for the July 4th weekend, Blake Lively was still dealing with a persistent shark in THE SHALLOWS, which reeled in another $9 million in seventh place. The PG-13 thriller drifted only 46% from its opening last weekend for a 10-day domestic total of $35.2 million.

Matthew McConaughey's R-rated Civil War story FREE STATE OF JONES came in eighth with $4.1 million, down 45% from a weak debut last weekend. Sequels THE CONJURING 2 and NOW YOU SEE ME 2 closed out the list.

Outside the chart, would-be blockbusters X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS and ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS all slipped out of the Top 10. In limited release, the Daniel Radcliffe/Paul Dano farting-corpse comedy SWISS ARMY MAN expanded to 636 screens and pulled in $1.4 million, and the adaptation of the John le Carre thriller OUR KIND OF TRAITOR made just over $1 million in 373 theaters.

Next weekend brings the R-rated comedy MIKE AND DAVE NEED WEDDING DATES and the family-friendly animated animals of THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS, while limited releases include the Viggo Mortensen drama CAPTAIN FANTASTIC.

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