Weekend Box Office Report: June 16-18, 2017

Cars 3 shifts into first!

Lightning McQueen and his fellow vehicles raced back to theaters this weekend and put CARS 3 on top at the box office with an estimated $53.5 million!

That opening is the lowest of the series, pulling up behind the $60.1 million start of the first CARS in 2006 and the $66.1 million opening of CARS 2 in 2011.

The anthropomorphic automobiles were also on the low end of the spectrum for any recent Pixar movie, with only THE GOOD DINOSAUR getting a slower start with $39.1 million in November of 2015. INSIDE OUT opened with $90.4 million two summers ago, and last year's FINDING DORY started with $135 million before it just kept swimming to become the summer's highest-grossing release with $486 million.

The new G-rated sequel and toy advertisement cost a reported $175 million, and made an additional $21.3 million on its overseas opening. Critics waved the flag with a 65% average on Rotten Tomatoes (the JoBlo review is HERE).

WONDER WOMAN continues to demonstrate her box office strength in second place with $40.7 million. The DC Comics icon now has a domestic total of $274.6 million on its third weekend in theaters, with a worldwide total up to $571.8 million.

Opening in third place was the Tupac Shakur biopic ALL EYEZ ON ME with $27 million.

The story covering the rise of the beloved and controversial hip-hop artist cost a reported $40 million. (For comparison, the 2015 N.W.A. biopic STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON cost $27 million and opened with $60 million before continuing to $161 million domestic.)

The R-rated 2Pac chronicle drew praise for star Demetrius Shipp Jr.'s portrayal of the rapper-actor, but was otherwise shut down by critics with 24% on Rotten Tomatoes. The JoBlo review can be found HERE.

Tom Cruise's monstrous action-adventure THE MUMMY was in fourth place with $13.9 million, scaring away 56% of business from its opening last week.

The theoretical launch of Universal's "Dark Universe" creature-reboot franchise has a ten-day domestic total of $56.5 million — not even half the movie's reported $125 million cost (although other claims peg that figure as high as $190 million). A better outlook comes from international crowds, who have handed over an additional $239 million for a worldwide total nearing $300 million.

Dipping into fifth place was the new shark thriller 47 METERS DOWN with an opening of $11.5 million. The low-budget horror movie with Mandy Moore was originally planned for a direct-to-video release last summer (as IN THE DEEP) before getting delayed for a theatrical release.

Similarly, last summer's Blake Lively shark terror THE SHALLOWS opened with $17 million and treaded water to $55 million. (The granddaddy of shark movies and summer blockbusters, Steven Spielberg's JAWS, made $260 million in 1975 — which would be $1.1 billion today.)

The submerged PG-13 peril didn't sink its teeth into critics, who gave 47 METERS DOWN an average 54% on Rotten Tomatoes. You can bite into the JoBlo review HERE.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES was sailing in sixth with $8.4 million after a month on screens. The latest $230 million cruise with Johnny Depp's rum-saturated swashbuckler has a domestic total of $150 million, and has plundered a half-billion gold coins from overseas for a global total of $650 million.

In seventh place, the new R-rated comedy ROUGH NIGHT had a rough start with an opening of $8 million.

Scarlett Johansson's booze-fueled bachelorette weekend (with Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Zoe Kravitz and Ilana Glazer) cost a reported $20 million. Critics didn't catch much of a buzz with a 50% average on Rotten Tomatoes (the JoBlo review is HERE).

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: THE FIRST EPIC ADVENTURE was in eighth with $7.3 million, followed by GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 with $4.9 million. The Marvel sequel has a $374.8 million domestic total after seven weeks and a worldwide total of $844 million. The post-apocalyptic thriller IT COMES AT NIGHT closed out the list with $2.6 million, down 56% from last weekend's opening.

Outside the chart, BAYWATCH went down with ALIEN: COVENANT, MEGAN LEAVEY and EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING.  In limited release, JURASSIC WORLD director Colin Trevorrow's drama THE BOOK OF HENRY was released on 547 screens and made $1.4 million.

Next weekend has Michael Bay's fifth time playing with robots in disguise as TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT opens on Wednesday, while limited releases include Sofia Coppola's Civil War drama THE BEGUILED with Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman, the cannibalism thriller THE BAD BATCH, and Kumail Nanjiani's acclaimed comedy THE BIG SICK.

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