Editorial

The Bottom Line: July 15, 2016: “Who You Gonna Call?”

Melissa McCarthy Kate McKinnon Kristen Wiig Leslie Jones Ghostbusters

Quick Takes

The Secret Life of Pets took in a record-breaking $104.4 million opening for first place at the box office this week, destroying the competition. The Legend of Tarzan held steady in its second week with $21 million while Finding Dory was not far behind in third place.  Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates opened in fourth place and The Purge: Election Year rounded out the top five in its second week.

Box Office Top Five

One animated behemoth got replaced with another this week, as The Secret Life of Pets knocked Finding Dory off its perch for first place with a $104.4 million, achieving the highest-grossing opening weekend for an original film in the process (beating last year’s Inside Out). The Legend of Tarzan continues to do better than expected, holding steady in second place with $21 million, just barely beating out Finding Dory, which took in $20.8 million for third place. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates rode a great cast and mixed reviews into fourth place with $16.6 million, which means it should be able to at least make back its budget. Finally, The Purge: Election Year drops from third place to fifth with $12.4 million, on track to be the highest-grossing movie in the Purge franchise.

Here is a look at a few films that are opening on July 15th.

Ghostbusters (PG-13) 105 mins.

There’s a lot of hype surrounding Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot, and a lot of it has been negative – a small population of the internet has taken it upon themselves to try to make this movie fail, making it the most disliked movie trailer on YouTube, lowering its score on IMDB, and generally making a lot of noise that nobody wants to hear. For the rest of us, the reviews of the film seem to indicate that it’s actually pretty good (not a surprise if you’re familiar with Feig’s work), even if it does retread the original film a little too often. The film’s got a good comedic director, a phenomenal cast, and it’s breathing life back into a beloved property – I’m all in for this one. Normally, I’d expect Ghostbusters to open at number one, but there’s a strong chance The Secret Life of Pets manages to stick to the top for another week. I’m betting on Ghostbusters opening at number two, but I expect it to have legs going forward.

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The Infiltrator (R) 127 mins.

The Infiltrator, based on the trailers, looks fantastic. A true-life story featuring Bryan Cranston infiltrating a drug cartel sounds like some excellent adult-oriented counter-programming in a summer largely focused on kids. I wouldn’t expect this to be a runaway hit, but I could see it doing solid business, perhaps opening at number four or five.

 The Bottom Line

The Secret Life of Pets will take the number one spot again, with Ghostbusters having a very large opening at number two. Finding Dory will stay right where it is at three, while The Legend of Tarzan will drop to four. The Infiltrator might squeak by for a fifth place opening, but if not, expect Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates to take its place.

Movies To Look Forward To:

Lights Out (July 22), Star Trek Beyond (July 22), Jason Bourne (July 29).

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Michael Smith

Mike Smith is an avid filmgoer from New York who loves to hear his own voice - luckily his work as a podcaster on FilmBook allows him to do just that. Mike graduated from The College of Saint Rose in Albany with a degree in communications, and is ready to dole out critical analysis of all your pop culture fixations. Mike is the host of FilmBookCast and can frequently be seen at his local movie theater, patiently explaining to his friends that Superman Returns is a misunderstood masterpiece.
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